Woe to the Obstinate Nation

30 “Woe(A) to the obstinate children,”(B)
    declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
    forming an alliance,(C) but not by my Spirit,
    heaping sin upon sin;
who go down to Egypt(D)
    without consulting(E) me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,(F)
    to Egypt’s shade for refuge.(G)
But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
    Egypt’s shade(H) will bring you disgrace.(I)
Though they have officials in Zoan(J)
    and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
everyone will be put to shame
    because of a people(K) useless(L) to them,
who bring neither help(M) nor advantage,
    but only shame and disgrace.(N)

A prophecy(O) concerning the animals of the Negev:(P)

Through a land of hardship and distress,(Q)
    of lions(R) and lionesses,
    of adders and darting snakes,(S)
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’(T) backs,
    their treasures(U) on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
    to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.(V)
Therefore I call her
    Rahab(W) the Do-Nothing.

Go now, write it on a tablet(X) for them,
    inscribe it on a scroll,(Y)
that for the days to come
    it may be an everlasting witness.(Z)
For these are rebellious(AA) people, deceitful(AB) children,
    children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.(AC)
10 They say to the seers,(AD)
    “See no more visions(AE)!”
and to the prophets,
    “Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,(AF)
    prophesy illusions.(AG)
11 Leave this way,(AH)
    get off this path,
and stop confronting(AI) us
    with the Holy One(AJ) of Israel!”

12 Therefore this is what the Holy One(AK) of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,(AL)
    relied on oppression(AM)
    and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
    like a high wall,(AN) cracked and bulging,
    that collapses(AO) suddenly,(AP) in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery,(AQ)
    shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
    for taking coals from a hearth
    or scooping water out of a cistern.”

15 This is what the Sovereign(AR) Lord, the Holy One(AS) of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest(AT) is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust(AU) is your strength,
    but you would have none of it.(AV)
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee(AW) on horses.’(AX)
    Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
    Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
    at the threat of one;
at the threat of five(AY)
    you will all flee(AZ) away,
till you are left(BA)
    like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
    like a banner(BB) on a hill.”

18 Yet the Lord longs(BC) to be gracious to you;
    therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.(BD)
For the Lord is a God of justice.(BE)
    Blessed are all who wait for him!(BF)

19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.(BG) How gracious he will be when you cry for help!(BH) As soon as he hears, he will answer(BI) you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread(BJ) of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers(BK) will be hidden(BL) no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice(BM) behind you, saying, “This is the way;(BN) walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols(BO) overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold;(BP) you will throw them away like a menstrual(BQ) cloth and say to them, “Away with you!(BR)

23 He will also send you rain(BS) for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich(BT) and plentiful.(BU) In that day(BV) your cattle will graze in broad meadows.(BW) 24 The oxen(BX) and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder(BY) and mash, spread out with fork(BZ) and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter,(CA) when the towers(CB) fall, streams of water will flow(CC) on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun,(CD) and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals(CE) the wounds he inflicted.

27 See, the Name(CF) of the Lord comes from afar,
    with burning anger(CG) and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,(CH)
    and his tongue is a consuming fire.(CI)
28 His breath(CJ) is like a rushing torrent,(CK)
    rising up to the neck.(CL)
He shakes the nations in the sieve(CM) of destruction;
    he places in the jaws of the peoples
    a bit(CN) that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
    as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;(CO)
your hearts will rejoice(CP)
    as when people playing pipes(CQ) go up
to the mountain(CR) of the Lord,
    to the Rock(CS) of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice(CT)
    and will make them see his arm(CU) coming down
with raging anger(CV) and consuming fire,(CW)
    with cloudburst, thunderstorm(CX) and hail.(CY)
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;(CZ)
    with his rod he will strike(DA) them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
    with his punishing club(DB)
will be to the music of timbrels(DC) and harps,
    as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.(DD)
33 Topheth(DE) has long been prepared;
    it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
    with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath(DF) of the Lord,
    like a stream of burning sulfur,(DG)
    sets it ablaze.(DH)

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

30 “Ah, (A)stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
(B)“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make (C)an alliance,[a] but not of my Spirit,
    that they may add sin to sin;
(D)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!
(E)Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
    and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
For though his officials are at (F)Zoan
    and (G)his envoys reach (H)Hanes,
everyone comes to shame
    through (I)a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
    but shame and disgrace.”

An (J)oracle on (K)the beasts of (L)the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
    from where come the lioness and the lion,
    the adder and the (M)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.
Egypt's (N)help is worthless and empty;
    therefore I have called her
    (O)“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

And now, go, (P)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]
(Q)For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the Lord;
10 (R)who say to (S)the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us (T)smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
    and trust in (U)oppression and perverseness
    and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
    (V)like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is (W)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.”

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

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

19 For a people shall dwell (AE)in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the (AF)bread of adversity and the (AG)water of affliction, (AH)yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 (AI)And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is (AJ)the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. (AK)You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 (AL)And he will give (AM)rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. (AN)In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and (AO)the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And (AP)on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, (AQ)when the towers fall. 26 (AR)Moreover, 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 when (AS)the Lord binds up (AT)the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
    burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;[d]
his lips are full of fury,
    and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 (AU)his breath is (AV)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 (AW)a bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, (AX)as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to (AY)the mountain of the Lord, to (AZ)the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord (BA)will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger (BB)and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst (BC)and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, (BD)when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them (BE)will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. (BF)Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For (BG)a burning place[e] has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, (BH)its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; (BI)the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web
  2. Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
  3. Isaiah 30:15 Or repentance
  4. Isaiah 30:27 Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds
  5. Isaiah 30:33 Or For Topheth

30 ¡Ay de los hijos que se apartan, dice el SEÑOR, para hacer consejo, y no de mí, para cubrirse con cobertura, y no por mi Espíritu, añadiendo pecado a pecado!

