Isaiah 30

1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.

Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of me, and who make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,

2 They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

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

4 For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

For their rulers are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes.

5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They cannot be of help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”

They shall all be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.

The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people who shall not profit them.

7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.

For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still.

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.

Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it on a scroll, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.

9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

For it is a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the law of Jehovah,

10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.

who say to the seers, Do not see, and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits.

11 Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

Get you out of the way. Turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it,

13 this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly— in an instant!

therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.

14 It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”

And he shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there shall not be found among the pieces of it a shard with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.

15 For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence— but you were not willing.”

For thus said the lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Ye shall be saved in returning and rest. Your strength shall be in quietness and in confidence. And ye would not,

16 “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.

but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses. Therefore ye shall flee. And ye said, We will ride upon the swift. Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.

One thousand shall flee at the threat of one. Ye shall flee at the threat of five, till ye are left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.

18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

And therefore Jehovah will wait, that he may be gracious to you. And therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.

For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear, he will answer thee.

20 The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet thy teachers shall not be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers.

21 And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

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 So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold. Thou shall cast them away as an unclean thing. Thou shall say to it, Get thee away.

23 Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

And he will give the rain for thy seed, with which thou shall sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day thy cattle shall feed in large pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

25 And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.

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

26 The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

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 Jehovah binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.

27 Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire,

28 His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

and his breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. And a bridle that causes to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples.

29 You will sing as 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.

Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as he who goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel.

30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the coming down of his arm with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast and tempest and hailstones.

31 For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter.

For through the voice of Jehovah the Assyrian shall be dismayed. With his rod he will smite him.

32 And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished.

And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with the sound of tambourine and harps. And he will fight with them in battles with the brandishing of his arm.

33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.

For a Topheth is prepared of old, yea, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and large. The pile of it is fire and much wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it, like a stream of brimstone.