Isaiah 30
30
Warnings to the Stubborn Nation
1The 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 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.
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Isaiah 30: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 30
30
Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
1“Woe (judgment is coming) to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who carry out a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance [by pouring out a libation], but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting #Lit My mouth.Me,
To take refuge in the stronghold of Pharaoh
And to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3Therefore the safety and protection of Pharaoh will be your shame
And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation and disgrace.
4For his princes are at Zoan
And his ambassadors arrive at Hanes [in Egypt].
5All will be ashamed because of a people (the Egyptians) who cannot benefit them,
Who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and also a disgrace.”
6A [mournful, inspired] oracle (#I.e. an urgent message the prophet is under compulsion to proclaim.a burden to be carried) concerning the beasts of the Negev (the South):
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From #Lit them.where come lioness and lion, viper and [fiery] flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people (Egyptians) who cannot benefit them.
7For Egypt’s help is worthless and good for nothing.
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,
So that it may serve in the time to come
As a witness [against them] forevermore.
9For this is a rebellious people, lying sons,
Sons who refuse to listen to
The law and instruction of the Lord;
10Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions from God”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right!
Speak to us pleasant things and smooth words,
Prophesy [deceitful] illusions [that we will enjoy].
11Get out of the [true] way, turn aside from the path [of God],
Stop bothering us with the Holy One of Israel.”
12Therefore, the Holy One of Israel says this,
“Because you have refused and rejected this word [of Mine]
And have put your trust in oppression and guile, and have relied on them,
13Therefore this wickedness [this sin, this injustice, this wrongdoing] will be to you
Like a crack [in a wall] 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,
Crushed so savagely
that there cannot be found among its pieces a potsherd [large enough]
To take [coals of] fire from a fireplace,
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said this,
“In returning [to Me] and rest you shall be saved,
In quietness and confident trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16And you said, “No! We will flee on horses!”
Therefore you will flee [from your enemies]!
And [you said], “We will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17A thousand of you will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left like a flag on the top of a mountain,
And like a signal on a hill.
God Is Gracious and Just
18Therefore the Lord waits [expectantly] and longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you.
# The ancient rabbis posed the question of why God waits to bring in the kingdom, if both He and Israel desire it. Their answer was that God’s attribute of justice delays it, i.e. that Israel is not yet deserving of it. Nevertheless, they maintained, it is meritorious to look forward to it, and those who do will be blessed (rewarded). For the Lord is a God of justice;
Blessed (happy, fortunate) are all those who long for Him [since He will never fail them].
19 # MT reads For a people will dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem. O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will most certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry for help; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of oppression, yet your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will [constantly] see 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 carved images overlaid with silver, and your cast images plated with gold. You will scatter them like a bloodstained cloth, and will say to them, “Be gone!”
23Then He will give you rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread [grain] from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful. In that day your livestock will graze in large and roomy pastures. 24Also the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork. 25On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams of water on the day of the great slaughter (the day of the Lord), when the towers fall [and all His enemies are destroyed]. 26The light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days [concentrated in one], in the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound He has inflicted [because of their sins].
27Now look, the #The revelation of the power and glory and brilliance of God.name of the Lord comes from far away,
Burning with His anger, and heavy with #Lit lifting up, possibly referring to clouds.smoke;
His lips are full of #Lit cursing.indignation,
And His tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing river,
Which reaches to the neck,
To sift the nations back and forth in a sieve [of disaster],
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin.
29You will have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept,
And joy of heart as when one marches [in procession] with a flute,
To go to the [temple on the] mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make His majestic voice heard,
And show the descending of His arm [striking] in [His] fierce anger,
And in the flame of a devouring fire,
In the crashing sound of heavy rain, cloudburst, and hailstones.
31For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrians will be terrified,
When He strikes [them] with the rod.
32And every blow of the rod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on them,
Will be to the music of Israel’s tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight Assyria.
33For #A pagan site where children were burned as sacrifices to Molech, a Semitic god.Topheth [in Hinnom] has long been ready;
Indeed, it has been prepared for the [Assyrian] king.
He has made it deep and wide,
A pit of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone (blazing sulfur), kindles and fans it.
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