Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance

30 Woe to the rebellious children!(A)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
They carry out a plan,(B) but not Mine;
they make an alliance,
but against My will,
piling sin on top of sin.
They set out to go down to Egypt(C)
without asking My advice,
in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection
and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.(D)
But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,
and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your disgrace.(E)
For though his[a] princes are at Zoan(F)
and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
everyone will be ashamed
because of a people who can’t help.
They are of no benefit, they are no help;
they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.(G)

An oracle(H) about the animals of the Negev:[b]

Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and lion,
of viper and flying serpent,(I)
they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people who will not help them.
Egypt’s help is completely worthless;
therefore, I call her:
Rahab Who Just Sits.(J)

Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence
and inscribe it on a scroll;
it will be for the future,
forever and ever.
They are a rebellious people,
deceptive children,(K)
children who do not want to obey the Lord’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets,
“Do not prophesy the truth to us.
Tell us flattering things.(L)
Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way!
Leave the pathway.
Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”(M)
12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message
and have trusted in oppression and deceit,
and have depended on them,
13 this iniquity(N) of yours will be
like a spreading breach,
a bulge in a high wall
whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!
14 Its collapse will be like the shattering
of a potter’s jar,(O) crushed to pieces,
so that not even a fragment of pottery
will be found among its shattered remains—
no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth
or scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“You will be delivered by returning and resting;
your strength will lie in quiet confidence.
But you are not willing.”
16 You say, “No!
We will escape on horses”—
therefore you will escape!—
and, “We will ride on fast horses”—
but those who pursue you will be faster.(P)
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one,(Q)
at the threat of five you will flee,
until you alone remain
like a solitary pole on a mountaintop
or a banner on a hill.

The Lord’s Mercy to Israel

18 Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,
and is rising up to show you compassion,(R)
for the Lord is a just God.
All who wait patiently for Him are happy.

19 For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you. 20 The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,(S) but your Teacher[c] will not hide Himself[d] any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,[e] 21 and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”(T) 22 Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

23 Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.(U) 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel(V) and fork. 25 Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. 26 The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter(W)—like the light of seven days—on the day(X) that the Lord bandages His people’s injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.(Y)

Annihilation of the Assyrians

27 Look, Yahweh[f] comes from far away,
His anger burning and heavy with smoke.[g]
His lips are full of fury,
and His tongue is like a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent(Z)
that rises to the neck.(AA)
He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction
and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples
to lead them astray.(AB)
29 Your singing will be like that
on the night of a holy festival,
and your heart will rejoice
like one who walks to the music of a flute,
going up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.(AC)
30 And the Lord will make the splendor of His voice heard
and reveal His arm(AD) striking in angry wrath
and a flame of consuming fire,
in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.
31 Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord.
He will strike with a rod.
32 And every stroke of the appointed[h] staff
that the Lord brings down on him
will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;
He will fight against him with brandished weapons.
33 Indeed! Topheth has been ready(AE)
for the king for a long time now.
Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,
with plenty of fire and wood.
The breath of the Lord,(AF) like a torrent of brimstone,
kindles it.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 30:4 Or Judah’s
  2. Isaiah 30:6 Or Southland
  3. Isaiah 30:20 Or teachers
  4. Isaiah 30:20 Or themselves
  5. Isaiah 30:20 Or teachers
  6. Isaiah 30:27 Lit the name Yahweh
  7. Isaiah 30:27 Hb obscure
  8. Isaiah 30:32 Some Hb mss read punishing

30 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.

For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

15 For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

18 And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel.

30 And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

31 For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.

32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.

33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

Walang Kabuluhan ang Pakikipagkasundo ng Juda sa Egipto

30 Sinabi ng Panginoon, “Nakakaawa ang aking mga anak na suwail. Gumagawa sila ng mga plano na hindi naaayon sa kalooban ko. Nakikipagkasundo sila na hindi ko pinapayagan. Kaya lalo lang nadadagdagan ang kanilang kasalanan. Pumunta sila sa Egipto para humingi ng proteksyon sa hari, na hindi man lang sumangguni sa akin. Pero mabibigo lamang sila sa hinihingi nilang proteksyon sa Faraon. Sapagkat kahit na namumuno ang Faraon hanggang sa Zoan at Hanes, mapapahiya lang ang Juda dahil wala namang maitutulong ang mga taga-Egipto sa kanila kundi kabiguan at kahihiyan.”

Ito ang pahayag ng Dios tungkol sa mga hayop sa Negev: Nilakbay ng mga taga-Juda ang ilang na mahirap lakbayin kung saan may mga leon, at may mga makamandag na ahas na ang ibaʼy parang lumilipad. Ikinakarga nila ang kanilang mga kayamanan sa mga asno at mga kamelyo, para iregalo sa bansang hindi man lang makatulong sa kanila. Ang bansang iyon ay ang Egipto, na ang tulong ay walang silbi. Kaya tinatawag ko itong “Dragon[a] na Inutil.”

