Isaiah 30
30
Israel Should Trust in God, Not Egypt
1The Lord said, “Look at these children. They don’t obey me. They make plans, but they don’t ask me to help them. They make agreements with other nations, but my Spirit does not want those agreements. These people are adding more and more sins to the ones they have already done. 2They are going down to Egypt for help, but they did not ask me if that was the right thing to do. They hope they will be saved by the Pharaoh. They want Egypt to protect them.
3“But I tell you, hiding in Egypt will not help you. Pharaoh will not be able to protect you. 4Your leaders have gone to Zoan, and your representatives have gone to Hanes.#30:4 Zoan, Hanes Cities in Egypt. 5But they will be disappointed. They are depending on a nation that cannot help them. Egypt is useless—it will not help. Egypt will bring nothing but shame and embarrassment.”
God’s Message to Judah
6This is a message#30:6 message Or “burden.” about the Negev animals#30:6 Negev animals Or “Creatures of the South,” a phrase that can refer to Egypt.:
There is a dangerous place full of lions, adders,#30:6 adders Very poisonous snakes. deadly snakes,#30:6 deadly snakes Literally, “flying snakes.” and useless people. And there are people who load their wealth onto donkeys and their treasures on the backs of camels. They carry them to a people who cannot help. 7That useless nation is Egypt. Egypt’s help is worth nothing, so I call Egypt the “Do-Nothing Dragon.”#30:7 Do-Nothing Dragon Or “Resting Rahab,” the great sea monster. Some ancient stories tell about Rahab fighting with God.
8Now write this on a sign so that all people can see it, and write this in a book. Write these things for a future time. This will be far, far in the future:#30:8 Write … future Or “Write this for the future as a witness forever.”
9These people are like children who refuse to obey. They lie and refuse to listen to the Lord’s teachings. 10They tell the prophets, “Don’t see dreams#30:10 dreams Or “visions.” Special kinds of dreams God used to speak to his prophets. about things we should do. Don’t tell us the truth. Say nice things to us and make us feel good. See only good things for us. 11Stop seeing things that will really happen. Get out of our way. Stop telling us about the Holy One of Israel.”
Judah’s Help Comes Only From God
12The Holy One of Israel says, “You people have refused to accept this message from me. You depend on fighting and lies to help you. 13You are guilty of these things. So you are like a tall wall with cracks in it. That wall will fall and break into small pieces. 14You will be like a large clay jar that breaks into many small, useless pieces. You cannot use them to get a hot coal from the fire or to get water from a pool in the ground.”
15The Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, says, “If you come back to me you will be saved. Only by remaining calm and trusting in me can you be strong.”
But you don’t want to do that. 16You say, “No, we need fast horses for battle.” That is true—you will need fast horses, but only to run away because your enemy will be faster than your horses. 17One enemy soldier will make threats, and a thousand of your men will run away. And when five of them make threats, all of you will run away. The only thing that will be left of your army will be a flagpole on a hill.
God Will Help His People
18So the Lord is waiting to show his mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is the God who does the right thing, so he will bless everyone who waits for his help.
19You people who live in Jerusalem on Mount Zion will not continue crying. The Lord will hear your crying, and he will comfort you. When he hears you, he will help you.
20The Lord might give you sorrow and pain like the bread and water you eat every day. But God is your teacher, and he will not continue to hide from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. 21If you wander from the right path, either to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, “You should go this way. Here is the right way.”
22Then you will take your idols covered with gold and silver and make them unfit to be used again. You will throw them away like filthy rags#30:22 You … rags Or “You will throw those gods away like menstrual clothes.” and say, “Go away!”
23At that time the Lord will send you rain. You will plant seeds, and the ground will grow food for you. You will have a very large harvest. You will have plenty of food in the fields for your animals. There will be large fields for your sheep. 24Your cattle and donkeys will have all the food they need. There will be much food. You will have to use shovels and pitchforks to spread all the food#30:24 food This was special food that had been allowed to ferment. This made the meat of the animal tender and good. for your animals to eat. 25Every mountain and hill will have streams filled with water. These things will happen after many people are killed and the enemy’s towers are pulled down.
26At that time the light from the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light from the sun will be seven times brighter than it is now. One day of sunlight will be like a whole week’s worth. This will happen when the Lord bandages his broken people and heals the hurts from their beatings.
27Look! The Lord is coming 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 great river that rises until it reaches the throat. He will judge the nations as if putting them through a strainer that separates the ones fit for destruction. He will put a bit in their mouths to lead them to the place they don’t want to go.
