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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Isaiah 30: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
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.