Isaiah 31:2 Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.

◄ Isaiah 31:2 ►

New International Version
Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against that wicked nation, against those who help evildoers.

New Living Translation
In his wisdom, the LORD will send great disaster; he will not change his mind. He will rise against the wicked and against their helpers.

English Standard Version
And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

Berean Standard Bible
Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.

King James Bible
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

New King James Version
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And will not call back His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of those who work iniquity.

New American Standard Bible
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of the workers of injustice.

NASB 1995
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

NASB 1977
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers, And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

Legacy Standard Bible
Yet He also is wise and will bring about an evil demise And does not turn His words aside, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

Amplified Bible
Yet He is also wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the helpers of those who do evil.

Christian Standard Bible
But he also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what he says; he will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But He also is wise and brings disaster. He does not go back on what He says; He will rise up against the house of wicked men and against the allies of evildoers.

American Standard Version
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD isn't stupid! He does what he promises, and he can bring doom. If you are cruel yourself, or help those who are evil, you will be destroyed.

English Revised Version
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He is wise and can bring about disaster. He doesn't take back his words. He rises against wicked people and against those who help troublemakers.

Good News Translation
He knows what he is doing! He sends disaster. He carries out his threats to punish evil people and those who protect them.

International Standard Version
Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity.

Majority Standard Bible
Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers.

NET Bible
Yet he too is wise and he will bring disaster; he does not retract his decree. He will attack the wicked nation, and the nation that helps those who commit sin.

New Heart English Bible
Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against those who help evildoers.

Webster's Bible Translation
Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evil-doers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

World English Bible
Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
And He [is] also wise, and brings in evil, "" And He has not turned aside His words, "" And He has risen against a house of evildoers, "" And against the help of workers of iniquity.

Young's Literal Translation
And He also is wise, and bringeth in evil, And His words He hath not turned aside, And He hath risen against a house of evil doers, And against the help of workers of iniquity.

Smith's Literal Translation
And he also being wise and he will bring evil, and he removed not his words: and he rose up against the house of those doing evil, and against the help of those working vanity.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
But he that is the wise one hath brought evil, and hath not removed his words: and he will rise up against the house of the wicked, and against the aid of them that work iniquity.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Therefore, being wise, he has permitted harm, and he has not removed his words, and he will rise up against the house of the wicked and against those who assist the workers of iniquity.

New American Bible
Yet he too is wise and will bring disaster; he will not turn from his threats. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against those who help evildoers.

New Revised Standard Version
Yet he too is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will rise against the house of the evildoers, and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
Yet in his wisdom, he will bring a calamity, and will not alter his words; but will arise against the house of evildoers and against the help of those who work iniquity.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And in His wisdom he brought evil and he did not remove his words, and stood against the house of the afflicted and against the help of the workers of evil

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
Yet He also is wise, And bringeth evil, And doth not call back His words; But will arise against the house of the evil-doers, And against the help of them that work iniquity.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Therefore he has wisely brought evils upon them, and his word shall not be frustrated; and he shall rise up against the houses of wicked men, and against their vain hope,

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt
1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD. 2Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers. 3But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Isaiah 30:1-3
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. / They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade. / But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

Isaiah 10:5-7
Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. / I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets. / But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.

Jeremiah 17:5
This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind, who makes mere flesh his strength and turns his heart from the LORD.

Hosea 5:13-14
When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound. / For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.

Ezekiel 29:6-7
Then all the people of Egypt will know that I am the LORD. For you were only a staff of reeds to the house of Israel. / When Israel took hold of you with their hands, you splintered, tearing all their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke, and their backs were wrenched.

2 Kings 18:21
Look now, you are trusting in Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Deuteronomy 32:28-29
Israel is a nation devoid of counsel, with no understanding among them. / If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

Psalm 146:3-4
Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. / When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

Isaiah 29:14
Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

Isaiah 28:29
This also comes from the LORD of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 5:21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

Isaiah 19:3
Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

Isaiah 8:9-10
Huddle together, O peoples, and be shattered; pay attention, all you distant lands; prepare for battle, and be shattered; prepare for battle, and be shattered! / Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

Treasury of Scripture

Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

he also

1 Samuel 2:3
Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

Job 5:13
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.

Jeremiah 10:7,12
Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee…

will bring

Isaiah 30:13,14
Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant…

Isaiah 45:7
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Joshua 23:15
Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.

will not

Numbers 23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

Jeremiah 36:32
Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

Jeremiah 44:29
And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil:

call back.

Isaiah 28:21
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.

