Isaiah 30
New American Standard Bible
Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
30 “Woe to the (A)rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who (B)execute a plan, but not Mine,
And [a](C)make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2 Who (D)proceed down to Egypt
Without (E)consulting [b]Me,
(F)To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be (G)your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4 For (H)their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5 Everyone will be (I)ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,
Who are (J)not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”
6 The pronouncement concerning the (K)animals of the (L)Negev:
Through a land of (M)distress and anguish,
From [c]where come lioness and lion, viper and (N)flying serpent,
They (O)carry their riches on the [d]backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on (P)camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose (Q)help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called [e]her
“[f](R)Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8 Now go, (S)write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may [g]serve in the time to come
[h]As a witness forever.
9 For this is a (T)rebellious people, (U)false sons,
Sons who [i]refuse to (V)listen
To the [j]instruction of the Lord;
10 Who say to the (W)seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not (X)prophesy the truth to us.
(Y)Speak to us [k]pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way, (Z)turn aside from the path,
(AA)Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“(AB)Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in (AC)oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this (AD)wrongdoing will be to you
Like a (AE)breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes (AF)suddenly in an instant,
14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a (AG)potter’s jar,
[l]So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To [m]take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For this is what the Lord [n]God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“In [o]repentance and (AH)rest you will be saved,
In (AI)quietness and trust is your strength.”
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 like a signal post on a mountain top,
And like a flag on a hill.
God Is Gracious and Just
18 Therefore the Lord [p](AL)longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He [q]waits on (AM)high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a (AN)God of justice;
How blessed are all those who [r](AO)long for Him.
19 [s]For, you people in Zion, (AP)inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will (AQ)weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will (AR)answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you (AS)bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer (AT)hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the (AU)way, walk in it,” whenever you (AV)turn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will desecrate your carved (AW)images plated with silver, and your cast metal (AX)images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to [t]them, “(AY)Be gone!”
23 Then He will (AZ)give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be [u]rich and [v]plentiful; on that day (BA)your livestock will graze in a wide pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat [w]seasoned feed, which [x]has been (BB)winnowed with shovel and pitchfork. 25 And on every lofty mountain and (BC)every high hill there will be [y]streams running with water on the day of the great (BD)slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 (BE)And the light of the full moon will be like 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)the Lord binds up the (BG)fracture of His people and (BH)heals the wound [z]He has inflicted.
27 Behold, (BI)the name of the Lord comes from a [aa]remote place;
(BJ)His anger is burning and [ab]dense with [ac]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 river,
Which (BN)reaches to the neck,
To (BO)shake the nations back and forth in a [ad]sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples (BP)the bridle which leads astray.
29 You will have [ae]songs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches 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 [af]His voice of authority to be heard,
And the [ag]descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31 For (BQ)at the voice of the Lord (BR)Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the (BS)rod.
32 And every [ah]blow of the [ai](BT)rod of punishment,
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of (BU)tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, (BV)brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33 For [aj](BW)Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
[ak]A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The (BX)breath of the Lord, 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 Lit them
- Isaiah 30:6 Lit shoulders
- Isaiah 30:7 Lit this one
- Isaiah 30:7 MT They are Rahab or arrogance, to remain; i.e., Egypt, as a sea monster; see note Job 26:12
- Isaiah 30:8 Lit be
- Isaiah 30:8 As in most ancient versions; MT Forever and ever
- Isaiah 30:9 Lit are not willing
- Isaiah 30:9 Or Law
- Isaiah 30:10 Lit smooth things
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit Crushed, it will not be spared
- Isaiah 30:14 Lit snatch up
- Isaiah 30:15 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord
- Isaiah 30:15 Lit returning
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit waits
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit is on high
- Isaiah 30:18 Lit wait
- Isaiah 30:19 MT For a people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
- Isaiah 30:22 Lit it “Go out”
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit fatness
- Isaiah 30:23 Lit fat
- Isaiah 30:24 Lit sorrel-seasoned
- 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 distance
- Isaiah 30:27 Lit heaviness
- 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 I.e., the place of human sacrifice to Molech
- Isaiah 30:33 Lit Its pile
Isaiah 30
EasyEnglish Bible
Do not trust in Egypt's power
30 The Lord says, ‘It will be very bad for you, my children who have turned against me. You have decided what to do, but you did not ask me about it. You have made an agreement with Egypt, but without my Spirit's help. In that way, you continue to do more and more sins.
2 Your leaders travel to Egypt to ask for Pharaoh's help to keep them safe. But they did not ask me what I think about it. They think that Egypt has the power to protect them. 3 But Pharaoh's help will only make you ashamed. If you trust in Egypt's power, that will bring you down low.
4 Judah's officers have arrived in Zoan, and some of them have gone to Hanes.[a] 5 But the people of Egypt will not be able to help you. So everyone in Judah will become ashamed. If you trust in Egypt, they will give you shame instead of help.’
