Isaiah 30
30
1Tragedy is coming to my defiant children, declares the Lord. You make plans that don't come from me; you make alliances against my wishes, adding sin to sin. 2You go to Egypt without asking me, looking to Pharaoh for protection, hoping to find safety hiding behind Egypt. 3But the protection of Pharaoh will be an embarrassment to you; hiding behind Egypt will only bring you humiliation. 4Even though he has officials at Zoan and his messengers reach Hanes, 5the Egyptians will offend everyone because they are useless—they're no help and good for nothing, except for causing shame and bringing disgrace.
6A message about the animals of the Negev. The messengers travel through a harsh and hostile land where lions and lionesses live, vipers and vicious snakes too. Their donkeys are burdened down with valuable gifts, their camels are loaded with treasure, to give to a worthless people that can't help. 7Egypt's support is an empty breath of wind. That's why I call her Pride Sitting Down.#30:7. “Sitting Down”: in other words, Egypt still speaks with arrogance, but it is so weak it does nothing but sit. The word for pride/arrogance also referred to a mythical sea-monster, Rahab.
8Now go and write all this down on a tablet and on a scroll so that it will last forever and ever. 9For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, who refuse to listen to the Lord's instructions. 10They tell people who see visions, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Don't give us prophecies about doing right—just tell us pleasant things and give us fake prophecies. 11Stop telling us straight; go a different direction! We don't want to hear any more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12So this is how the Holy One of Israel replies, Since you have rejected this message, and since you trust in oppression and believe in dishonesty, 13your punishment will suddenly fall on you, like a high wall that bulges out and collapses in an instant. 14You will be smashed like a clay pot, broken into such tiny pieces that there won't be a big enough piece to pick up coals from a hearth or a little bit of water from a well.
15This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, said, If you repent and patiently trust in me, you would be saved; you would be strong if you had such calm confidence. But you refused to do it.
16You replied, “No! We'll escape on horseback! We'll get away on fast horses!”
But the fast ones will be the ones chasing you! 17Just one of them will chase after a thousand of you. Just five of them will make you all run away. All that will be left of you will look like a flag fluttering on the top of a mountain, a banner waving on a hill.
18So the Lord waits, wanting to be kind to you, ready to act to show you mercy, for the Lord is a God who does what is right. All who wait for him are blessed.
19People of Zion, you who live in Jerusalem, you won't have to weep any more. When you cry for help he will be kind to you. He will answer you immediately when he hears you. 20Even though the Lord will give you the bread of hardship to eat and the water of suffering to drink, your teacher will no longer hide himself from you—you will see him with your own eyes. 21When you walk to the right or to the left, you will hear this command coming from behind you: “This is the way to follow.”
22You will defile your silver-coated idols coated with silver and your gold-covered images. You will throw them away like a dirty cloth used for periods, and say to them, “out of here!” 23He will send rain when you sow, and the land will produce great harvests. At that time your cattle will feed in rich pastures. 24The oxen and donkeys that help cultivate the earth will eat good greens and grain, spread with fork and shovel. 25At that time when your enemies are killed and the fortresses fall, streams of water will flow down every mountain and hill. 26The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter, like having seven days light in one. This is the way it will be when the Lord bandages the injuries of his people and heals the wounds he caused them.
27Look how the Lord arrives from far away, burning with anger and accompanied by thick clouds of smoke! What he says shows his anger—it's like a fire that burns everything up. 28His breath rushes out like a flood that comes up to the neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that destroys them; he puts bridles in the mouths of the different peoples to lead them away.
29But you will have a song to sing like you do on the night of a holy festival. You will celebrate in happiness like those who play pipes as they go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. 30The Lord will shout so everyone hears him he will reveal his great power. He will hit out in his anger and fury, with a fire that burns everything up, and with torrential rain, storm, and hail. 31At the Lord's command the Assyrians will be shattered, knocked down by his scepter. 32Every time the Lord hits them with his rod of punishment it will be accompanied by the music of tambourines and harps as he fights them, swinging into them in battle. 33The place of burning#30:33. Literally “Topheth,” a place in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. has been prepared a long time ago, ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, and has plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a flood of burning sulfur, sets it on fire.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Isaiah 30
30
Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance
1Woe to the rebellious children!#Dt 21:18–21; Is 1:2,23; 30:9; 65:2
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan,#Is 29:15 but not mine;
they make an alliance,
but against my will,
piling sin on top of sin.
