Isaiah 30

Judah Should Trust the Lord, Not Egypt

1 The Lord declares,“How horrible it will be for those rebellious children.They carry out plans, but not mine.They make alliances against my will.They pile sin on top of sin.2 They go to Egypt without asking me.They look for shelter under Pharaoh’s protectionand look for refuge in Egypt’s shadow.3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be their shame,and the refuge in Egypt’s shadow will be their disgrace.4 Although Pharaoh’s officials are in Zoanand his messengers have reached Hanes,5 the people of Judah will be put to shamebecause that nation can’t help them.That nation can’t give aid or help to them.It can only offer shame and disgrace.”6 This is the divine revelation about the animals in the Negev.“My people travel through landswhere they experience distress and hardship.Lions and lionesses live there.Vipers and poisonous snakes live there.They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeysand their treasures on the humps of camelsto a nation that can’t help them.7 Egypt’s help is completely useless.That is why I call it, ‘Rahabt who sits still.’8 Now, write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a bookso that it will be there in the future as a permanent witness.9 These people are rebellious and deceitful children,children who refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings.10 They say to the seers,t ‘Don’t see the future.’They say to those who have visions,‘Don’t have visions that tell us what is right.Tell us what we want to hear. See illusions.11 Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path!Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.’ ”12 This is what the Holy One of Israel says:You have rejected this warning,trusted oppression and deceit,and leaned on them.13 That is why your sin will belike a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall.All of a sudden it will fall.14 It will break like pottery.It will be smashed, and nothing will be left of it.No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplaceor to dip water from a reservoir.15 This is what the Almighty Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:You can be saved by returning to me.You can have rest.You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me.But you don’t want that.16 You’ve said, “No, we’ll flee on horses.”So you flee.You’ve added, “We’ll ride on fast horses.”So those who chase you will also be fast.17 One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them,and you will flee when five threaten you.Then you will be left alonelike a flagpole on top of a mountain,like a signpost on a hill.18 The Lord is waiting to be kind to you.He rises to have compassion on you.The Lord is a God of justice.Blessed are all those who wait for him.

The Lord Will Heal His People’s Wounds

19 You will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You won’t cry anymore. The Lord will certainly have pity on you when you cry for help. As soon as he hears you, he will answer you.20 The Lord may give you troubles and hardships. But your teacher will no longer be hidden from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.21 You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left.”

22 Then you will dishonor your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them, “Get out!”
23 The Lord will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures.24 The oxen and the donkeys which work the soil will eat a mixture of food that has been winnowedt with forks and shovels.25 There will be brooks and streams on every lofty mountain and every high hill. When the day of the great slaughter comes, towers will fall.

26 Then the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun. The light of the sun will be seven times as strong, like the light of seven days. When that day comes, the Lord will bandage his people’s injuries and heal the wounds he inflicted.
27 The name of the Lord is going to come from far away.His anger is burning.His burden is heavy.His lips are filled with fury.His tongue is like a devouring flame.28 His breath is like an overflowing stream.It rises neck high,sifting the nations with a sieve of destruction,placing a bit in the mouths of the peopleto lead them astray.29 You will sing a songlike the song you sing on a festival night.Your hearts will be happy like someone going out with a fluteon the way to the Lord’s mountain, to the rock of Israel.30 The Lord will make his majestic voice heard.He will come down with all his might,with furious anger,with fire storms, windstorms, rainstorms, and hailstones.31 At the sound of the Lord, the people of Assyria will be shattered.He will strike them with his rod.32 To the sound of tambourines and lyres, the Lord will pound on them.He will fight them in battle, swinging his fists.33 Topheth was prepared long ago.It was made ready for the king.It was made deep and wide and piled high with plenty of burning logs.The Lord’s breath will be like a flood of burning sulfur,setting it on fire.

Isaiah 30

1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,2 that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes.5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.6 The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.7 For Egypt helpeth in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab that sitteth still.8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever.9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah;10 that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits,11 get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely thereon;13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly in an instant.14 And he shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among the pieces thereof a sherd wherewith to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.15 For thus said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. And ye would not:16 but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.17 One thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.18 And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you; and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of justice; blessed are all they that wait for him.19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; thou shalt weep no more; he will surely be gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear, he will answer thee.20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers;21 and thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it; when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.22 And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as an unclean thing; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.23 And he will give the rain for thy seed, wherewith thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures;24 the oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.25 And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah bindeth up the hurt of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.27 Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire;28 and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reacheth even unto the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causeth to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples.29 Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.30 And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones.31 For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he smite him.32 And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with the sound of tabrets and harps; and in battles with the brandishing of his arm will he fight with them.33 For a Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is made ready; he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.