Isaiah 30
30
Judah’s Worthless Treaty with Egypt
1“What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”
says the Lord.
“You make plans that are contrary to mine.
You make alliances not directed by my Spirit,
thus piling up your sins.
2For without consulting me,
you have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection.
You have tried to hide in his shade.
3But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,
and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
4For though his power extends to Zoan
and his officials have arrived in Hanes,
5all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.”
6This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:
The caravan moves slowly
across the terrible desert to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
and camels loaded with treasure—
all to pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the wilderness,
a place of lionesses and lions,
a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
7Egypt’s promises are worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
the Harmless Dragon.#30:7 Hebrew Rahab who sits still. Rahab is the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature. The name is used here as a poetic name for Egypt.
A Warning for Rebellious Judah
8Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time
as a witness
9that these people are stubborn rebels
who refuse to pay attention to the Lord’s instructions.
10They tell the seers,
“Stop seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
11Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy One of Israel.’”
12This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13calamity will come upon you suddenly—
like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and come crashing down.
14You will be smashed like a piece of pottery—
shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.”
15This is what the Sovereign Lord,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
17One of them will chase a thousand of you.
Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”
Blessings for the Lord’s People
18So the Lord must wait for you to come to him
so he can show you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
19O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
20Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
21Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
22Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”
23Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time. There will be wonderful harvests and plenty of pastureland for your livestock. 24The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by the wind. 25In that day, when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill. 26The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days in one! So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.
27Look! The Lord is coming from far away,
burning with anger,
surrounded by thick, rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
his words consume like fire.
28His hot breath pours out like a flood
up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
29But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
like the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with joy,
as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
to the Rock of Israel.
30And the Lord will make his majestic voice heard.
He will display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames,
with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones.
31At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will be shattered.
He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
32And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment,#30:32 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads with the founded rod.
his people will celebrate with tambourines and harps.
Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the Assyrians.
33Topheth—the place of burning—
has long been ready for the Assyrian king;
the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a volcano,
will set it ablaze.
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Isaiah 30: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Isaiah 30
30
XXX
1Wo unto the rebellious children, saith Jehovah,
Who form counsels, but not from me;
And make oblations, but not by my spirit:
That they may add sin to sin.
2Who set forward to go down to Egypt;
But have not inquired at my mouth:
To strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh;
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
3But the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame;
And your trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4When his princes were at Zoan,
And his ambassadors arrived at Hanes:
5They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them;
Nor be an help nor profit;
But a shame and also a reproach.
6THE ORACLE CONCERNING THE BEASTS OF THE SOUTH.
Through a land of distress and difficulty,
From whence come the lioness and the lion,
The viper and the flying fiery serpent,
They carry on the shoulder of young asses their wealth;
And on the bunch of the camel their treasures;
To a people that shall not profit them:
7For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose;
Wherefore I have called her, Rahab Hem Shabeth.
8Now, go write it for them on a tablet;
And note it in a book:
That it might be for time to come;
For ever and ever.
9For this is a rebellious people, lying children;
Children, who will not hear the law of Jehovah;
10Who say to the seers, See not;
And to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us rightthings;
Speak unto us smooth things;
Prophesy deceits.
11Get you out of the way,
Turn out of the path;
Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel:
Because ye have rejected this word,
And have trusted in oppression and perverseness;
And have stayed thereon:
13Therefore this iniquity shall be unto you
Like a breach ready to fall, bulging out in a high wall;
Whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
14And it shall be broken, as the breaking of a potter's vessel that is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare;
So that there shall not be found a sherd among its fragments,
To take up fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.
15Verily thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest should ye have been saved;
In quietness and in confidence should have been your strength;
But ye would not.
16And ye said: No, for we will flee upon horses;
Therefore shall ye certainly flee:
And, we will ride upon swift coursers;
Therefore shall they be made swift that pursue you.
17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one;
At the rebuke of five shall ye flee:
Till ye be left as a standard on the summit of a mountain;
And as a beacon on an hill.
18And therefore shall Jehovah delay, that he may be gracious unto you;
And therefore shall he withdraw himself that he may have mercy upon you;
For Jehovah is a God of judgment;
Blessed are all they that wait for him.
19Surely the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem:
Thou shalt weep no more:
He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry;
No sooner shall he hear it, than he will answer thee.
20And the Lord shall give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction;
And thy teachers shall not be hid any more;
But thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21And 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.
22And ye shall defile the covering of your graven images of silver,
And the clothing of your molten images of gold:
Thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth;
Thou shalt say unto them, Begone.
23Then shall he give rain for thy seed,
With which thou shalt sow thy ground,
And bread of the produce of the ground;
And it shall be abundant and plenteous:
And thy cattle shall feed in that day in large pastures.
24And the oxen, and the young asses, that till the ground,
Shall eat clean provender,
Which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25And there shall be upon every high mountain,
And upon every lofty hill,
Brooks, even streams of water,
In the day of the great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
26Moreover 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 when Jehovah shall bind up the breach of his people;
And shall heal the wound which his stroke hath inflicted.
27Behold! the name of Jehovah cometh from afar,
His wrath burneth, and vehement is the flame;
His lips are full of indignation,
And his tongue is as a consuming fire.
28And his breath is like an overflowing torrent,
That reacheth to the middle of the neck;
To sift the nations with the sieve of destruction:
And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people causing them to err.
29Ye shall have a song, as in the night when the feast
is celebrated;
And gladness of heart, as when one marcheth after the pipe,
To go to the mountain of Jehovah, to the rock of Israel.
30And Jehovah shall cause his glorious voice to be heard,
And make the descending of his arm to be seen,
With indignant wrath, and with a flame of consuming fire;
With a violent storm, and rushing showers, and hailstones.
31When at the voice of Jehovah the Assyrian shall be beaten down,
Then with the rod He shall smite.
32And wherever the appointed rod shall pass,
Which Jehovah shall cause to rest upon him;
It shall be accompanied with tabrets and harps;
And with fierce battles shall He fight against them.
33For Tophet is ordained of old,
Even the same for the king is prepared;
He hath made it deep; he hath made it large;
The pile thereof, fire and wood in abundance:
The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.