Isaiah 29:15-30:18

English Standard Version

¹⁵Ah, ^(A)you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
    whose deeds are ^(B)in the dark,
    and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
¹⁶^(C)You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
    “He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while
    ^(D)until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
¹⁸In that day ^(E)the deaf shall hear
    ^(F)the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
    ^(G)the eyes of the blind shall see.
¹⁹^(H)The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰For the ruthless shall come to nothing
    and ^(I)the scoffer cease,
    and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
²¹who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
    and ^(J)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
    and with an empty plea ^(K)turn aside him who is in the right.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, ^(L)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
    no more shall his face grow pale.
²³For when he sees his children,
    ^(M)the work of my hands, in his midst,
    they will sanctify my name;
^(N)they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
    and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
²⁴And those ^(O)who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
    and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

30 “Ah, ^(P)stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
^(Q)“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make ^(R)an alliance,^[a] but not of my Spirit,
    that they may add sin to sin;
²^(S)who set out to go down to Egypt,
    without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
    and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
³^(T)Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
    and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
⁴For though his officials are at ^(U)Zoan
    and ^(V)his envoys reach ^(W)Hanes,
⁵everyone comes to shame
    through ^(X)a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
    but shame and disgrace.”

⁶An ^(Y)oracle on ^(Z)the beasts of ^(AA)the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
    from where come the lioness and the lion,
    the adder and the ^(AB)flying fiery 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.
⁷Egypt's ^(AC)help is worthless and empty;
    therefore I have called her
    ^(AD)“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

⁸And now, go, ^(AE)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 forever.^[b]
⁹^(AF)For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the Lord;
¹⁰^(AG)who say to ^(AH)the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us ^(AI)smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
¹¹leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
    and trust in ^(AJ)oppression and perverseness
    and rely on them,
¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you
    ^(AK)like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
¹⁴and its breaking is ^(AL)like that of a potter's vessel
    that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
    with which to take fire from the hearth,
    or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In ^(AM)returning^[c] and ^(AN)rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, ¹⁶and you said,
“No! We will flee upon ^(AO)horses”;
    therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
    therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
¹⁷^(AP)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.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord ^(AQ)waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he ^(AR)exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^(AS)blessed are all those who wait for him.

Footnotes

Isaiah 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web
Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
Isaiah 30:15 Or repentance