Isaiah 31:1
New Living Translation
The Futility of Relying on Egypt
31 What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help,
trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers
and depending on the strength of human armies
instead of looking to the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
Psalm 20:7
New Living Translation
7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
but we boast in the name of the Lord our God.
Jeremiah 17:5
New Living Translation
Wisdom from the Lord
5 This is what the Lord says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
Deuteronomy 17:16
New Living Translation
16 “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’
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Daniel 9:13
New Living Translation
13 Every curse written against us in the Law of Moses has come true. Yet we have refused to seek mercy from the Lord our God by turning from our sins and recognizing his truth.
Jeremiah 2:13
New Living Translation
13 “For my people have done two evil things:
They have abandoned me—
the fountain of living water.
And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns
that can hold no water at all!
Isaiah 36:9
New Living Translation
9 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?
Isaiah 30:16
New Living Translation
16 You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
Amos 5:4-8
New Living Translation
4 Now this is what the Lord says to the family of Israel:
“Come back to me and live!
5 Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;
don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.
For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,
and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
6 Come back to the Lord and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel[a] like a fire,
devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel
won’t be able to quench the flames.
7 You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed.
You treat the righteous like dirt.
8 It is the Lord who created the stars,
the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into morning
and day into night.
He draws up water from the oceans
and pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name!
Footnotes
- 5:6 Hebrew the house of Joseph.
Isaiah 30:1-7
New Living Translation
Judah’s Worthless Treaty with Egypt
30 “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,”
says the Lord.
“You make plans that are contrary to mine.
You make alliances not directed by my Spirit,
thus piling up your sins.
2 For without consulting me,
you have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh’s protection.
You have tried to hide in his shade.
3 But by trusting Pharaoh, you will be humiliated,
and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
4 For though his power extends to Zoan
and his officials have arrived in Hanes,
5 all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.”
6 This message came to me concerning the animals in the Negev:
The caravan moves slowly
across the terrible desert to Egypt—
donkeys weighed down with riches
and camels loaded with treasure—
all to pay for Egypt’s protection.
They travel through the wilderness,
a place of lionesses and lions,
a place where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this, and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
7 Egypt’s promises are worthless!
Therefore, I call her Rahab—
the Harmless Dragon.[a]
Footnotes
- 30:7 Hebrew Rahab who sits still. Rahab is the name of a mythical sea monster that represents chaos in ancient literature. The name is used here as a poetic name for Egypt.
Psalm 33:16-17
New Living Translation
16 The best-equipped army cannot save a king,
nor is great strength enough to save a warrior.
17 Don’t count on your warhorse to give you victory—
for all its strength, it cannot save you.
Isaiah 36:6
New Living Translation
6 On Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!
Hosea 14:3
New Living Translation
3 Assyria cannot save us,
nor can our warhorses.
Never again will we say to the idols we have made,
‘You are our gods.’
No, in you alone
do the orphans find mercy.”
Hosea 7:7
New Living Translation
7 Burning like an oven,
they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
and no one cries to me for help.
Ezekiel 17:15
New Living Translation
15 “Nevertheless, this man of Israel’s royal family rebelled against Babylon, sending ambassadors to Egypt to request a great army and many horses. Can Israel break her sworn treaties like that and get away with it?
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Isaiah 9:13
New Living Translation
13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent.
They will not seek the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
Isaiah 22:11
New Living Translation
11 Between the city walls, you build a reservoir
for water from the old pool.
But you never ask for help from the One who did all this.
You never considered the One who planned this long ago.
2 Chronicles 16:7
New Living Translation
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram.
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Hosea 7:13-16
New Living Translation
13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
I wanted to redeem them,
but they have told lies about me.
14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
They cut themselves,[a] begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
and they turn away from me.
15 I trained them and made them strong,
yet now they plot evil against me.
16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
They are as useless as a crooked bow.
Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
because of their insolence toward me.
Then the people of Egypt
will laugh at them.
Footnotes
- 7:14 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads They gather together.
Isaiah 57:9
New Living Translation
9 You have gone to Molech[a]
with olive oil and many perfumes,
sending your agents far and wide,
even to the world of the dead.[b]
Isaiah 17:7-8
New Living Translation
7 Then at last the people will look to their Creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will no longer look to their idols for help
or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
Isaiah 5:12
New Living Translation
12 They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—
lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—
but they never think about the Lord
or notice what he is doing.
Isaiah 2:7
New Living Translation
7 Israel is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to its treasures.
Their land is full of warhorses;
there is no end to its chariots.
Hosea 11:5
New Living Translation
5 “But since my people refuse to return to me,
they will return to Egypt
and will be forced to serve Assyria.
Isaiah 64:7
New Living Translation
7 Yet no one calls on your name
or pleads with you for mercy.
Therefore, you have turned away from us
and turned us over[a] to our sins.
Footnotes
- 64:7 As in Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic versions; Hebrew reads melted us.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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