Isaiah 30
1 Woe [to] apostate sons, A declaration of YHWH! To do counsel, and not from Me, And to spread out a covering, and not of My Spirit, So as to add sin to sin.
Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to you, my people who rebel against me. You make plans, but what you plan is not what I want. You have made an alliance [with the rulers of Egypt], but you did not ask my Spirit [if that was what you should do]. By doing that, you have increased the number of your sins.
2 Who are walking to go down to Egypt, And have not asked My mouth, To be strong in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt.
You went to Egypt [to ask their rulers for help], without asking for my advice. You have trusted in [the army of] the king of Egypt to protect you; you have [trusted in them] [like] people sit in the shade [to protect themselves from the sun] [MET].
3 And the strength of Pharaoh Has been to you for shame, And the trust in the shadow of Egypt confusion,
[But] the result of your trusting in the king of Egypt is that you will be [disappointed and] disgraced; because of trusting in him, you will be humiliated.
4 For his princes were in Zoan, And his messengers reach Hanes.
Officials/ambassadors [from Judah] have gone to Zoan and Hanes [cities in Egypt to make treaties],
5 He made all ashamed of a people that do not profit, Not for help, and not for profit, But for shame, and also for reproach!
but all those [who trust in the King of Egypt] will be humiliated, because that nation will not be able to help you; the treaty that you have made [requesting help from them] will be useless; instead, the result will be that you will be humiliated and disgraced [DOU].”
6 The burden of the beasts of the south. Into a land of adversity and distress, Of young lion and of old lion, From where [are] viper and flying, burning serpent, They carry their wealth on the shoulder of donkeys, And their treasures on the hump of camels, To a people not profitable.
[I received from Yahweh] this message about the animals in the southern part of Judah: That area is one where [people experience a lot of] troubles and difficulties, an area where there are male and female lions and various kinds of poisonous snakes. Caravans go through that area taking donkeys and camels loaded with valuable goods. [They are taking them] to Egypt to seek for protection [by the army of Egypt], [but] it will be useless.
7 Indeed, Egyptians [are] vanity, and help in vain, Therefore I have cried concerning this: “Their strength [is] to sit still.”
The promises made by [the king of] Egypt are worthless; therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.
8 No, go in, write it on a tablet with them, And inscribe it on a scroll, And it is for a latter day, for a witness for all time,
Yahweh told me to write on a scroll a message, in order that it would be a witness [to the people of Judah] that would endure forever.
9 That this [is] a people of rebellion, sons—liars, Sons not willing to hear the Law of YHWH.
[It would remind them] that they are deceitful and always rebelling against Yahweh; they refuse to pay attention to what he tells/teaches them.
10 Who have said to seers, “Do not see,” And to prophets, “Do not prophesy to us straightforward things, Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits,
They tell the people who see/receive visions [from Yahweh], “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Do not reveal to us what is right! Tell us pleasant things; do not tell us visions about things that are true!
11 Turn aside from the way, Decline from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before us.”
Stop doing what you have been doing [DOU]; stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel [says to us]!”
12 Therefore, thus said the Holy One of Israel: “Because of your kicking against this word, And you trust in oppression, And perverseness, and rely on it,
Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “You have rejected my message, and you are relying on those who oppress and deceive others.
13 Therefore this iniquity is to you as a breach falling, Swelled out in a wall set on high, Whose destruction comes suddenly, in an instant.
Therefore, the result of your sin [of rejecting me] will be that you will [suddenly experience disasters]; what will happen to you will be like [SIM] a cracked wall that suddenly collapses [DOU].
14 And He has broken it As the breaking of the potters’ bottle, Beaten down—He does not spare, Nor is there found, in its beating down, A potsherd to take fire from the burning, And to draw out waters from a ditch.”
You will be smashed like a clay jar is smashed [when it is dropped], and it shatters completely, with the result that there is not one piece big enough to carry some coals from a stove or to carry a little bit of water from a well.”
15 For thus said Lord YHWH, The Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you are saved, In keeping quiet and in confidence is your might,” And you have not been willing.
Yahweh, [our] God, the Holy One of Israel, [also] says this: “You will be rescued [from your enemies only] if you repent and trust [in what I will do for you]; you will be strong [only] if you quit worrying and trust in me. But you do not want [to do that].
16 And you say, “No, for we flee on a horse,” Therefore you flee, And, “We ride on the swift!” Therefore your pursuers are swift.
You said, ‘No, we will escape on horses [that the army of Egypt will give us]!’ So, you will [try to] flee. You said, ‘We will [escape from the army of Assyria] by riding on swift horses!’ [But] those who pursue you will [also ride] swiftly.
17 One thousand [flee] because of the rebuke of one, Because of the rebuke of five you flee, Until you have surely been left as a pole On the top of the mountain, And as an ensign on the height.
[As a result], 1,000 [of you] will flee when [only] one of them pursues you! When only five [of their soldiers] threaten [to kill you], [all of] will flee. [Only a few of] you will be left, like [SIM] a [single] flagpole on top of a mountain with one signal flag on the pole.”
18 And therefore YHWH waits to favor you, And therefore He is exalted to pity you, For YHWH [is] a God of judgment, O the blessedness of all waiting for Him.
