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.

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.

3 And the strength of Pharaoh Has been to you for shame, And the trust in the shadow of Egypt confusion,

4 For his princes were in Zoan, And his messengers reach Hanes.

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!

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.

7 Indeed, Egyptians [are] vanity, and help in vain, Therefore I have cried concerning this: “Their strength [is] to sit still.”

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,

9 That this [is] a people of rebellion, sons—liars, Sons not willing to hear the Law of YHWH.

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,

11 Turn aside from the way, Decline from the path, Cause the Holy One of Israel To cease from before 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,

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

24 And the oxen and the young donkeys serving the ground, Eat fermented provender, That one is winnowing with shovel and fan.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

31 For from the voice of YHWH Asshur [is] broken down, He strikes with a 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.

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!