Isaiah 31

Chapter 31

Help Not in Egypt but in God

¹Woe to those who go down to ^aEgypt for help

And ^brely on horses,

And trust in chariots because they are many

And in horsemen because they are very strong,

But they do not ^clook to the ^dHoly One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!

²Yet He also is ^awise and will ^bbring disaster

And does ^cnot retract His words,

But will arise against the house of ^devildoers

And against the help of the ^eworkers of iniquity.

³Now the Egyptians are ^amen and not God,

And their ^bhorses are flesh and not spirit;

So the Lord will ^cstretch out His hand,

And ^dhe who helps will stumble

And he who is helped will fall,

And all of them will come to an end together.

⁴For thus says the Lord to me,

“As the ^alion or the young lion growls over his prey,

Against which a band of shepherds is called out,

And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,

So will the Lord of hosts come down to wage ^bwar on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

⁵Like ¹flying ^abirds so the Lord of hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will ^bprotect and deliver it;

He will pass over and rescue it.

^6aReturn to Him from whom ¹you have ^bdeeply defected, O sons of Israel.

⁷For in that day every man will ^acast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your ^bsinful hands have made for you as a sin.

⁸And the ^aAssyrian will fall by a sword not of man,

And a ^bsword not of man will devour him.

So he will ^1cnot escape the sword,

And his young men will become ^dforced laborers.

⁹“His ^arock will pass away because of panic,

And his princes will be terrified at the ^bstandard,”

Declares the Lord, whose ^cfire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.