Isaiah 30:1-25 ▼

1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares Yahweh, “Who execute counsel, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin,

2 Who go down to Egypt— But did not ask Me— To find strength in the strong defense of Pharaoh And to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore the strong defense of Pharaoh will be your shame And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.

4 For their princes are at Zoan And their messengers reach Hanes.

5 Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, Who are not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

6 The oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev. Through a land of distress and anguish, From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying fiery serpent, They carry their wealth on the backs of young donkeys And their treasures on camels’ humps, To a people who cannot profit them;

7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty. Therefore, I have called her “Rahab who has ceased.”

8 Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a scroll, That it may be in the time to come As a witness forever.

9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who are not willing to listen To the law of Yahweh,

10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see,” And to those who have visions, “You must not behold visions for us of what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Behold visions of illusions.

11 Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Cease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Since you have rejected this word And have put your trust in oppression and deviousness and have relied on them,

13 Therefore this iniquity will be to you Like a breach about to fall, A bulge in a high wall, Whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant,

14 Whose breaking is like the breaking of a potter’s jar, So ruthlessly shattered That a potsherd will not be found among its pieces To take fire from a hearth Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

15 For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your might.” But you were not willing,

16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” Therefore you shall flee! “And we will ride on swift horses,” Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one man; You will flee at the threat of five, Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top And as a standard on a hill.

18 Therefore Yahweh waits with longing to be gracious to you, And therefore He is on high to have compassion on you. For Yahweh is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who wait for Him.

19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.

20 The Lord has given you bread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher.

21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

22 And you will defile your graven images overlaid with your silver, and your molten images plated with your gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing and say to them, “Be gone!”

23 Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fat; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

25 And it will be that on every lofty mountain and on every lifted up hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.