Isaiah 30
30
Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4For their princes are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5Everyone 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.”
6The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev.
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;
7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8Now go, write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may serve in the time to come
As a witness forever.
9For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who refuse to listen
To the instruction of the Lord;
10Who 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 pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12Therefore 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,
13Therefore 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,
14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
So ruthlessly shattered
That a sherd will not be found among its pieces
To take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
“In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16And 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.
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top
And as a signal on a hill.
God Is Gracious and Just
18Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who long for Him.
19O 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. 20Although 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. 21Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. 22And 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 them, “Be gone!”
23Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be rich and plenteous; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26The 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 He has inflicted.
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place;
Burning is His anger and dense is His smoke;
His lips are filled with indignation
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.
29You will have 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.
30And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard,
And the descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour and hailstones.
31For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
32And every blow of the 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.
33For #I.e. the place of human sacrifice to MolechTopheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
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Isaiah 30: NASB1995
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Isaiah 30
30
Don't Expect Help from Egypt
1This is the Lord's message for his rebellious people:
“You follow your own plans
instead of mine;
you make treaties
without asking me,
and you keep on sinning.
2You trust Egypt for protection.
So you refuse my advice
and send messengers to Egypt
to beg their king for help.
3“You will be disappointed,
completely disgraced
for trusting Egypt.
4The king's power reaches
from the city of Zoan
as far south as Hanes.#30.4 Zoan … Hanes: Or “Your messengers have reached the city of Zoan and gone as far as Hanes.” Zoan was in northeast Egypt; Hanes was to the south.
5But Egypt can't protect you,
and to trust that nation
is useless and foolish.”
6This is a message
about the animals
of the Southern Desert:
“You people carry treasures
on donkeys and camels.
You travel to a feeble nation
through a troublesome desert
filled with lions
and flying fiery dragons.
7Egypt can't help you!
That's why I call that nation
a helpless monster.”#30.7 a helpless monster: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
Israel Refuses To Listen
8The Lord told me to write down his message for his people, so that it would be there forever. 9They have turned against the Lord and can't be trusted. They have refused his teaching 10and have said to his messengers and prophets:
Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false. 11Stop telling us what God has said! We don't want to hear any more about the holy One of Israel.
12Now this is the answer
of the holy One of Israel:
“You rejected my message,
and you trust in violence
and lies.
13This sin is like a crack
that makes a high wall
quickly crumble 14and shatter
like a crushed bowl.
There's not a piece left
big enough to carry hot coals
or to dip out water.”
Trust the Lord
15The holy Lord God of Israel
had told all of you,
“I will keep you safe
if you turn back to me
and calm down.
I will make you strong
if you quietly trust me.”
Then you stubbornly 16said,
“No! We will safely escape
on speedy horses.”
But those who chase you
will be even faster.
17As few as five of them,
or even one, will be enough
to chase a thousand of you.
Finally, all that will be left
will be a few survivors
as lonely as a flag pole
on a barren hill.
The Lord Will Show Mercy
18The Lord God is waiting
to show how kind he is
and to have pity on you.
The Lord always does right;
he blesses those who trust him.
19People of Jerusalem, you don't need to cry anymore. The Lord is kind, and as soon as he hears your cries for help, he will come. 20The Lord has given you trouble and sorrow as your food and drink. But now you will again see the Lord, your teacher, and he will guide you. 21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice saying, “This is the road! Now follow it.” 22Then you will treat your idols of silver and gold like garbage; you will throw them away like filthy rags.
23The Lord will send rain to water the seeds you have planted—your fields will produce more crops than you need, and your cattle will graze in open pastures. 24Even the oxen and donkeys that plow your fields will be fed the finest grain.#30.24 the finest grain: The Hebrew text refers to grain with the husks removed.
25On that day people will be slaughtered and towers destroyed, but streams of water will flow from high hills and towering mountains. 26Then the Lord will bandage his people's injuries and heal the wounds he has caused. The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter than usual. It will be like the light of seven days all at once.
Assyria Will Be Punished
27The Lord is coming
from far away
with his fiery anger
and thick clouds of smoke.#30.27 with … smoke: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
His angry words flame up
like a destructive fire;
28he breathes out a flood
that comes up to the neck.
He sifts the nations
and destroys them.
Then he puts a bridle
in every foreigner's mouth
and leads them to doom.
29The Lord's people will sing as they do when they celebrate a religious festival#30.29 a religious festival: Probably Passover. at night. The Lord is Israel's mighty rock,#30.29 mighty rock: See the note at 17.10. and his people will be as happy as they are when they follow the sound of flutes to the mountain where he is worshiped.
30The Lord will get furious. His fearsome voice will be heard, his arm will be seen ready to strike, and his anger will be like a destructive fire, followed by thunderstorms and hailstones. 31When the Assyrians hear the Lord's voice and see him striking with his iron rod, they will be terrified. 32He will attack them in battle, and each time he strikes them, it will be to the music of tambourines and harps.
33Long ago the Lord got a place ready for burning the body of the dead king.#30.33 burning … king: Or “sacrificing the king” or “sacrificing to Molech.” Human sacrifices were sometimes offered to Molech, a god whose name sounds like the Hebrew word for “king” (see 2 Kings 23.10; Jeremiah 32.35). The place for the fire is deep and wide, the wood is piled high, and the Lord will start the fire by breathing out flaming sulfur.
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