Isaiah 30
30
Futile Confidence in Egypt
1“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
#Is. 29:15“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
#Deut. 29:19That they may add sin to sin;
2#Is. 31:1; Jer. 43:7Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And #Num. 27:21; Josh. 9:14; 1 Kin. 22:7; Jer. 21:2; 42:2, 20have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3#Is. 20:5; Jer. 37:5, 7Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
4For his princes were at #Is. 19:11Zoan,
And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5#Jer. 2:36They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them,
Or be help or benefit,
But a shame and also a reproach.”
6#Is. 57:9; Hos. 8:9; 12:1The burden against the beasts of the South.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From which came the lioness and lion,
#Deut. 8:15; Is. 14:29The viper and fiery flying serpent,
They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people who shall not profit;
7#Jer. 37:7For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.
Therefore I have called her
Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.
A Rebellious People
8Now go, #Hab. 2:2write it before them on a tablet,
And note it on a scroll,
That it may be for time to come,
Forever and ever:
9That #Deut. 32:20; Is. 1:2, 4; 65:2this is a rebellious people,
Lying children,
Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
10#Is. 5:20; Jer. 11:21; Amos 2:12; Mic. 2:6Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;
#1 Kin. 22:8, 13; Jer. 6:14; 23:17, 26; Ezek. 13:7; Mic. 2:11; Rom. 16:18; 2 Tim. 4:3, 4Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
11Get out of the way,
Turn aside from the path,
Cause the Holy One of Israel
To cease from before us.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you #Lev. 26:43; Num. 15:31; Prov. 1:30; 13:13; Is. 5:24; Ezek. 20:13, 16, 24; Amos 2:4despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
#1 Kin. 20:30; Ps. 62:3, 4; Is. 58:12Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking #Is. 29:5comes suddenly, in an instant.
14And #Ps. 2:9; Jer. 19:11He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,
Which is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare.
So there shall not be found among its fragments
A shard to take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.”
15For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
#Ps. 116:7; Is. 7:4; 28:12“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
#Matt. 23:37But you would not,
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!
17#Lev. 26:36; Deut. 28:25; 32:30; Josh. 23:10; (Prov. 28:1)One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee,
Till you are left as a pole on top of a mountain
And as a banner on a hill.
God Will Be Gracious
18Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be #Is. 33:2gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
#Ps. 2:12; 34:8; Prov. 16:20; Jer. 17:7Blessed are all those who #Is. 26:8wait for Him.
19For the people #Is. 65:9; (Ezek. 37:25, 28)shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;
You shall #Is. 25:8weep no more.
He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will #Ps. 50:15; Is. 65:24; (Matt. 7:7–11)answer you.
20And though the Lord gives you
#1 Kin. 22:27; Ps. 127:2The bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
Yet #Ps. 74:9; Amos 8:11your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
21Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you #Josh. 1:7turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.
22#2 Chr. 31:1; Is. 2:20; 31:7You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,
And the ornament of your molded images of gold.
You will throw them away as an unclean thing;
#Hos. 14:8You will say to them, “Get away!”
23#(Matt. 6:33); 1 Tim. 6:8Then He will give the rain for your seed
With which you sow the ground,
And bread of the increase of the earth;
It will be fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed
In large pastures.
24Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground
Will eat cured fodder,
Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
25There will be #Is. 2:14, 15on every high mountain
And on every high hill
Rivers and streams of waters,
In the day of the #Is. 2:10–21; 34:2great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
26Moreover #(Is. 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:23; 22:5)the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people
And heals the stroke of their wound.
Judgment on Assyria
27Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
Burning with His anger,
And His burden is heavy;
His lips are full of indignation,
And His tongue like a devouring fire.
28#Is. 11:4; 2 Thess. 2:8His breath is like an overflowing stream,
#Is. 8:8Which reaches up to the neck,
To sift the nations with the sieve of futility;
And there shall be #2 Kin. 19:28; Is. 37:29a bridle in the jaws of the people,
Causing them to err.
29You shall have a song
As in the night when a holy festival is kept,
And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,
To come into #(Is. 2:3)the mountain of the Lord,
To the Mighty One of Israel.
30#Is. 29:6The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard,
And show the descent of His arm,
With the indignation of His anger
And the flame of a devouring fire,
With scattering, tempest, #Is. 28:2and hailstones.
