¹ Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
    who devise plans that were not in accord with my will,
who make alliances that were not inspired by me,
    thereby adding sin upon sin.
² They depart for Egypt
    without seeking my counsel,
to take refuge in Pharaoh’s protection
    and to take shelter in Egypt’s shadow.
³ Therefore, Pharaoh’s protection will be your shame,
    and the shelter of Egypt’s shadow
    will be your humiliation.
⁴ For though his princes are at Zoan
    and his envoys have reached Hanes,^[a]
5 everyone has been put to shame
    by a people who cannot be of any use,
who afford them neither help nor profit
    but only shame and disgrace.

Through a land of hardship and distress,
    of the lioness and the roaring lion,
    of the viper and the flying serpent,
they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
    and their treasures on the humps of camels
    to a nation that cannot be of help to them.
⁷ For Egypt’s help is vain and futile;
    therefore I have called her
    “Rahab^[b] the Worthless.”
^{8     [c]}And so go forth and in their presence
    write it on a scroll,
    inscribe it on a tablet,
so that it may serve hereafter
    as an eternal witness.
⁹ They are a rebellious people,
    deceitful children,
children who refuse to listen
    to the instruction of the Lord.
¹⁰ To the seers they say,
    “Cease to have visions!”
To the prophets they demand,
    “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
    reveal to us pleasant things; prophesy illusions.
¹¹ Cease with your warnings;
    turn aside from the straight path.
We wish to hear nothing further
    about the Holy One of Israel.”

Because you have rejected this warning,
    placing your trust in fraud and deceit
    and relying on them,
¹³ this guilt of yours will become for you
    like a crack appearing in a high wall
that bulges out and continues to widen
    until suddenly, in an instant,
    that wall will come hurtling to the ground.
¹⁴ It will crash and break like an earthenware pot,
    shattered so completely
that among its fragments not a single shard can be found
    to remove an ember from the hearth
    or to scoop out water from a cistern.
¹⁵ For thus says the Lord God,
    the Holy One of Israel:
Your salvation depends upon repentance and tranquility
    and your strength upon quiet trust.
    But you would have none of it.
¹⁶ “No,” you said. “We will flee upon horses.”
    Therefore, you will flee.
“We will ride on swift horses,” you added.
    But your pursuers will be even more swift.
¹⁷ A thousand will tremble at the threat of one;
    if five threaten you, you will flee,
until you are left
    like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain
    or like a banner on a hill.
¹⁸ But even so the Lord is waiting to be gracious to you,
    and he will rise up to grant you his compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    blessed are all those who wait for him.
¹⁹ O people of Zion who dwell in Jerusalem,
    you will weep no more.
The Lord will be gracious to you
    when you cry out to him for help;
when he hears your call,
    he will answer you.
²⁰ Although the Lord may give you the bread of adversity
    and the water of affliction,
he who is your Teacher will no longer hide himself,
    but with your own eyes you will see your Teacher.
²¹ And when you stray from your path,
    whether to the right or to the left,
you will hear his voice behind you,
    sounding in your ears and saying,
    “This is the way; continue to follow it.”
²² Then you will realize how unclean
    are your silver-plated idols
    and your gold-plated images.
You will cast them away like polluted rags
    and shout at them, “Away with you!”

²³ God will send rain
    for the seed you sow in the ground,
and the crops that the soil brings forth
    will be rich and abundant.
When that day comes,
    your cattle will graze in broad pastures.
²⁴ The oxen and the donkeys that plow the land
    will be fed with fodder
    that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
²⁵ On every lofty mountain and on every high hill
    there will be streams of water
on the day of the great slaughter
    when the strongholds fall.
²⁶ The light of the moon will match that of the sun,
    and the light of the sun itself
will be seven times brighter than before,
    like the light of seven days compressed into one,
when the Lord binds up the wounds of his people
    and heals the injuries inflicted by his blows.

²⁷ See, the name of the Lord approaches from afar,
    with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke.
His lips are brimming over with anger,
    and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
²⁸ His breath is like a rushing flood
    that reaches up to the neck;
it will winnow the nations with the sieve of destruction
    and place on the jaws of the people
    a bridle that will lead them astray.
²⁹ But as for you, your songs will be
    like those on the night of a holy festival,
and you will experience joy in your hearts
    such as occurs when, to the sound of a flute,
people make a pilgrimage to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the Rock of Israel.
³⁰ Then the Lord will make his majestic voice heard
    and allow his arm to be seen
as it descends in furious anger
    and a flame of devouring fire
    amid cloudbursts and thunderstorms and hail.
³¹ Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the Lord
    as he strikes with his rod.
³² Every stroke that the Lord inflicts upon Assyria
    with his punishing rod
will be accompanied by the sound
    of timbrels and lyres
as he engages in battle
    with his uplifted hand.
³³ The pyre has been ready for a long time,
    prepared for the king.
His pyre is deep and broad,
    with fire and wood in abundance.
And the breath of the Lord, like a steam of sulfur,
    will set it ablaze.^[d]