2Without asking my advice
they set out to go down to Egypt#Is 31:1; Jr 43:7
in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection
and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.#Is 36:9
3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,
and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.#Is 20:5–6; 36:6; Jr 42:18,22
4For though his#30:4 Or Judah’s princes are at Zoan#Is 19:11
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
5everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.#Jr 2:36
6A pronouncement#Is 13:1 concerning the animals of the Negev:#30:6 Or Southland
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
of viper and flying serpent,#Dt 8:15
they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people who will not help them.
7Egypt’s help is completely worthless;
therefore, I call her:
Rahab Who Just Sits.#Ps 87:4; 89:10; Is 51:9; Ezk 29:3,7
8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence
and inscribe it on a scroll;
it will be for the future,
forever and ever.
9They are a rebellious people,
deceptive children,#Is 30:1
children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets,
“Do not prophesy the truth to us.
Tell us flattering things.#1Kg 22:8,13; Jr 6:14; 23:17,26; Ezk 13:8–16; Rm 16:18; 2Tm 4:3–4
Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way!
Leave the pathway.
Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”#Is 1:4; 41:14–20; 43:14; 45:11; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5; 55:5; 60:9,14
12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,
13this iniquity#Is 13:11 of yours will be
like a crumbling gap,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant — suddenly!
14Its collapse will be like the shattering
of a potter’s jar,#Ps 2:9; Jr 19:10–11 crushed to pieces,
so that not even a fragment of pottery
will be found among its shattered remains —
no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth
or scoop water from a cistern.”
15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“You will be delivered by returning and resting;
your strength will lie in quiet confidence.
But you are not willing.”
16You say, “No!
We will escape on horses” —
therefore you will escape! —
and, “We will ride on fast horses” —
but those who pursue you will be faster.#Is 31:1,3
17One thousand will flee at the threat of one,#Lv 26:36; Dt 28:25; 32:30; Jos 23:10; Pr 28:1
at the threat of five you will flee,
until you remain
like a solitary pole on a mountaintop
or a banner on a hill.
The Lord’s Mercy to Israel
18Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,#2Pt 3:9
for the Lord is a just God.
All who wait patiently for him are happy.
19For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,#1Kg 22:27; Ps 80:5 but your Teacher#30:20 Or teachers will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, 21and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”#Is 35:8–9 22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.
23Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.#Ps 144:13; Is 32:20; Hs 4:16 24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel#Mt 3:12 and fork. 25Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. 26The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter#Is 24:23; 60:19–20; Rv 21:23; 22:5 — like the light of seven days — on the day#Mt 25:13 that the Lord bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.#Is 33:24; Jr 33:6; Hs 6:1–2
Annihilation of the Assyrians
27Look! The name of the Lord is coming from far away,
his anger burning and heavy with smoke.#30:27 Hb obscure
His lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent#Is 11:4; 30:33; 2Th 2:8
that rises to the neck.#Is 8:8
He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction
and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples
to lead them astray.#2Kg 19:28; Is 37:29
29Your singing will be like that
on the night of a holy festival,
and your heart will rejoice
like one who walks to the music of a flute,
going up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.#Is 8:14; 26:4
30And the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard
and reveal his arm#Ex 6:6; Dt 4:34; Jb 40:9; Is 53:1; Jr 32:17; Ezk 20:33 striking in angry wrath
and a flame of consuming fire,
in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord.
He will strike with a rod.
32And every stroke of the appointed#30:32 Some Hb mss read punishing staff
that the Lord brings down on him
will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;
he will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33Indeed! Topheth has been ready#2Kg 23:10; Jr 7:31; 19:6
for the king for a long time.
Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,
with plenty of fire and wood.
The breath of the Lord,#Is 40:7 like a torrent of burning sulfur,
kindles it.
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