Isaiah 30
1 Alas! for sons who are rebellious, Declareth Yahweh. Executing a purpose, but not from me, And pouring out a libation but not from my spirit, —That they may add sin to sin:
Woe to the apostate children, says the Lord: you have framed counsel, not by me, and covenants not by my Spirit, to add sins to sins:
2 Who are setting out to go down to Egypt, But at my mouth, have not asked, —Betaking them to the protection of Pharaoh And seeking refuge under the shadow of Egypt.
[even] they that proceed to go down into Egypt, but they have not enquired of me, that they might be helped by Pharao, and protected by the Egyptians.
3 Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh become to you a shame, And, the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, an insult;
For the protection of Pharaoh shall be to you a disgrace, and [there shall be] a reproach to them that trust in Egypt.
4 For their princes have been, in Zoan, —And, their messengers unto Hanes, would draw near.
For there are princes in Tanes, evil messengers.
5 Every one, hath felt ashamed of a people that could not serve them, —Neither with help, nor with service, But they are a shame, yea even a reproach.
In vain shall they labour [in seeking] to a people, which shall not profit them for help, but [shall be] for a shame and reproach.
6 The Oracle on the Beasts of the South, —Through a land of distress and oppression—Lioness and lion coming therefrom, Viper and fiery flying serpent, They would carry, on the shoulders of young asses their wealth And on the humps of camels their treasures Unto a people that cannot serve them.
THE VISION OF THE QUADRUPEDS IN THE DESERT. In affliction and distress, [where are] the lion and lion's whelp, thence [come] also asps, and the young of flying asps, [there shall they be] who bore their wealth on asses and camels to a nation which shall not profit them.
7 But, the Egyptians, with vanity and emptiness, would help, —Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this, Insolent, they sit still!
The Egyptians shall help you utterly in vain: tell them, This your consolation is vain.
8 Now, enter—Write it upon a tablet before them And upon a scroll, inscribe it, —That it may serve for a later day, For futurity, unto times age-abiding: —
Now then sit down and write these words on a tablet, and in a book; for these things shall be for [many long] days, and even for ever.
9 That it is, a rebellious people, Sons apt at deceiving, —Sons unwilling to hear the law of Yahweh:
For the people is disobedient, false children, who would not hear the law of God:
10 Who have said to the seers, Ye must not see! To the prophets, Ye must not prophesy to us reproofs! Speak to us smooth things, Prophesy delusions:
who say to the prophets, Report not to us; and to them that see visions, Speak [them] not to us, but speak and report to us another error;
11 Depart ye from the way, Turn aside from the path, —Desist from setting before us the Holy One of Israel.
and turn us aside from this way; remove from us this path, and remove from us the oracle of Israel.
12 Therefore—Thus, saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have rejected this word, —And have trusted in oppression and perverseness, And have relied thereon,
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have refused to obey these words, and have trusted in falsehood; and because you have murmured, and been confident in this respect:
13 Therefore, shall this iniquity become to you As a breach ready to fall, A bulging in a high wall, —Whose breaking down cometh, suddenly in a twinkling.
therefore shall this sin be to you as a wall suddenly falling when a strong city has been taken, of which the fall is very near at hand.
14 Yea he will break it—as the breaking of the pitcher of a potter, crushed, he will not spare; So that there shall not be found when it is smashed, A sherd wherewith to snatch fire from a hearth, Or to skim off water out of a cistern.
And the fall thereof shall be as the breaking of an earthen vessel, [as] small fragments of a pitcher, so that you should not find amongst them a sherd, with which you might take up fire, and with which you should draw a little water.
15 For thus, said my Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel—By returning and resting, shall ye be saved, In keeping quiet and trusting, shall be your strength, —Howbeit ye would not!
Thus says the Lord, the Holy Lord of Israel; When you shall turn and mourn, then you shall be saved; and you shall know where you were, when you did trust in vanities: [then] your strength became vain, yet you would not listen:
16 But ye said, —Nay! but on horses, will we flee For this cause, shall ye indeed flee, —And on the swift, will we ride, For this cause, swift, shall be your pursuers:
but you said, We will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will be aided by swift riders; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand, before the war-cry of one—before the war-cry of five, shall ye flee, —Until ye have been left, As a pole on the top of a mountain, And as an ensign upon a hill.
A thousand shall flee because of the voice of one, and many shall flee on account of the voice of five; until you be left as a signal-post upon a mountain, and as one bearing an ensign upon a hill.
