Isaiah 30–31

Warnings to the Stubborn Nation

30The Lord said,

“How terrible it will be for these stubborn children.

They make plans, but they don’t ask me to help them.

They make agreements with other nations, without asking my Spirit.

They are adding more and more sins to themselves.

²They go down to Egypt for help

without asking me about it first.

They hope they will be saved by the king of Egypt;

they want Egypt to protect them.

³But hiding in Egypt will bring you only shame;

Egypt’s protection will only disappoint you.

⁴Your officers have gone to Zoan,

and your messengers have gone to Hanes,

⁵but they will be put to shame,

because Egypt is useless to them.

It will give no help and will be of no use;

it will cause them only shame and embarrassment.”

God’s Message to Judah

⁶This is a message about the animals in southern Judah:

Southern Judah is a dangerous place

full of lions and lionesses,

poisonous snakes and darting snakes.

The messengers travel through there with their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasure on the backs of camels.

They carry them to a nation that cannot help them,

⁷to Egypt whose help is useless.

So I call that country Rahab the Do-Nothing.

⁸Now write this on a sign for the people,

write this on a scroll,

so that for the days to come

this will be a witness forever.

⁹These people are like children who lie and refuse to obey;

they refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.

¹⁰They tell the seers,

“Don’t see any more visions!”

They say to the prophets,

“Don’t tell us the truth!

Say things that will make us feel good;

see only good things for us.

¹¹Stop blocking our path.

Get out of our way.

Stop telling us

about God, the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²So this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You people have refused to accept this message

and have depended on cruelty and lies to help you.

¹³You are guilty of these things.

So you will be like a high wall with cracks in it

that falls suddenly and breaks into small pieces.

¹⁴You will be like a clay jar that breaks,

smashed into many pieces.

Those pieces will be too small

to take coals from the fire

or to get water from a well.”

¹⁵This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“If you come back to me and trust me, you will be saved.

If you will be calm and trust me, you will be strong.”

But you don’t want to do that.

¹⁶You say, “No, we need horses to run away on.”

So you will run away on horses.

You say, “We will ride away on fast horses.”

So those who chase you will be fast.

¹⁷One enemy will make threats,

and a thousand of your men will run away.

Five enemies will make threats,

and all of you will run from them.

You will be left alone like a flagpole on a hilltop,

like a banner on a hill.

¹⁸The Lord wants to show his mercy to you.

He wants to rise and comfort you.

The Lord is a fair God,

and everyone who waits for his help will be happy.

The Lord Will Help His People

¹⁹You people who live on Mount Zion in Jerusalem will not cry anymore. The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you. ²⁰The Lord has given you sorrow and hurt like the bread and water you ate every day. He is your teacher; he will not continue to hide from you, but you will see your teacher with your own eyes. ²¹If you go the wrong way—to the right or to the left—you will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the right way. You should go this way.” ²²You have statues covered with silver and gold, but you will ruin them for further use. You will throw them away like filthy rags and say, “Go away!”

²³At that time the Lord will send rain for the seeds you plant in the ground, and the ground will grow food for you. The harvest will be rich and great, and you will have plenty of food in the fields for your animals. ²⁴Your oxen and donkeys that work the soil will have all the food they need. You will have to use shovels and pitchforks to spread all their food. ²⁵Every mountain and hill will have streams filled with water. These things will happen after many people are killed and the towers are pulled down. ²⁶At that time the light from the moon will be bright like the sun, and the light from the sun will be seven times brighter than now, like the light of seven days. These things will happen when the Lord bandages his broken people and heals the hurts he gave them.

²⁷Look! The Lord comes from far away.

His anger is like a fire with thick clouds of smoke.

His mouth is filled with anger,

and his tongue is like a burning fire.

²⁸His breath is like a rushing river,

which rises to the throat.

He will judge the nations as if he is sifting them through the strainer of destruction.

He will place in their mouths a bit that will lead them the wrong way.

²⁹You will sing happy songs

as on the nights you begin a festival.

You will be happy like people listening to flutes

as they come to the mountain of the Lord,

to the Rock of Israel.

³⁰The Lord will cause all people to hear his great voice

and to see his powerful arm come down with anger,

like a great fire that burns everything,

like a great storm with much rain and hail.

³¹Assyria will be afraid when it hears the voice of the Lord,

because he will strike Assyria with a rod.

³²When the Lord punishes Assyria with a rod,

he will beat them to the music of tambourines and harps;

he will fight against them with his mighty weapons.

³³Topheth ⁿ has been made ready for a long time;

it is ready for the king.

It was made deep and wide

with much wood and fire.

And the Lord’s breath will come

like a stream of burning sulfur and set it on fire.

Warnings About Relying on Egypt

31How terrible it will be for those people who go down to Egypt for help.

They think horses will save them.

They think their many chariots

and strong horsemen will save them.

But they don’t trust God, the Holy One of Israel,

or ask the Lord for help.

²But he is wise and can bring them disaster.

He does not change his warnings.

He will rise up and fight against the evil people

and against those who try to help evil people.

³The Egyptians are only people and are not God.

Their horses are only animals and are not spirit.

The Lord will stretch out his arm,

and the one who helps will stumble,

and the people who wanted help will fall.

All of them will be destroyed together.

⁴The Lord says this to me:

“When a lion or a lion’s cub kills an animal to eat,

it stands over the dead animal and roars.

A band of shepherds

may be assembled against it,

but the lion will not be afraid of their yelling

or upset by their noise.

So the Lord All-Powerful will come down

to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.

⁵The Lord All-Powerful will defend Jerusalem

like birds flying over their nests.

He will defend and save it;

he will ‘pass over’ and save Jerusalem.”

⁶You children of Israel, come back to the God you fought against. ⁷The time is coming when each of you will stop worshiping idols of gold and silver, which you sinned by making.

⁸“Assyria will be defeated by a sword, but not the sword of a person;

Assyria will be destroyed, but not by a person’s sword.

Assyria will run away from the sword of God,

but its young men will be caught and made slaves.

⁹They will panic, and their protection will be destroyed.

Their commanders will be terrified when they see God’s battle flag,”

says the Lord,

whose fire is in Jerusalem

and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.