29You will sing happy songs, like the nights when you begin a festival. You will be very happy walking to the Lord’s mountain and listening to the flute on the way to worship the Rock of Israel.
30The Lord will cause all people to hear his great voice and to see his powerful arm come down in anger. That arm will be like a great fire that burns everything. His power will be like a great storm with much rain and hail. 31Assyria will be frightened by the Lord’s voice and the stick that will beat him. 32And as the Lord beats Assyria, his people will keep the rhythm with their drums and harps.
33Topheth#30:33 Topheth Gehenna, the Valley of Hinnom. In this valley people killed their children to honor the false god, “Molech.” has been made ready for a long time. It is ready for the king.#30:33 king This is like the name of the false god, “Molech.” It was made very deep and wide. There is a very big pile of wood and fire there, and the Lord’s breath will come like a stream of burning sulfur to start the fire.
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Isaiah 30: ERV
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 30
30
1“Woe to the stubborn children,” declares יהוה, “to make counsel, but not from Me, and to devise plans, but not of My Spirit, in order to add sin to sin;
2who are setting out to go down to Mitsrayim, and have not asked My mouth, to be strengthened in the strength of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shadow of Mitsrayim!
3“And the strength of Pharaoh shall become your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Mitsrayim your confusion.
4“For his princes were at Tso‛an, and his messengers came to Ḥanes.
5“They were all ashamed of a people who do not profit them, not for help or profit, but a shame and also a reproach.”
6The message concerning the beasts of the South. Through a land of trouble and distress, from which came the lioness and lion, the adder and fiery flying serpent, they convey their riches on the backs of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to an unprofitable people,
7even Mitsrayim, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore I have called her Rahaḇ-Hĕm-Sheḇeth.
8And go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it on a scroll, that it is for a latter day, a witness forever:
9that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children who refuse to hear the Torah of יהוה,
10who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right. Speak to us what is smooth, prophesy deceits.
11“Turn aside from the way, swerve from the path, cause the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl to cease from before us.”
12Therefore thus said the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them,
13therefore this crookedness is to you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, swiftly.”
14And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces, without sparing, so that there is not found among its fragments a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.
15For thus said the Master יהוה, the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl, “In returning and rest you are saved, in stillness and trust is your strength.” But you would not,
16and you said, “No, for we flee upon horses,” therefore you flee! And, “We ride on swift horses,” therefore those who pursue you are swift!
17One thousand flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five you shall flee until you are left as a pole on top of a mountain and as a sign on a hill.
18And therefore יהוה shall wait, to show you favour. And therefore He shall be exalted, to have compassion on you. For יהוה is an Elohim of right-ruling. Blessed are all those who wait for Him.
19For the people shall dwell in Tsiyon at Yerushalayim, you shall weep no more. He shall show much favour to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He shall answer you.
20Though יהוה gave you bread of adversity and water of affliction, your Teacher#Or teachers. shall no longer be hidden. But your eyes shall see your Teacher,#Or teachers. See also Joel 2:23
21and your ears hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the Way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right, or whenever you turn to the left.
22And you shall defile the covering of your graven images of silver, and the plating of your moulded images of gold. You shall throw them away as a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Be gone!”
23And He shall give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth. And it shall be fat and rich, your cattle grazing in an enlarged pasture in that day,
24and the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground eat seasoned fodder winnowed with shovel and fan.
25And on every high mountain and on every high hill there shall be rivers and streams of waters, in the day of great killing, when the towers fall.
26And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that יהוה binds up the breach of His people, and heals the wound of His blows.
27See, the Name of יהוה is coming from afar, burning with His wrath, and heavy smoke. His lips shall be filled with rage, and His tongue be as a devouring fire;
28and His breath shall be as an overflowing stream, which reaches up to the neck, to sift#See Amos 9:9 the nations with a sieve of falsehood, and a misleading bridle on the jaws of the peoples.
29Let the song be to you as in a night set apart for a festival, and gladness of heart as he who is going with a flute, to come into the mountain of יהוה, to the Rock of Yisra’ĕl.
30And יהוה shall cause His excellent voice to be heard, and show the coming down of His arm, with raging wrath and the flame of a consuming fire, with scattering, downpour and hailstones.
31For through the voice of יהוה Ashshur is broken down, with a rod He strikes.
32And every passage of the ordained staff which יהוה lays on him, shall be with tambourines and lyres, when He shall fight with it, battling with a brandishing arm.
33For Topheth was ordained of old, even for the sovereign it has been prepared. He has made it deep and large, its fire pit with much wood; the breath of יהוה, as a stream of burning sulphur, is burning in it!
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