Parten para descender a Egipto, y no han preguntado palabra de mi boca, para fortificarse con la fuerza de Faraón, y poner su esperanza en la sombra de Egipto.

Mas la fortaleza de Faraón se os tornará en vergüenza; y la esperanza en la sombra de Egipto en confusión.

Cuando estarán sus príncipes en Zoán, y sus embajadores vinieron a Hanes,

Todos se avergonzarán con el pueblo que no les aprovechará, ni les ayudará, ni les traerá provecho; antes les será para vergüenza, y aun para confusión.

Carga de las bestias del Mediodía. Por tierra de aflicción y de angustia. Leones y leonas en ella. Basilisco y áspid volador, llevado sobre hombros de bestias sus riquezas, y sus tesoros sobre corcovas de camellos, a pueblo que no les aprovechará.

Ciertamente Egipto en vano e inútilmente dará ayuda; por tanto yo le di voces, que su fortaleza sería estarse quietos.

Ve, pues, ahora, y escribe esta visión en una tabla delante de ellos; y asiéntala en un libro, para que quede hasta el día postrero, para siempre, por todos los siglos.

Que este pueblo es rebelde, hijos mentirosos, hijos que no quisieron oír la ley del SEÑOR;

10 Que dicen a los que ven: No veáis; y a los profetas: No nos profeticéis lo recto, decidnos cosas halagüeñas, profetizad errores.

11 Dejad el camino, apartaos de la senda, haced apartar de nuestra presencia al Santo de Israel.

12 Por tanto, el Santo de Israel dice así: Porque desechasteis esta palabra, y confiasteis en violencia, y en perversidad, y sobre éstas edificasteis,

13 por tanto, esta iniquidad os será como pared abierta que se va a caer, y como corcova en muro alto, cuya caída viene súbita y repentinamente.

14 Y vuestro quebrantamiento, será como quebrantamiento de vaso de alfarero, que sin misericordia lo hacen pedazos; ni entre los pedazos se halla un tiesto para traer fuego del hogar, o para coger agua de un pozo.

15 Porque así dijo el Señor DIOS, el Santo de Israel: En descanso y en reposo seréis salvos; en quietud y en confianza será vuestra fortaleza; y no quisisteis,

16 Mas dijisteis: No, antes huiremos en caballos. Por tanto vosotros huiréis. Sobre corceles ligeros cabalgaremos; por tanto, serán más ligeros vuestros perseguidores.

17 Un millar huirá a la amenaza de uno; a la amenaza de cinco huiréis vosotros todos; hasta que quedéis como mástil en la cumbre del monte; y como bandera de ejemplo sobre alguna colina.

18 Por tanto, el SEÑOR os esperará para tener misericordia de vosotros, y por tanto será ensalzado teniendo de vosotros misericordia; porque el SEÑOR es Dios de juicio; bienaventurados todos los que a él esperan.

19 Ciertamente el pueblo morará en Sion, en Jerusalén; nunca más llorarás; el que tiene misericordia tendrá misericordia de ti; al oír la voz de tu clamor te responderá.

20 Mas el Señor os dará pan de congoja y agua de angustia; tu lluvia nunca más te será quitada, mas tus ojos verán tu lluvia.

21 Entonces tus oídos oirán a tus espaldas palabra que diga: Este es el camino, andad por él; para que no echéis a la mano derecha, y para que no echéis a la mano izquierda.

22 Entonces profanarás la cobertura de tus esculturas de plata, y la protección de tu vaciadizo de oro; las apartarás como trapo de menstruo; ¡Sal fuera! les dirás.

23 Entonces dará lluvia a tu sementera, cuando sembrares la tierra; y pan del fruto de la tierra; y será fértil y grueso; y tus ganados en aquel tiempo serán apacentados en anchas dehesas.

24 Tus bueyes y tus asnos que labran la tierra, comerán grano limpio, el cual será aventado con pala y zaranda.

25 Y sobre todo monte alto, y sobre todo collado subido, habrá ríos, y corrientes de aguas, el día de la gran matanza, cuando caerán las torres.

26 Y la luz de la luna será como la luz del Sol; y la luz del Sol siete veces mayor, como la luz de siete días, el día que soldará el SEÑOR la quebradura de su pueblo, y curará la llaga de su herida.

27 He aquí que el nombre del SEÑOR viene de lejos: su rostro encendido, y grave de sufrir; sus labios llenos de ira; y su lengua, como fuego que consume.

28 Y su Espíritu, como arroyo que sale de madre, partirá hasta el cuello, para zarandear a los gentiles con criba de vanidad; y poner freno que les haga errar en las quijadas de los pueblos.

29 Vosotros tendréis canción, como en la noche en la cual se celebra Pascua; y alegría de corazón, como el que va con flauta, para venir al Monte del SEÑOR, al Fuerte de Israel.

30 Y el SEÑOR hará oír la potencia de su voz; y hará ver el descender de su brazo, con furor de rostro, y llama de fuego consumidor, con dispersión, con avenida, y piedra de granizo.

31 Porque Assur, que hirió con palo, con la voz del SEÑOR será quebrantado.

32 Y en todo mal paso habrá báculo, que el SEÑOR hará hincar sobre él con tamboriles y vihuelas; y con fuerza del cielo peleará contra ella.

33 Porque Tofet está diputada desde ayer para el rey de Babilonia, también está aparejada; la cual ahondó y ensanchó su hoguera de fuego, y mucha leña. El soplo del SEÑOR, como arroyo de azufre, que la encienda.