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 Jehovah, Who form plans, and not from me, And make covenants without my spirit, 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].
Who go down into Egypt, Without inquiring at my mouth, To seek refuge in Pharaoh's protection, And to trust 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.
The protection of Pharaoh shall be your shame; Your trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 Officials/ambassadors [from Judah] have gone to Zoan and Hanes [cities in Egypt to make treaties],
For their princes are at Zoan, Their ambassadors have arrived at Hanes.
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].”
But they are all ashamed of a people that do not profit them; That are no help and no profit, But only a shame and 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 loaded beasts go southward. Through a land of anguish and distress, Whence come forth the lioness, and the fierce lion, The viper, and the flying fiery serpent; On the shoulders of young asses they carry their wealth, And on the bunches of camels their treasures, To a people that will not profit them!
7 The promises made by [the king of] Egypt are worthless; therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.
Vain and empty is the help of Egypt; Wherefore I call her, The Blusterer that sitteth 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.
Go now, write this on a tablet before them; Note it down upon a book, That it may remain for future times, A testimony forever!
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, false children; Children who will not hear the law of Jehovah;
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 say to the seers, “See not!” And to the prophets, “Prophesy not right things; Speak to us smooth things, Prophesy falsehood!
11 Stop doing what you have been doing [DOU]; stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel [says to us]!”
Turn aside from the way, Depart from the path, Remove from our sight 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.
Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Since ye despise this word, And trust in oppression and perverseness, And lean thereon,
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 Like a breach ready to give way, That swelleth out in a high wall, Whose fall cometh suddenly, in an instant.
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.”
It is broken like a potter's vessel, Which is dashed in pieces and not spared, So that among its fragments not a sherd is found to take up fire from the hearth, Or to dip water from the cistern.
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 said the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel: By a return and by rest shall ye be saved; In quietness and confidence is your strength;
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.
But ye would not. Ye said, “No! we will bound along upon horses”; Truly ye shall bound along in flight. “We will ride upon swift coursers”; But they shall be swift that pursue you.
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.”
A thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one, And ten thousand at the rebuke of five, Till what remains of you shall be as a beacon on the top of a mountain, As a banner upon 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 yet will Jehovah wait to be gracious to you, And yet will he arise to have mercy upon you; For Jehovah is a righteous God; Happy are all they who 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 dwellest in Jerusalem, Thou shalt not always weep! He will be very gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry; No sooner shall he hear it, than he will answer 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.
Though Jehovah hath given thee the bread of distress, and the water of affliction, Yet shall thy teachers be hidden from thee no more; But thine 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 thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, Saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it!” When ye turn aside to the right hand, or 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!”
Ye shall treat as defiled the silver coverings of your graven images, And the golden clothing of your molten images, Ye shall cast them away as an unclean thing; Away! shall ye say to 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 rain for thy seed, With which thou shalt sow the ground, And the bread-corn, the produce of the land, shall be rich and nourishing; Then shall thy cattle feed in large 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 also, and the young asses, that till the ground, Shall eat well-seasoned provender, Which hath been winnowed with the shovel and 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 on every lofty mountain, And on every high hill, Shall be brooks and streams of water, In the day of the great slaughter, When the 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.
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, ]] When Jehovah bindeth up the bruises of his people, And healeth the wound which they have received.
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 Jehovah cometh from afar, His anger burneth, and violent is the flame, His lips are full of indignation, And his tongue 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.
His breath is like an overflowing torrent, That reacheth even to the neck; He will toss the nation with the winnowing-fan of destruction; He will put a bridle upon the jaws of the people, that shall lead them astray.
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].
But ye shall then sing as in the night of a solemn festival; Your heart shall be glad, like his who marcheth with the sound of the pipe To the mountain of Jehovah, 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].
Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, And the blow of his arm to be seen, With furious anger, and flames of devouring fire; With flood, and storm, and hailstones.
31 [The soldiers of] Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh and when he strikes them with his rod.
For by the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be beaten down; He will smite him 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 as often as the appointed rod shall strike, Which Jehovah shall lay heavily upon him, It shall be accompanied with tabrets and harps; And with fierce battles will he fight against him.
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 long hath the burning place been prepared; Yea, for the king hath it been made ready; The pile is made deep and broad; There is fire and wood in abundance; The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, kindle it.
