Isaiah 30

New King James Version

Futile Confidence in Egypt

30 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
^(A)“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who ^[a]devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
^(B)That they may add sin to sin;
²^(C)Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And ^(D)have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
³^(E)Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
⁴For his princes were at ^(F)Zoan,
And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
⁵^(G)They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them,
Or be help or benefit,
But a shame and also a reproach.”

⁶^(H)The ^[b]burden against the beasts of the South.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From which came the lioness and lion,
^(I)The viper and fiery flying serpent,
They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people who shall not profit;
⁷^(J)For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.
Therefore I have called her
^[c]Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.

A Rebellious People

⁸Now go, ^(K)write it before them on a tablet,
And note it on a scroll,
That it may be for time to come,
Forever and ever:
⁹That ^(L)this is a rebellious people,
Lying children,
Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
¹⁰^(M)Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;
^(N)Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
¹¹Get out of the way,
Turn aside from the path,
Cause the Holy One of Israel
To cease from before us.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you ^(O)despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
¹³Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^(P)Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking ^(Q)comes suddenly, in an instant.
¹⁴And ^(R)He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,
Which is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare.
So there shall not be found among its fragments
^[d]A shard to take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

^(S)“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
^(T)But you would not,
¹⁶And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses”—
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

¹⁷^(U)One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee,
Till you are left as a ^[e]pole on top of a mountain
And as a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be ^(V)gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^(W)Blessed are all those who ^(X)wait for Him.

¹⁹For the people ^(Y)shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;
You shall ^(Z)weep no more.
He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will ^(AA)answer you.
²⁰And though the Lord gives you
^(AB)The bread of adversity and the water of ^[f]affliction,
Yet ^(AC)your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
²¹Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you ^(AD)turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.
²²^(AE)You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,
And the ornament of your molded images of gold.
You will throw them away as an unclean thing;
^(AF)You will say to them, “Get away!”

²³^(AG)Then He will give the rain for your seed
With which you sow the ground,
And bread of the increase of the earth;
It will be ^[g]fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed
In large pastures.
²⁴Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground
Will eat cured fodder,
Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
²⁵There will be ^(AH)on every high mountain
And on every high hill
Rivers and streams of waters,
In the day of the ^(AI)great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
²⁶Moreover ^(AJ)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 that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people
And heals the stroke of their wound.

Judgment on Assyria

²⁷Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
Burning with His anger,
And His burden is heavy;
His lips are full of indignation,
And His tongue like a devouring fire.
²⁸^(AK)His breath is like an overflowing stream,
^(AL)Which reaches up to the neck,
To sift the nations with the sieve of futility;
And there shall be ^(AM)a bridle in the jaws of the people,
Causing them to err.

²⁹You shall have a song
As in the night when a holy festival is kept,
And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,
To come into ^(AN)the mountain of the Lord,
To ^[h]the Mighty One of Israel.
³⁰^(AO)The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard,
And show the descent of His arm,
With the indignation of His anger
And the flame of a devouring fire,
With scattering, tempest, ^(AP)and hailstones.
³¹For ^(AQ)through the voice of the Lord
Assyria will be ^[i]beaten down,
As He strikes with the ^(AR)rod.
³²And in every place where the staff of punishment passes,
Which the Lord lays on him,
It will be with tambourines and harps;
And in battles of ^(AS)brandishing He will fight with it.
³³^(AT)For Tophet was established of old,
Yes, for the king it is prepared.
He has made it deep and large;
Its pyre is fire with much wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
Kindles it.

Footnotes

Isaiah 30:1 Lit. weave a web
Isaiah 30:6 oracle, prophecy
Isaiah 30:7 Lit. Rahab Sits Idle
Isaiah 30:14 A piece of broken pottery
Isaiah 30:17 A tree stripped of branches
Isaiah 30:20 oppression
Isaiah 30:23 rich
Isaiah 30:29 Lit. the Rock
Isaiah 30:31 Lit. shattered

Matthew 14

New King James Version

John the Baptist Beheaded^(A)

14 At that time ^(B)Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus ²and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.” ³^(C)For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴Because John had said to him, ^(D)“It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, ^(E)because they counted him as a prophet.

⁶But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. ⁷Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.

⁸So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head here on a platter.”

⁹And the king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰So he sent and had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹²Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.

Feeding the Five Thousand^(F)

¹³^(G)When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself. But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities. ¹⁴And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He ^(H)was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick. ¹⁵^(I)When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷And they said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸He said, “Bring them here to Me.” ¹⁹Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, ^(J)He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. ²⁰So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. ²¹Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Jesus Walks on the Sea^(K)

²²Immediately Jesus ^[a]made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. ²³^(L)And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. ^(M)Now when evening came, He was alone there. ²⁴But the boat was now ^[b]in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

²⁵Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶And when the disciples saw Him ^(N)walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^[c]“Be of good ^(O)cheer! ^[d]It is I; do not be afraid.”

²⁸And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

²⁹So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. ³⁰But when he saw ^[e]that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

³¹And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of ^(P)little faith, why did you doubt?” ³²And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

³³Then those who were in the boat ^[f]came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly ^(Q)You are the Son of God.”

Many Touch Him and Are Made Well^(R)

³⁴^(S)When they had crossed over, they came ^[g]to the land of Gennesaret. ³⁵And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, ³⁶and begged Him that they might only ^(T)touch the hem of His garment. And ^(U)as many as touched it were made perfectly well.