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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Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. 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
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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