Jeremiah 17:5
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5 Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.(A)
Psalm 118:8-9
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8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in mortals.(A)
9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord
than to put confidence in princes.(B)
Psalm 146:3-4
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3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.(A)
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.(B)
Isaiah 2:22
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22 [[Turn away from mortals,
who have only breath in their nostrils,
for of what account are they?]][a](A)
2 Chronicles 32:8
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8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” The people were encouraged by the words of King Hezekiah of Judah.(A)
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Isaiah 31
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Alliance with Egypt Is Futile
31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!(A)
2 Yet he is wise and can bring disaster;
he does not depart from his words
but will rise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.(B)
3 The Egyptians are human and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.(C)
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
“As a lion or a young lion growls over its prey
and, when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.(D)
5 Like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”(E)
6 Turn back to him whom you[a] have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel.(F) 7 For on that day all of you shall throw away your idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.(G)
8 “Then the Assyrian shall fall by a sword not of mortals,
and a sword not of humans shall devour him;
he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced labor.(H)
9 His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.(I)
Footnotes
- 31.6 Heb they
Isaiah 30:1-7
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The Futility of Reliance on Egypt
30 Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
who carry out a plan but not mine;
who make an alliance but against my will,
adding sin to sin;(A)
2 who set out to go down to Egypt
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.(B)
3 Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.(C)
4 For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,(D)
5 everyone comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
only shame and disgrace.(E)
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and roaring[a] lion,
of viper and flying 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.(F)
7 For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her,
“Rahab who sits still.”[b](G)
Isaiah 36:6
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6 See, you are relying on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.(A)
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Psalm 62:9
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9 Those of low estate are but a breath;
those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
they are together lighter than a breath.(A)
Ezekiel 29:6-7
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6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
that I am the Lord,
because you[a] were a staff of reed
to the house of Israel;(A)
7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke
and tore all their shoulders,
and when they leaned on you, you broke
and made all their legs give way.[b](B)
Ezekiel 6:9
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9 Your survivors shall remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I was crushed by their wanton heart that turned away from me and their wanton eyes that turned after their idols. Then they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations.(A)
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Psalm 18:21
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21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord
and have not wickedly departed from my God.(A)
Isaiah 59:15
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15 Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
The Lord saw it, and it displeased him
that there was no justice.(A)
Hosea 1:2
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The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.”(A)
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