Isaiah 30
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Futility of Reliance on Egypt
30 Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
who carry out a plan but not mine;
who make an alliance but against my will,
adding sin to sin;(A)
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.(B)
3 Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.(C)
4 For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,(D)
5 everyone comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
only shame and disgrace.(E)
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and roaring[a] lion,
of viper and flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels
to a people that cannot profit them.(F)
7 For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her,
“Rahab who sits still.”[b](G)
A Rebellious People
8 Go now, write it before them on a tablet,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
so that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.(H)
9 For they are a rebellious people,
faithless children,
children who will not hear
the instruction of the Lord;(I)
10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things;
prophesy illusions;(J)
11 leave the way; turn aside from the path;
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”(K)
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
Because you reject this word
and put your trust in oppression and deceit
and rely on them,(L)
13 therefore this iniquity shall become for you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;(M)
14 its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a sherd is found
for taking fire from the hearth
or dipping water out of the cistern.(N)
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.
But you refused(O) 16 and said,
‘No! We will flee upon horses’—
therefore you shall flee!
and, ‘We will ride upon swift steeds’—
therefore your pursuers shall be swift!(P)
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee
until you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.(Q)
God’s Promise to Zion
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.(R)
19 O people in Zion, inhabitants of 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.(S) 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.(T) 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”(U) 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!”(V)
23 He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures,(W) 24 and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.(X)
Judgment on Assyria
27 See, the name of the Lord comes from far away,
his anger burning and his burden heavy;[c]
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;(Y)
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 them astray.(Z)
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival 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.(AA) 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.(AB) 31 The Assyrian will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord when he strikes with his rod.(AC) 32 And every stroke of the staff of punishment[d] that the Lord lays upon him will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres with dancing;[e] with brandished arm he will fight with him.(AD) 33 For his burning place[f] has long been prepared, also for the king;[g] its pyre is made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.(AE)
Isaiah 30
Lexham English Bible
Warning against Alliance with Egypt
30 “Oh rebellious children!” declares[a] Yahweh,
“to make a plan, but[b] not from me,
and pour out a libation, but[c] not from my Spirit,
so as to add[d] sin to sin.
2 Who go to go down to Egypt,
but[e] they do not ask of my mouth,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.
3 And the protection of Pharaoh shall be shame to you,
and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, humiliation.
4 For his officials are at Zoan,
and his envoys reach to Hanes.
5 Everyone will start to stink because of a people that cannot profit them,
not for help and not for profiting,
but for shame and also for disgrace.”
Oracle regarding the Negev
6 An oracle of the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
among[f] them are snake and flying serpent;
they carry their wealth on the backs[g] of male donkeys
and their treasures on the humps[h] of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 For[i] Egyptians[j] help with vanity and emptiness,
therefore I have called this one “Rahab, they are sitting.”
8 Now go, write it on a tablet with them,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
that[k] it may be for the time to come,[l]
forever, forever.
9 For it is a people of rebellion, deceitful children,
children who are not willing to hear the instruction of Yahweh,
10 who say to those who do see, “You must not see!”
and to the seers, “You must not see truth for us;
speak smooth things to us,
see illusions,
11 turn aside from the way, turn aside from the path,
put an end to the holy one of Israel from our face.”
12 Therefore the holy one of Israel says this:
“Because you are rejecting this word
and you trust in oppression and cunning[m]
and you rely on it,
13 therefore this iniquity shall come for you like a breach about to fall,
bulging out on a high wall that breaks[n] suddenly, in an instant.
14 And he breaks it like a vessel of a potter[o] breaks,
that is crushed; he has no compassion,
and no potsherd is found among its fragments[p] to take fire[q] from the hearth,
or to skim[r] water from the cistern.”
15 For the Lord Yahweh, the holy one of Israel, said this:
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
your strength shall be in quietness and in trust.”
But[s] you were not willing, 16 and you said,
“No! For we will flee on horses!”[t] Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses!”[u] Therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17 One thousand because of[v] a threat of one,
because[w] of a threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left like a flagstaff on top[x] of a mountain,
and like a signal on a hill.