18 And, therefore, will Yahweh wait, That he may grant you favour, And, therefore, will he lift himself up, That he may show you compassion, —For A God of justice, is, Yahweh, How happy all they who are waiting for him
And the Lord will again wait, that he may pity you, and will therefore be exalted that he may have mercy upon you: because the Lord your God is a judge: blessed are they that stay themselves upon him.
19 For, a people, In Zion, shall dwell, In Jerusalem, —As for weeping, thou shalt not weep! As for favour, he will grant thee favour, at the sound of thine outcry, —As soon as he heareth, he hath answered thee!
For the holy people shall dwell in Sion: and [whereas] Jerusalem has wept bitterly, [saying], Pity me; he shall pity you: when he perceived the voice of your cry, he listened to you.
20 Though My Lord, should give you bread in short measure and water in scant allowance Yet will thy Teacher not hide himself any more, But thine eyes shall ever be looking on thy Teacher.
And [though] the Lord shall give you the bread of affliction and scant water, yet they that cause you to err shall no more at all draw near to you; for your eyes shall see those that cause you to err,
21 So shall, thine own ears, hear a word from behind thee saying, —This, is the way, walk ye therein, When ye would turn to the right hand Or when ye would turn to the left.
and your ears shall hear the words of them that went after you to lead you astray, who say, This [is] the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.
22 Then will ye defile—The overlaying of thy graven images of silver, And the coating of thy molten image, of gold, —Thou wilt cash them away, as a woman the token of her sickness, Begone! shalt thou say thereto,
And you shall pollute the plated idols, and you shall grind to powder the gilt ones, and shall scatter them as the water of a removed [woman], and you shall thrust them forth as dung.
23 Then will he give—Rain for thy seed—wherewith thou shalt sow thy ground and Bread as the increase of thy ground, which shall be fertile and fat, —Thy cattle, in that day, shall feed in broad pasture:
Then shall there be rain to the seed of your land; and the bread of the fruit of your land shall be plenteous and rich: and your cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.
24 And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground, salted provender, shall eat, which hath been winnowed with shovel or fan.
Your bulls and your oxen that till the ground, shall eat chaff mixed with winnowed barley.
25 Then shall there be, On every lofty mountain and On every lifted hill, Channels, Conduits of water, —In the great day of slaughter, When the towers fall.
And there shall be upon every lofty mountain and upon every high hill, water running in that day, when many shall perish, and when the towers shall fall.
26 Then shall the light of the moon, 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—When Yahweh, bindeth up, the laceration of his people, and When the severe wound caused by smiting them, he healeth.
And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold in the day when the Lord shall heal the breach of his people, and shall heal the pain of your wound.
27 Lo! the Name of Yahweh, coming in from afar, His anger kindling, A heavy storm, —His lips, are full of indignation, And, his tongue, is like a fire that devoureth;
Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a [long] time, burning wrath: the word of his lips is with glory, a word full of anger, and the anger of his wrath shall devour as fire.
28 And, his breath like an overflowing torrent, even unto the neck, doth reach, To sift nations with a sieve of calamity, —A bridle leading to ruin, being upon the jaws of the peoples.
And his breath, as rushing water in a valley, shall reach as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations for [their] vain error: error also shall pursue them, and overtake them.
29 A song, shall ye have, As in the night of hallowing a festival, —And gladness of heart, As when one goeth with the flute to enter Into the mountain of Yahweh Unto the Rock of Israel.
Must you always rejoice, and go into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must you go with a pipe, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?
30 Then will Yahweh cause to be heard—the resounding of his voice And the bringing down of his arm, shall be seen, In a rage of anger, And with the flame of a devouring fire, —A burst and a downpour, and a hailstone!
And the Lord shall make his glorious voice to be heard, and the wrath of his arm, to make a display with wrath and anger and devouring flame: he shall lighten terribly, and [his wrath shall be] as water and violent hail.
31 For at the voice of Yahweh, shall Assyria be crushed, —With his rod, will he smite.
For by the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be overcome, [even] by the stroke wherewith he shall strike them.
32 And it shall come to pass, —that, every stroke of the staff of doom which Yahweh shall lay upon him, shall be with timbrels and with lyres, —when, with battles of brandished weapons, he hath fought against them.
And it shall happen to him from every side, [that] they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves shall war against him in turn with drums and with harp.
33 For there hath been set in order, beforehand a Topheth, Yea, the same, for the king, hath been prepared He hath made it deep—made it large, —The circumference thereof is for fire and wood in abundance, the breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of brimstone, is ready to kindle it.
For you shall be required before [your] time: has it been prepared for you also to reign? nay, God has [prepared for you] a deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood: the wrath of the Lord [shall be] as a trench kindled with sulphur.
