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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Isaiah 30: GNBDC
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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.
Isaiah 30
30
Warning against Alliance with Egypt
1“Oh rebellious children!” declares#Literally “declaration of” Yahweh,
“to make a plan, but#Or “and” not from me,
and pour out a libation, but#Or “and” not from my spirit,
so as to add#Literally “for the sake of adding” sin to sin.
2Who go to go down to Egypt,
but#Or “and” they do not ask of my mouth,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
3And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,
and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.
4For his officials are at Zoan,
and his envoys reach to Hanes.
5Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting,
but for shame and also for disgrace.”
Oracle regarding the Negev
6An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
among#Literally “from” them are snake and flying serpent;
they carry their wealth on the backs#Literally “shoulder” of male donkeys
and their treasures on the humps#Hebrew “hump” of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7For#Or “And” Egyptians#Literally “Egypt” help with vanity and emptiness,
therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”
8Now go, write it on a tablet with them,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
that#Or “and” it may be for the time to come,#Literally “for last day”
forever, forever.
9For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,
children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
10who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”
and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;
speak smooth things to us,
see illusions,
11turn aside from the way,
turn aside from the path,
put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”
12Therefore the holy one of Israel says this:
“Because you are rejecting this word
and you trust in oppression and cunning#Literally “going wrong”
and you rely on it,
13therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall,
bulging out on a high wall that breaks#Literally “whose breaking comes” suddenly, in an instant.
14And he breaks it like a vessel of a potter#Literally “someone who forms” breaks,
that is crushed; he has no compassion,
and no potsherd is found among its fragments#Hebrew “fragment” to take fire#Literally “for the taking away of fire” from the hearth,
or to skim#Literally “for the skimming off of” water from the cistern.”
15For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
your strength shall be in quietness and in trust.”
But#Or “And” you were not willing, 16and you said,
“No! For we will flee on horses!”#Hebrew “horse” Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses!”#Hebrew “horse” Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17One thousand because of#Literally “from the face of” a threat of one,
because#Literally “from the face” of a threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left like a flagstaff on top#Literally “head” of a mountain,
and like a signal on a hill.
Yahweh Will Show Mercy
18Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy,
for Yahweh is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem, you will surely not weep.
Surely he will be gracious to you;
when he hears the sound of your cry, he will answer you.
20And the Lord will give you the bread of distress
and the water of oppression,
but#Or “and” your teachers will not hide themselves#Hebrew “himself” any longer.
And your eyes shall see#Literally “be seeing” your teachers.
21And your ears shall hear a word from behind you, saying,
“this is the way; walk in it,”
when you go to your right
and when you go to your left.
22And you will defile the plating of your silver idols
and the covering of your gold image.
You will scatter them like contaminated things;#Hebrew “contaminated thing”
you will say to it, “Filth!”#Or “Get out!”
23And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground,
and grain, the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fertile.#Literally “fat”
On that day, your cattle will graze in broad pastures;#Hebrew “pasture”
24and the oxen and the donkeys that till#Or “tilling” the ground will eat fodder, sorrel
that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25And there will be streams on every high mountain and elevated hill,
watercourses of water, on a day of great slaughter, when towers fall.
26And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days,
on the day when Yahweh binds up the breakage of his people,
and he heals the wound of his blow.
Judgment against Assyria
27Look! The name of Yahweh comes from afar,
burning with his anger and heaviness of cloud.
His lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
28And his breath is like an overflowing river;
it reaches up to the neck
to shake the nations with the sieve of worthlessness;
and a bridle that leads astray is on the jawbones of the peoples.
29You shall have a song#Literally “There shall be a song for you” as in the night when a holy festival is kept,
and a gladness of heart like one who goes with the flute,
to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the rock of Israel.
30And Yahweh will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard,
and he will cause the descent of his arm to be seen,
in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire,
with a cloudburst and a rainstorm and stones#Hebrew “stone” of hail.
31Indeed, Assyria will be shattered by the voice of Yahweh;
he strikes with the rod.
32And every stroke of the staff of foundation#Some translations emend this to “discipline” that Yahweh lays will be on it with timbrels and lyres,
and he will fight against it#The reading tradition (Qere) has “them” with battles of brandishing.
33For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday;
indeed, it is made ready for the king.
He makes its pile of wood deep and wide;
he makes fire and wood abundant.#Literally “numerous”
The breath of Yahweh burns in it like a stream of sulfur.
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