Yahweh Will Show Mercy
18 Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he will rise up to show you mercy,
for Yahweh is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem, you will surely not weep.
Surely he will be gracious to you;
when he hears the sound of your cry, he will answer you.
20 And the Lord will give you the bread of distress
and the water of oppression,
but[y] your teachers will not hide themselves[z] any longer.
And your eyes shall see[aa] your teachers.
21 And your ears shall hear a word from behind you, saying,
“this is the way; walk in it,”
when you go to your right
and when you go to your left.
22 And you will defile the plating of your silver idols
and the covering of your gold image.
You will scatter them like contaminated things;[ab]
you will say to it, “Filth!”[ac]
23 And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground,
and grain, the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fertile.[ad]
On that day, your cattle will graze in broad pastures;[ae]
24 and the oxen and the donkeys that till[af] the ground will eat fodder, sorrel
that has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25 And there will be streams on every high mountain and elevated hill,
watercourses of water, on a day of great slaughter, when towers fall.
26 And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun,
and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days,
on the day when Yahweh binds up the breakage of his people,
and he heals the wound of his blow.
Judgment against Assyria
27 Look! The name of Yahweh comes from afar,
burning with his anger and heaviness of cloud.
His lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
28 And his breath is like an overflowing river;
it reaches up to the neck
to shake the nations with the sieve of worthlessness;
and a bridle that leads astray is on the jawbones of the peoples.
29 You shall have a song[ag] as in the night when a holy festival is kept,
and a gladness of heart like one who goes with the flute,
to go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the rock of Israel.
30 And Yahweh will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard,
and he will cause the descent of his arm to be seen,
in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire,
with a cloudburst and a rainstorm and stones[ah] of hail.
31 Indeed, Assyria will be shattered by the voice of Yahweh;
he strikes with the rod.
32 And every stroke of the staff of foundation[ai] that Yahweh lays will be on it with timbrels and lyres,
and he will fight against it[aj] with battles of brandishing.
33 For Topheth has been prepared from yesterday;
indeed, it is made ready for the king.
He makes its pile of wood deep and wide;
he makes fire and wood abundant.[ak]
The breath of Yahweh burns in it like a stream of sulfur.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 30:1 Literally “declaration of”
- Isaiah 30:1 Or “and”
- Isaiah 30:1 Or “and”
- Isaiah 30:1 Literally “for the sake of adding”
- Isaiah 30:2 Or “and”
- Isaiah 30:6 Literally “from”
- Isaiah 30:6 Literally “shoulder”
- Isaiah 30:6 Hebrew “hump”
- Isaiah 30:7 Or “And”
- Isaiah 30:7 Literally “Egypt”
- Isaiah 30:8 Or “and”
- Isaiah 30:8 Literally “for last day”
- Isaiah 30:12 Literally “going wrong”
- Isaiah 30:13 Literally “whose breaking comes”
- Isaiah 30:14 Literally “someone who forms”
- Isaiah 30:14 Hebrew “fragment”
- Isaiah 30:14 Literally “for the taking away of fire”
- Isaiah 30:14 Literally “for the skimming off of”
- Isaiah 30:15 Or “And”
- Isaiah 30:16 Hebrew “horse”
- Isaiah 30:16 Hebrew “horse”
- Isaiah 30:17 Literally “from the face of”
- Isaiah 30:17 Literally “from the face”
- Isaiah 30:17 Literally “head”
- Isaiah 30:20 Or “and”
- Isaiah 30:20 Hebrew “himself”
- Isaiah 30:20 Literally “be seeing”
- Isaiah 30:22 Hebrew “contaminated thing”
- Isaiah 30:22 Or “Get out!”
- Isaiah 30:23 Literally “fat”
- Isaiah 30:23 Hebrew “pasture”
- Isaiah 30:24 Or “tilling”
- Isaiah 30:29 Literally “There shall be a song for you”
- Isaiah 30:30 Hebrew “stone”
- Isaiah 30:32 Some translations emend this to “discipline”
- Isaiah 30:32 The reading tradition (Qere) has “them”
- Isaiah 30:33 Literally “numerous”
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
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