6 Here is a message about the animals that travel in the Negev desert: It is a place where there is trouble and danger. There are dangerous lions there, both male and female. There are different kinds of dangerous snakes. People are carrying their valuable things on the backs of donkeys and camels. They are taking their riches as gifts to a nation that cannot help them! 7 Help from Egypt is useless! So I call Egypt ‘Rahab who does nothing.’[b]
8 Go and write this message down for them to see. Yes, write it in a book so that it will always be there to read. In the future, it will always show what is true.
9 These people have turned against the Lord. They are his children but they love to tell lies. They do not want to obey his law. 10 They say to the seers, ‘Do not see any more visions!’ They say to the prophets, ‘Do not tell us messages about what is right! Tell us nice things, even if they are not true. 11 Leave this path. Get out of our way! Stop telling us about the Holy God of Israel.’
12 Because of that, this is what the Holy God of Israel says:
‘You have not accepted my message. Instead, you like to be cruel and to deceive people. You believe that it will help you.
13 So your sin will cause you to fall down. You will be like a high wall that has a weak place. It is not safe and it will bend and fall down. Very suddenly it will fall with a great bang!
14 That wall will break into pieces, like the pieces of a pot. It will be completely broken so that it is all useless. There will be no piece that is big enough to carry coal from a fire, or water from a well.’
15 The Almighty Lord, Israel's Holy God says this:
‘Turn back to me and wait for me to help you. Be quiet and trust in me. Then you will be safe and you will be strong again.’
But you do not want to trust in God. 16 Instead, you say, ‘No! We will run away on horses and we will escape.’ Yes, you will run away! You say, ‘Our horses will run very fast!’ But your enemies who chase you will also be very fast!
17 When one soldier from your enemy chases after you, one thousand of your men will run away from him! Five of them will chase away your whole army! Only a few of you will remain, like a stick with a flag on the top of a hill.
God will take care of his people
18 So the Lord is waiting for the right time to be kind to you. He is ready to show his great love for you. The Lord God does what is right and fair. Everyone who waits for him to come and help them is a happy person!
19 People will live in Zion again. You people who live in Jerusalem will not weep any longer. When you call to the Lord for help, he will be kind to you. When he hears you, he will answer you.
20 The Lord God has given trouble to you, like bread that you must eat. He has given pain to you, as water that you must drink. But he will no longer hide himself from you. He will be with you, to teach you and to be your guide. 21 You will hear his voice behind you. When you turn off the path, to the right or to the left, it will say, ‘This is the right way. Walk in it.’ 22 Then you will destroy your idols and your images of false gods. You used silver or gold to make them beautiful. But now you will throw them away like a piece of dirty cloth. You will tell them, ‘Go away!’
23 The Lord will send rain for the seeds that you have planted. The ground will give you plenty of good food. At that time, your cows will have lots of grass to eat in wide fields. 24 The bulls and the donkeys that work on your farms will eat the best food. They will eat the same grain that people eat. 25 Streams of water will pour down from every tall mountain and every high hill. That will happen at the time when your enemies are destroyed. Their strong towers will fall down. 26 At that time, the moon will shine as bright as the sun. Light from the sun will be seven times brighter. It will be like the light of seven days at the same time! At that time, the Lord will make the wounds of his people better. He has hurt them, but now he will make them better.
27 Look! The Lord is coming with his great power from a place that is far away. He is very angry. Thick clouds of smoke are all round him. He speaks angry words that destroy like fire. 28 His breath is like a flood of water that pours out over his enemies. The water reaches as high as their necks. He shakes the nations in a sieve to destroy the bad parts. He leads them away from their bad ways, like a man who leads a horse with a rope.
29 Then you, the Lord's people, will sing! It will be like the happy songs that you sing in the evening at your special feasts. You will be very happy. It will seem like you are making music as you go up to Mount Zion to worship the Lord there. He is the Rock where Israel can be safe.
30 Then the Lord will shout with royal authority. People will know that he has come with great power to punish his enemies. His anger will be like a fire that burns everything. He will come with a great storm of rain, thunder and hail that destroys everything.
31 When the Lord shouts, his command will destroy the Assyrian army. He will knock them down with his heavy stick. 32 He will punish them with a big stick. He will use his weapons to attack them. As he does that, there will be happy music from harps and tambourines!
33 The Lord has already prepared a place to burn the bodies of the dead people. It is ready for the king of Assyria! There is a place for him that is deep and wide. There is plenty of wood for the fire. The Lord's breath will be like a stream of hot sulphur. He will breathe out on the heap of wood and the fire will burn!
Footnotes
- 30:4 Zoan and Hanes are two places in Egypt.
- 30:7 Rahab was another name for Egypt. See Psalms 87:4. It was also the name for a monster that lived in the sea.
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