Isaiah 30

1 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.

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 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].

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 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.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh become your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your disgrace.

4 Officials/ambassadors [from Judah] have gone to Zoan and Hanes [cities in Egypt to make treaties],

For his princes were at Zo'an, and his ambassadors had reached Chanes.

5 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].”

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 [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.

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 The promises made by [the king of] Egypt are worthless; therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.

And the Egyptians will help in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I called this, Boasters they are in sitting still.

8 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.

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 [It would remind them] that they are deceitful and always rebelling against Yahweh; they refuse to pay attention to what he tells/teaches them.

For this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:

10 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!

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 doing what you have been doing [DOU]; stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel [says to us]!”

Depart you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, remove from before us the Holy One of Israel.

12 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.

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 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].

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 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.”

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 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].

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 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.

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 [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.”

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 [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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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!”

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 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!”

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 [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.

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 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.

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] have been slaughtered and their towers have (collapsed/been destroyed), there will be streams flowing down every hill and mountain [in Judah].

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 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.

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 [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.

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 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.

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 [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].

[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 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].

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 [The soldiers of] Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh and when he strikes them with his rod.

For because of the voice of the Lord shall be terrified Asshur, that smote [you] with the rod.

32 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.

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 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.

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.