[But] wants to be kind to you; he desires to show you that he is merciful. [Do not forget that] Yahweh is a God who acts justly; he is pleased with those who patiently trust in him.
19 For the people in Zion dwell in Jerusalem, Do not weep—weeping, Pitying, He pities you at the voice of your cry, When He hears He answers you.
You people who live in Jerusalem [DOU], [some day] you will not cry any more. Yahweh will be kind to you when you call out to him for help. He will answer/help you as soon as he hears you call.
20 And the Lord has given to you bread of adversity, And water of oppression. And your teachers remove no longer, And your eyes have seen your teachers,
Although [now] Yahweh has caused you to [daily] experience [MET] great troubles and suffer much, [he], your teacher, will not hide himself from you. He [SYN] will teach you many things clearly.
21 And your ear hears a word behind you, saying, “This [is] the way, go in it,” When you turn to the right, And when you turn to the left.
And you will hear him speak to you to guide you. [Right] behind you he will say, “This is the road on which you should walk; walk on this road!”
22 And you have defiled the covering of Your carved images of silver, And the ephod of your molten image of gold, You scatter them as a sickening thing, “Go out,” you say to it.
When that happens, you will destroy [all] your idols that are covered with silver or gold. You will throw them away like you throw away a filthy rag, and you will say to them, “We do not need you any more!”
23 And He has given rain [for] your seed, With which you sow the ground, And bread, the increase of the ground, And it has been fat and plentiful, Your livestock enjoy an enlarged pasture in that day.
[If you do that], Yahweh will bless you by giving you good rain at the time that you plant your crops. You will have good harvests, and plenty of pasture with grass for your cattle to eat.
24 And the oxen and the young donkeys serving the ground, Eat fermented provender, That one is winnowing with shovel and fan.
After the wind [blows away the chaff], the oxen and donkeys that [pull the plow to] plow your ground will have good grain to eat.
25 And there has been on every high mountain, And on every exalted hill, Streams—conduits of waters, In a day of much slaughter, in the falling of towers.
At that time, when [your enemies] have been slaughtered and their towers have (collapsed/been destroyed), there will be streams flowing down every hill and mountain [in Judah].
26 And the light of the moon has been as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun is sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day of YHWH’s binding up the breach of His people, When He heals the stroke of its wound.
The moon will seem to shine as brightly as the sun, and the sun will seem to shine seven times as brightly as previously. That is what it will be like when Yahweh causes [the suffering of] his people [to cease; it will be as though] [MET] he will be putting bandages on their wounds and healing them.
27 Behold, the Name of YHWH is coming from far, His anger is burning, and the flame [is] great, His lips have been full of indignation, And His tongue [is] as a devouring fire.
[It is as though] we see Yahweh coming from far away; he is extremely angry, and there are thick clouds of smoke around him. By what he says [MTY] he shows that he is angry; what he says is like [SIM] a devastating/destructive fire.
28 And His breath [is] as an overflowing stream, It divides to the neck, To sift nations with a sieve of vanity, And a bridle causing to err, [Is] on the jaws of the peoples.
His breath is like [SIM] a flood that covers [his enemies] up to their necks. He will separate [MET] the nations in order to destroy [some of them]; [it is as though] he will put hooks in their mouths and take them away.
29 Singing is to you as in a night sanctified for a festival, And joy of heart as he who is going with a pipe, To go to the mountain of YHWH, To the rock of Israel.
But [his people] will sing joyfully like they sing during the nights when they celebrate a holy festival. They will be very joyful, like [SIM] [a large group of his people] are joyful when they go up to Zion Hill in Jerusalem, along with men playing flutes [when they are all going there to worship Yahweh]. He is [like] [MET] a huge rock under which [we] Israeli people [are safe].
30 And YHWH has caused The splendor of His voice to be heard, And the coming down of His arm He shows with the raging of anger, And the flame of a consuming fire, Scattering, and inundation, and hailstone.
And Yahweh will enable [us] to hear him speaking powerfully/majestically. He will show us that he [SYN] is very powerful. [We] will see him [SYN] smash [his enemies]. Being very angry, he will descend with a big rainstorm and thunder and hail [to punish them].
31 For from the voice of YHWH Asshur [is] broken down, He strikes with a rod.
[The soldiers of] Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh and when he strikes them with his rod.
32 And every passage of the settled staff, That YHWH causes to rest on him, Has been with tambourines and with harps, And in battles of shaking He has fought with it.
And while Yahweh strikes them to punish them, [his people] will [celebrate by] playing tambourines and harps. [It will be as though] Yahweh will lift up his powerful hand/arm and defeat the Assyrian army in battle.
33 For Tophet is arranged from former time, Even it is prepared for the king, He has made deep, He has made large, Its pile [is] fire and much wood, The breath of YHWH, As a stream of brimstone, is burning in it!
[The valley of] Topheth [outside Jerusalem] has been prepared for a long time; it is ready for the king [of Assyria]; the (funeral pyre/pile of wood) [for burning his body] is wide and high, and [it will be as though] Yahweh will light the fire with his breath, which will come out like a stream of burning sulfur.
