Isaiah 30
1 Tragedy is coming to my defiant children, declares the Lord. You make plans that don't come from me; you make alliances against my wishes, adding sin to sin.
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not from me; and that set themselves a ruler, but not by my spirit, in order that they may add sin to sin:
2 You go to Egypt without asking me, looking to Pharaoh for protection, hoping to find safety hiding behind Egypt.
That travel to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my will; to strengthen themselves through the strength of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 But the protection of Pharaoh will be an embarrassment to you; hiding behind Egypt will only bring you humiliation.
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh become your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your disgrace.
4 Even though he has officials at Zoan and his messengers reach Hanes,
For his princes were at Zo'an, and his ambassadors had reached Chanes.
5 the Egyptians will offend everyone because they are useless—they're no help and good for nothing, except for causing shame and bringing disgrace.
They all are ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, neither be a help nor give profit; but [bringeth] shame, and also a reproach.
6 A message about the animals of the Negev. The messengers travel through a harsh and hostile land where lions and lionesses live, vipers and vicious snakes too. Their donkeys are burdened down with valuable gifts, their camels are loaded with treasure, to give to a worthless people that can't help.
The doom of the beasts of the south: Through the land of trouble and anguish, whence come the lioness and the lion, the viper and flying dragons, they will carry upon the shoulders of young asses their riches, and upon the humps of camels their treasures, to a people that cannot profit.
7 Egypt's support is an empty breath of wind. That's why I call her Pride Sitting Down.
And the Egyptians will help in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called this, Boasters they are in sitting still.
8 Now go and write all this down on a tablet and on a scroll so that it will last forever and ever.
Now go, write it before them on a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the latest time to come, for ever, and to eternity:
9 For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, who refuse to listen to the Lord's instructions.
For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
10 They tell people who see visions, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Don't give us prophecies about doing right—just tell us pleasant things and give us fake prophecies.
Who have said to the seers, Ye shall not see; and to the prophets, Reveal not unto us true things, speak unto us smooth things, reveal deceits;
11 Stop telling us straight; go a different direction! We don't want to hear any more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Depart you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, remove from before us the Holy One of Israel.
12 So this is how the Holy One of Israel replies, Since you have rejected this message, and since you trust in oppression and believe in dishonesty,
Therefore thus hath said the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and lean thereon for aid:
13 your punishment will suddenly fall on you, like a high wall that bulges out and collapses in an instant.
Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a threatening breach, swelling out in a high-towering wall, the fall of which will come unawares, suddenly.
14 You will be smashed like a clay pot, broken into such tiny pieces that there won't be a big enough piece to pick up coals from a hearth or a little bit of water from a well.
And he will break it, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, dashing it in pieces without sparing it; so that there cannot be found among its fragments a sherd to rake fire from a hearth and to draw water from a pit.
15 This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, said, If you repent and patiently trust in me, you would be saved; you would be strong if you had such calm confidence. But you refused to do it.
For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, the Holy One of Israel, In repose and rest shall ye be helped; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength; and ye would not.
16 You replied, “No! We'll escape on horseback! We'll get away on fast horses!” But the fast ones will be the ones chasing you!
And ye said, “No; for upon horses will we flee;” therefore shall ye flee: and, “Upon swift beasts will we ride;” therefore shall your pursuers be swift.
17 Just one of them will chase after a thousand of you. Just five of them will make you all run away. All that will be left of you will look like a flag fluttering on the top of a mountain, a banner waving on a hill.
One thousand [shall flee] at the threatening of one; at the threatening of five shall ye [all] flee: till ye be left as a pole upon a mountain-top, and as an ensign on a hill.
18 So the Lord waits, wanting to be kind to you, ready to act to show you mercy, for the Lord is a God who does what is right. All who wait for him are blessed.
And therefore will the Lord wait, to be gracious unto you, and therefore will he exalt himself, to have mercy upon you; for a God of justice is the Lord: happy are all those that wait for him.
19 People of Zion, you who live in Jerusalem, you won't have to weep any more. When you cry for help he will be kind to you. He will answer you immediately he hears you.
For O people of Zion that shall dwell at Jerusalem! thou shalt indeed not weep: he will be surely gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; so soon as he heareth it, he answereth thee.
20 Even though the Lord will give you the bread of hardship to eat and the water of suffering to drink, your teacher will no longer hide himself from you—you will see him with your own eyes.
And the Lord will give you bread [in] adversity, and water [in] oppression; and thy teachers shall not have to hide themselves in a corner any more, but thy eyes shall see thy teachers:
21 When you walk to the right or to the left, you will hear this command coming from behind you: “This is the way to follow.”
And thy ears shall hear the 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 You will defile your silver-coated idols coated with silver and your gold-covered images. You will throw them away like a dirty cloth used for periods, and say to them, “out of here!”
And ye will regard as unclean the covering of thy graven idols of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou wilt cast them away as a filthy thing; “Get thee hence,” wilt thou say unto them.
23 He will send rain when you sow, and the land will produce great harvests. At that time your cattle will feed in rich pastures.
Then will he give the rain for thy seed, that thou mayest sow in the ground; and bread—the produce of the ground—this shall be fat and nutritious: thy cattle shall feed on that day in extensive pastures.
24 The oxen and donkeys that help cultivate the earth will eat good greens and grain, spread with fork and shovel.
The oxen likewise and the young asses that till the ground shall eat salted provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25 At that time when your enemies are killed and the fortresses fall, streams of water will flow down every mountain and hill.
And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every prominent hill, rivulets, streams of waters on the day of the great slaughter, when towers fall.
26 The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter, like having seven days light in one. This is the way it will be when the Lord bandages the injuries of his people and heals the wounds he caused them.
And 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 the seven days, on the day that the Lord bindeth up the broken [limbs] of his people, and healeth the bruise of their wound.
27 Look how the Lord arrives from far away, burning with anger and accompanied by thick clouds of smoke! What he says shows his anger—it's like a fire that burns everything up.
Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning is his anger, and heavy the smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 His breath rushes out like a flood that comes up to the neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that destroys them; he puts bridles in the mouths of the different peoples to lead them away.
And his breath, like an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to toss the nations with the van of falsehood: and [to place] a deceiving bridle on the jaws of the people.
29 But you will have a song to sing like you do on the night of a holy festival. You will celebrate in happiness like those who play pipes as they go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
[Then] shall ye have a song, as in the night when a festival is ushered in, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with the flute to come unto the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will shout so everyone hears him he will reveal his great power. He will hit out in his anger and fury, with a fire that burns everything up, and with torrential rain, storm, and hail.
And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard, and will show the stretching down of his arm, in the indignation of [his] anger, and in the flame of a devouring fire, in flood, and tempest, and stones of hail.
31 At the Lord's command the Assyrians will be shattered, knocked down by his scepter.
For because of the voice of the Lord shall be terrified Asshur, that smote [you] with the rod.
32 Every time the Lord hits them with his rod of punishment it will be accompanied by the music of tambourines and harps as he fights them, swinging into them in battle.
And at every passage of the appointed staff which the Lord will let fall on him, there shall be [music] on tambourine and harp; and in the tumult of battles will he fight with them.
33 The place of burning has been prepared a long time ago, ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, and has plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a flood of burning sulfur, sets it on fire.
For already of old is Topheth made ready; also this is prepared for the king—deep and wide; its pile hath fire and wood in plenty, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, will kindle it into a flame.
