Isaiah
Select chapter 30

Isaiah 30

Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance

1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And [a]make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting [b]Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 “Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 “For their princes are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 “Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,
Who are not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

6 The [c]oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev.

Through a land of distress and anguish,
From [d]where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the [e]backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called [f]her
“[g]Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may [h]serve in the time to come
[i]As a witness forever.
9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who [j]refuse to listen
To the [k]instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right,
Speak to us [l]pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11 “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
[m]Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this iniquity will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
[n]So ruthlessly shattered
That a sherd will not be found among its pieces
To [o]take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

15 For thus the Lord [p]God, the Holy One of Israel, has said,

“In [q]repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses,”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a [r]flag on a mountain top
And as a signal on a hill.

God Is Gracious and Just

18 Therefore the Lord [s]longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He [t]waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who [u]long for Him.

19 [v]O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, “[w]This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to [x]them, “Be gone!”

23 Then He will give you rain for [y]the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be [z]rich and [aa]plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which [ab]has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be [ac]streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise [ad]He has inflicted.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a [ae]remote place;
Burning is His anger and [af]dense is His [ag]smoke;
His lips are filled with indignation
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a [ah]sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which [ai]leads to ruin.
29 You will have [aj]songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And the Lord will cause [ak]His voice of authority to be heard,
And the [al]descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.
31 For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
32 And every [am]blow of the [an]rod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33 For [ao]Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
[ap]A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 30:1 Lit pour out a drink offering
  2. Isaiah 30:2 Lit My mouth
  3. Isaiah 30:6 Or burden of
  4. Isaiah 30:6 Lit them
  5. Isaiah 30:6 Lit shoulders
  6. Isaiah 30:7 Lit this one
  7. Isaiah 30:7 M.T. reads They are Rahab (or arrogance), to remain
  8. Isaiah 30:8 Lit be
  9. Isaiah 30:8 So the versions; Heb Forever and ever
  10. Isaiah 30:9 Lit are not willing
  11. Isaiah 30:9 Or law
  12. Isaiah 30:10 Lit smooth things
  13. Isaiah 30:11 Lit Cause to cease from our presence the
  14. Isaiah 30:14 Lit Crushed, it will not be spared
  15. Isaiah 30:14 Lit snatch up
  16. Isaiah 30:15 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
  17. Isaiah 30:15 Lit returning
  18. Isaiah 30:17 Lit pole
  19. Isaiah 30:18 Lit waits
  20. Isaiah 30:18 Lit is on high
  21. Isaiah 30:18 Lit wait
  22. Isaiah 30:19 M.T. reads A people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
  23. Isaiah 30:21 Lit saying, “This
  24. Isaiah 30:22 Lit it “Go out”
  25. Isaiah 30:23 Lit your
  26. Isaiah 30:23 Lit fatness
  27. Isaiah 30:23 Lit fat
  28. Isaiah 30:24 Lit one winnows
  29. Isaiah 30:25 Lit canals, streams of water
  30. Isaiah 30:26 Lit of His blow
  31. Isaiah 30:27 Lit distance
  32. Isaiah 30:27 Lit heaviness
  33. Isaiah 30:27 Lit uplifting
  34. Isaiah 30:28 Lit sifting of the worthless
  35. Isaiah 30:28 Lit misleads
  36. Isaiah 30:29 Lit the song
  37. Isaiah 30:30 Lit the majesty of His voice
  38. Isaiah 30:30 Lit descent
  39. Isaiah 30:32 Lit passing
  40. Isaiah 30:32 Lit staff of foundation
  41. Isaiah 30:33 I.e. the place of human sacrifice to Molech
  42. Isaiah 30:33 Lit Its pile
Isaiah 30