Sinabi sa akin ng Panginoon, “Halika, isulat mo sa aklat ang paratang ko laban sa mga taga-Israel, para lagi itong magsilbing patunay ng kasamaan nila sa darating na panahon. Sapagkat mga rebelde sila, sinungaling, at ayaw makinig sa mga aral ko. 10 Sinabi nila sa mga propeta, ‘Huwag na ninyong sabihin sa amin ang tungkol sa mga pahayag ng Dios sa inyo. Huwag na ninyong sabihin sa amin ang tama. Sabihin nʼyo sa amin ang mga bagay na makapagpapasaya sa amin at mga pangitain na hindi mangyayari. 11 Umalis kayo sa aming dinadaanan, huwag ninyo kaming harangan. Huwag na ninyong sabihin sa amin ang tungkol sa Banal na Dios ng Israel.’ ”

12 Kaya sinabi ng Banal na Dios ng Israel, “Dahil sa itinakwil ninyo ang aking mensahe at nagtiwala kayo sa pang-aapi at pandaraya, 13 bigla kayong malilipol. Ang inyong mga kasalanan ay katulad ng bitak na biglang wawasak ng mataas na pader. 14 Madudurog kayo na parang palayok, na sa lakas ng pagbagsak ay wala man lang kahit kapirasong mapaglagyan ng baga o maipansalok ng tubig.”

15 Sinabi pa ng Panginoong Dios, ang Banal na Dios ng Israel, “Magbalik-loob kayo sa akin at pumanatag, dahil ililigtas ko kayo. Huwag kayong mabahala kundi magtiwala sa akin, dahil palalakasin ko kayo. Pero tumanggi kayo 16 at sinabi ninyo, ‘Makakatakas kami sa aming mga kaaway, dahil mabibilis ang aming mga kabayo.’ Oo nga, makakatakas kayo pero mas mabibilis ang mga hahabol sa inyo. 17 Sa banta ng isa, 1,000 sundalo ang makakatakas sa inyo. Sa banta ng lima, makakatakas kayong lahat. Matutulad kayo sa nakatayong bandila na nag-iisa sa tuktok ng bundok.”

18 Pero naghihintay ang Panginoon na kayoʼy lumapit sa kanya para kaawaan niya. Nakahanda siyang ipadama sa inyo ang kanyang pagmamalasakit. Sapagkat ang Panginoon ay Dios na makatarungan, at mapalad ang nagtitiwala sa kanya.

19 Kayong mga taga-Zion, na mga mamamayan ng Jerusalem, hindi na kayo muling iiyak! Kaaawaan kayo ng Panginoon kung hihingi kayo ng tulong sa kanya. Kapag narinig niya ang inyong panalangin, sasagutin niya kayo. 20 Para kayong pinakain at pinainom ng Panginoon ng kapighatian at paghihirap. Pero kahit na ginawa niya ito sa inyo, siya na guro ninyo ay hindi magtatago sa inyo. Makikita ninyo siya, 21 at maririnig ninyo ang kanyang tinig na magtuturo sa inyo ng tamang daan, saan man kayo naroroon. 22 Ituring na ninyong marumi ang inyong mga dios-diosang gawa sa pilak at ginto. Itapon nʼyo na parang napakaruming basahan at sabihin, “Ayaw ko nang makita kayo!”

23 Bibigyan kayo ng Panginoon ng ulan sa panahon ng pagtatanim, at magiging sagana ang inyong ani. At ang inyong mga hayop ay manginginain sa malawak na pastulan. 24 Ang mga baka ninyo at asnong pang-araro ay kakain ng pinakamainam na pagkain ng hayop. 25 Sa mga araw na iyon na papatayin ang inyong mga kaaway at wawasakin ang kanilang mga muog, dadaloy ang tubig mula sa bawat matataas na bundok. 26 Liliwanag ang buwan na parang araw. Ang araw naman ay magliliwanag ng pitong ibayo, na parang liwanag ng pitong araw na pinagsama-sama sa iisang araw. Mangyayari ito sa araw na gagamutin at pagagalingin ng Panginoon ang sugat ng mga mamamayan niya.

27 Makinig kayo! Dumarating ang Panginoon mula sa malayo. Nag-aapoy siya sa galit at nasa gitna ng usok. Ang mga labi niyang nanginginig sa galit ay parang nagliliyab na apoy. 28 Ang kanyang hininga ay parang malakas na agos na umaabot hanggang leeg. Nililipol niya ang mga bansa na parang sinasalang trigo. Para silang mga hayop na nilagyan ng bokado at hinila. 29 Pero kayong mga mamamayan ng Dios ay aawit, katulad ng ginagawa ninyo sa gabi ng pista ng pagpaparangal sa Panginoon. Magagalak kayo katulad ng taong nagmamartsa sa tunog ng plauta habang naglalakad patungo sa Bundok ng Panginoon para sambahin siya, ang Bato na kanlungan ng Israel. 30 Ipaparinig ng Panginoon ang nakakapangilabot niyang tinig. At ipapakita niya ang kanyang kamay na handa nang magparusa sa tindi ng kanyang galit. Sasabayan ito ng nagliliyab na apoy, biglang pagbuhos ng ulan, pagkulog at pagkidlat, at pag-ulan ng yelo na parang mga bato. 31 Tiyak na matatakot ang mga taga-Asiria kapag narinig nila ang tinig ng Panginoon na magpaparusa sa kanila. 32 Lulusubin niya sila. At sa bawat hampas ng Panginoon sa kanila, sasabay ito sa tunog ng tamburin at alpa. 33 Matagal nang nakahanda ang lugar na pagsusunugan sa hari ng Asiria. Maluwang ito at malalim, at handa na ang napakaraming panggatong. Ang hininga ng Panginoon na parang nagniningas na asupre ang magpapaningas ng mga panggatong.

Footnotes

  1. 30:7 Dragon: sa Hebreo, Rahab.