Isaiah 63:4,5
For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come…

Numbers 10:35
And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.

against the help

Isaiah 31:3
Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Isaiah 20:4-6
So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt…

Isaiah 30:3
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

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Isaiah 31

1. The prophet shows the folly and danger of trusting Egypt, and forsaking God
6. He exhorts to conversion
8. He shows the fall of Assyria

Berean Study Bible

But He also is wise
This phrase emphasizes the wisdom of God, contrasting human wisdom with divine wisdom. The Hebrew word for "wise" here is "חָכָם" (chakam), which denotes not just intelligence but skillful and practical wisdom. In the context of Isaiah, this wisdom is a reminder that God's plans and purposes are far beyond human understanding. Historically, Israel often relied on alliances with other nations, like Egypt, for protection, but this phrase underscores that true wisdom and guidance come from God alone.

and will bring disaster
The Hebrew word for "disaster" is "רָעָה" (ra'ah), which can mean evil, calamity, or adversity. This indicates that God, in His wisdom, will allow or bring about consequences for actions that are contrary to His will. The historical context here is crucial; Israel's reliance on Egypt instead of God would lead to disaster. This serves as a warning that turning away from God's guidance results in negative consequences.

He does not call back His words
This phrase highlights the faithfulness and unchangeable nature of God's word. The Hebrew root "שׁוּב" (shuv) means to turn back or repent. Unlike humans, God does not retract His promises or warnings. This is a powerful reminder of the reliability and steadfastness of God's declarations. Scripturally, it aligns with the idea that God's word is eternal and unchanging, as seen in passages like Isaiah 40:8.

but will rise up against the house of the evildoers
The phrase "rise up" comes from the Hebrew "קוּם" (qum), meaning to stand or arise. This indicates God's active intervention against those who do evil. The "house of the evildoers" refers to those who persist in sin and rebellion against God. Historically, this could be seen as a reference to both Israel and their enemies, who acted contrary to God's commands. It serves as a reminder of God's justice and His commitment to righteousness.

and against the help of those who do iniquity
The word "help" in Hebrew is "עֶזְרָה" (ezrah), meaning assistance or support. This phrase points to the futility of relying on human aid when it is aligned with iniquity, or "אָוֶן" (aven), which means trouble or wickedness. The historical context is Israel's reliance on Egypt, a nation characterized by idolatry and opposition to God's ways. This serves as a caution against forming alliances that compromise one's faith and integrity. It underscores the principle that true help and deliverance come from God alone, not from alliances with those who do not honor Him.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(2) Yet he also is wise.--The words have a ring of sarcasm in them. Isaiah admits ironically that the counsellors of Hezekiah were wise in their generation. He reminds them that there might be some little wisdom in Jehovah, and in the prophet by whom He spake.

And will not call back his words.--Such words, e.g., as those of the preceding chapter (Isaiah 30:12-13; Isaiah 30:16-17).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 2. - Yet he also is wise. Intense irony. "Wisdom is not wholly confined to the human counselors whose advice Judah follows (Isaiah 29:14). He (Jehovah) is 'wise' too, and could give prudent counsel if his advice were asked." As he is not consulted, he will bring evil upon his people, and will not call back, or retract, his words of threatening, but will give them accomplishment, by rising up against the house of the evil-doers (i.e. the Jews), and their help (i.e. the Egyptians).

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

Yet
ה֤וּא (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

He too
וְגַם־ (wə·ḡam-)
Conjunctive waw | Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

[is] wise
חָכָם֙ (ḥā·ḵām)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 2450: Wise

and brings
וַיָּ֣בֵא (way·yā·ḇê)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

disaster;
רָ֔ע (rā‘)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil

He does not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

call back
הֵסִ֑יר (hê·sîr)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5493: To turn aside

His words.
דְּבָרָ֖יו (də·ḇā·rāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

He will rise up
וְקָם֙ (wə·qām)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand

against
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the house
בֵּ֣ית (bêṯ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1004: A house

of the wicked
מְרֵעִ֔ים (mə·rê·‘îm)
Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 7489: To spoil, to make, good for, nothing, bad

and against
וְעַל־ (wə·‘al-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the allies
עֶזְרַ֖ת (‘ez·raṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 5833: Help, helper, assistance

of evildoers.
פֹּ֥עֲלֵי (pō·‘ă·lê)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural construct
Strong's 6466: To do, make, to practise

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OT Prophets: Isaiah 31:2 Yet he also is wise and will (Isa Isi Is)