Isaiah 30
Legacy Standard Bible
Alliance with Egypt Condemned
30 “Woe to the (A)rebellious children,” declares Yahweh,
“Who (B)execute counsel, but not Mine,
And [a](C)make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin,
2 Who (D)go down to Egypt—
But did not (E)ask [b]Me—
(F)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 (G)your shame
And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.
4 For (H)their princes are at Zoan
And their messengers reach Hanes.
5 Everyone will be (I)ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,
Who are (J)not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”
6 The [c]oracle concerning the (K)beasts of the (L)Negev.
Through a land of (M)distress and anguish,
From [d]where come lioness and lion, viper and (N)flying fiery serpent,
They (O)carry their wealth on the [e]backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on (P)camels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose (Q)help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called [f]her
“[g](R)Rahab who has ceased.”
8 Now go, (S)write it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may be in the time to come
[h]As a witness forever.
9 For this is a (T)rebellious people, (U)false sons,
Sons who are not willing to (V)listen
To the law of Yahweh,
10 Who say to the (W)seers, “You must not see,”
And to those who have visions, “You must not (X)behold visions for us of what is right,
(Y)Speak to us [i]pleasant words,
Behold visions of illusions.
11 Get out of the way, (Z)turn aside from the path,
[j](AA)Cease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“(AB)Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in (AC)oppression and deviousness and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this (AD)iniquity will be to you
Like a (AE)breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking comes (AF)suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose breaking is like the breaking of a (AG)potter’s jar,
[k]So ruthlessly shattered
That a potsherd will not be found among its pieces
To [l]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 [m]repentance and (AH)rest you will be saved,
In (AI)quietness and trust is your might.”
But you were not willing,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on (AJ)horses,”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses,”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 (AK)One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a [n]flag on a mountain top
And as a [o]standard on a hill.
Yahweh Is Gracious and Just
18 Therefore Yahweh (AL)waits with longing to be gracious to you,
And therefore He is on (AM)high to have compassion on you.
For Yahweh is a (AN)God of justice;
How blessed are all those who (AO)wait for Him.
19 [p]O people in Zion, (AP)inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will (AQ)weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will (AR)answer you. 20 The Lord has given you (AS)bread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer (AT)hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, “[q]This is the (AU)way, walk in it,” whenever you (AV)turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will defile your graven (AW)images overlaid with your silver, and your molten (AX)images plated with your gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing and say to [r]them, “(AY)Be gone!”
23 Then He will (AZ)give you rain for [s]the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be [t]rich and fat; on that day (BA)your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which [u]has been (BB)winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And it will be that on every lofty mountain and on (BC)every lifted up hill there will be [v]streams running with water on the day of the great (BD)slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 (BE)And the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day (BF)Yahweh binds up the (BG)fracture of His people and (BH)heals the bruise [w]He has inflicted.
27 Behold, (BI)the name of Yahweh comes from afar;
(BJ)Burning is His anger and heavy is His [x]smoke;
His lips are filled with (BK)indignation
And His tongue is like a (BL)consuming fire;
28 His (BM)breath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which (BN)reaches to the neck,
To (BO)shake the nations back and forth in a [y]sieve of worthlessness,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples (BP)the bridle which staggers one to ruin.
29 You will have [z]songs as in the night when you set yourself apart as holy for the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And Yahweh will cause [aa]His splendid voice to be heard,
And the [ab]descending of His arm to be seen in raging anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31 For (BQ)at the voice of Yahweh (BR)Assyria will be dismayed,
When He strikes with the (BS)rod.
32 And every [ac]blow of the [ad](BT)appointed staff,
Which Yahweh will cause to rest upon him,
Will be with the music of (BU)tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, (BV)waving weapons He will fight them.
33 For [ae](BW)Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
[af]A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The (BX)breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of (BY)brimstone, sets it afire.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 30:1 Lit pour out a drink offering
- Isaiah 30:2 Lit My mouth
- Isaiah 30:6 Or burden of
- Isaiah 30:6 Lit them
- Isaiah 30:6 Lit shoulders
- Isaiah 30:7 Lit this one
- Isaiah 30:7 M.T. They are Rahab (or arrogance), to sit still
- Isaiah 30:8 As in the versions; Heb Forever and ever
- Isaiah 30:10 Lit smooth things
- Isaiah 30:11 Lit Cause to cease from our presence
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit Crushed, it will not be spared
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit snatch up
- Isaiah 30:15 Lit returning
- Isaiah 30:17 Lit pole
- Isaiah 30:17 Or signal
- Isaiah 30:19 M.T. A people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
- Isaiah 30:21 Lit saying, “This
- Isaiah 30:22 Lit it, “Go out”
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit your
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit fatness
- Isaiah 30:24 Lit one winnows
- Isaiah 30:25 Lit canals, streams of water
- Isaiah 30:26 Lit of His blow
- Isaiah 30:27 Lit uplifting
- Isaiah 30:28 Lit sifting of the worthless
- Isaiah 30:29 Lit the song
- Isaiah 30:30 Lit the majesty of His voice
- Isaiah 30:30 Lit descent
- Isaiah 30:32 Lit passing
- Isaiah 30:32 Lit staff of foundation
- Isaiah 30:33 The place of human sacrifice to Molech
- Isaiah 30:33 Lit Its pile
Isaiah 30
Revised Standard Version
The Futility of Reliance on Egypt
30 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
“who carry out a plan, but not mine;
and who make a league, but not of my spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 who set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh,
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at Zo′an
and his envoys reach Ha′nes,
5 every one comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the viper and the flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of asses,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty,
therefore I have called her
“Rahab who sits still.”
A Rebellious People
8 And now, go, write it before them on a tablet,
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness for ever.
9 For they are a rebellious people,
lying sons,
sons who will not hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 who say to the seers, “See not”;
and to the prophets, “Prophesy not to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more of the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word,
and trust in oppression and perverseness,
and rely on them;
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
which is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a sherd is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
And you would not, 16 but you said,
“No! We will speed upon horses,”
therefore you shall speed away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds,”
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
God’s Promise to Zion
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 Yea, O people in Zion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, “Begone!”
23 And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures; 24 and the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And upon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Judgment on Assyria
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from far,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, when he smites with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the staff of punishment which the Lord lays upon them will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place[a] has long been prepared; yea, for the king[b] it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 30:33 Or Topheth
- Isaiah 30:33 Or Molech
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Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.