31For #Is. 14:25; 37:36through the voice of the Lord
Assyria will be beaten down,
As He strikes with the #Is. 10:5, 24rod.
32And in every place where the staff of punishment passes,
Which the Lord lays on him,
It will be with tambourines and harps;
And in battles of #Is. 11:15brandishing He will fight with it.
33#2 Kin. 23:10; Jer. 7:31For Tophet was established of old,
Yes, for the king it is prepared.
He has made it deep and large;
Its pyre is fire with much wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
Kindles it.
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Isaiah 30: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 30
30
A Useless Treaty with Egypt
1The LORD has spoken: “Those who rule Judah are doomed because they rebel against me. They follow plans that I did not make, and sign treaties against my will, piling one sin on another. 2They go to Egypt for help without asking for my advice. They want Egypt to protect them, so they put their trust in Egypt's king. 3But the king will be powerless to help them, and Egypt's protection will end in disaster. 4Although their ambassadors have already arrived at the Egyptian cities of Zoan and Hanes, 5the people of Judah will regret that they ever trusted that unreliable nation, a nation that fails them when they expect help.”
6This is God's message about the animals of the southern desert: “The ambassadors travel through dangerous country, where lions live and where there are poisonous snakes and flying dragons. They load their donkeys and camels with expensive gifts for a nation that cannot give them any help. 7The help that Egypt gives is useless. So I have nicknamed Egypt, ‘The Harmless Dragon’ ”.
The Disobedient People
8God told me to write down in a book what the people are like, so that there would be a permanent record of how evil they are. 9They are always rebelling against God, always lying, always refusing to listen to the LORD's teachings. 10They tell the prophets to keep quiet. They say, “Don't talk to us about what's right. Tell us what we want to hear. Let us keep our illusions. 11Get out of our way and stop blocking our path. We don't want to hear about your holy God of Israel.”
12But this is what the holy God of Israel says: “You ignore what I tell you and rely on violence and deceit. 13You are guilty. You are like a high wall with a crack running down it; suddenly you will collapse. 14You will be shattered like a clay pot, so badly broken that there is no piece big enough to pick up hot coals with, or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15The Sovereign LORD, the holy God of Israel, says to the people, “Come back and quietly trust in me. Then you will be strong and secure.” But you refuse to do it! 16Instead, you plan to escape from your enemies by riding fast horses. And you are right — escape is what you will have to do! You think your horses are fast enough, but those who pursue you will be faster! 17A thousand of you will run away when you see one enemy soldier, and five soldiers will be enough to make you all run away. Nothing will be left of your army except a lonely flagstaff on the top of a hill! 18And yet the LORD is waiting to be merciful to you. He is ready to take pity on you because he always does what is right. Happy are those who put their trust in the LORD.
God will Bless his People
19You people who live in Jerusalem will not weep any more. The LORD is compassionate, and when you cry to him for help, he will answer you. 20The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him any more. 21If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, “Here is the road. Follow it.” 22You will take your idols plated with silver and your idols covered with gold, and will throw them away like filth, shouting, “Out of my sight!” 23Whenever you sow your seeds, the LORD will send rain to make them grow and will give you a rich harvest, and your livestock will have plenty of pasture. 24The oxen and donkeys that plough your fields will eat the finest and best fodder. 25On the day when the forts of your enemies are captured and their people are killed, streams of water will flow from every mountain and every hill. 26The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter than usual, like the light of seven days in one. This will all happen when the LORD bandages and heals the wounds he has given his people.
God will Punish Assyria
27The LORD's power and glory can be seen in the distance. Fire and smoke show his anger. He speaks, and his words burn like fire. 28He sends the wind in front of him like a flood that carries everything away. It sweeps nations to destruction and puts an end to their evil plans. 29But you, God's people, will be happy and sing as you do on the night of a sacred festival. You will be as happy as those who walk to the music of flutes on their way to the Temple of the LORD, the defender of Israel.
30The LORD will let everyone hear his majestic voice and feel the force of his anger. There will be flames, cloudbursts, hailstones, and torrents of rain. 31The Assyrians will be terrified when they hear the LORD's voice and feel the force of his punishment. 32As the LORD strikes them again and again, his people will keep time with the music of drums and harps. God himself will fight against the Assyrians. 33Long ago a place was prepared where a huge fire will burn the emperor of Assyria. It is deep and wide, and piled high with wood. The LORD will breathe out a stream of flame to set it on fire.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.