The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 30
1 “Woe to the rebellious children”, says
Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from
me; and who make an alliance, but not
with my Spirit,thatthey may add sinto sin;
2 who set out to go down into Egypt without asking for my advice, to strengthen
themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and
to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will
be your shame, and the refuge in the
shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 For their princes are at Zoan, and their
ambassadors have come to Hanes.
5 They shall all be ashamed because of a
people that can’t profit them, that are not
a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a
reproach.”
6The burden ofthe animals ofthe South.
Through the land of trouble and anguish, of the lioness and the lion, the viper
and fiery flying serpent, they carry their
riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of
camels, to an unprofitable people.
7 For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab
who sits still.
8 Now go, write itbefore themona tablet,
and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for
the time to come forever and ever.
9 For it is a rebellious people, lying children,
children who will not hear Yahweh’s law;
10 who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and
the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right
things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy
deceits.
11 Get out of the way. Turn away from
the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to
cease from before us.”
12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says,
“Because you despise this word, and trust
in oppression and perverseness, and rely
on it, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in
a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.
14 He will break it as a potter’s vessel is
broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so thatthere won’tbe foundamong the
broken pieces a piece good enough to take
fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out
of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord Yahweh, the
Holy One of Israel, “You will be saved in
returning and rest. Your strength will be in
quietness and in confidence.” You refused,
16 but you said, “No, for we will flee on
horses;” therefore you will flee; and, “We
will ride on the swift;” therefore those who
pursue you will be swift.
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of
one. At the threat of five, you will flee until
you are left like a beacon on the top of a
mountain, and like a banner on a hill.
18 Therefore Yahweh will wait, that he
may be gracious to you; and therefore he
will be exalted, that he may have mercy on
you, for Yahweh is a God ofjustice. Blessed
are all those who wait for him.
19 For the people will dwell in Zion at
Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He
will surely be gracious to you at the voice
of your cry. When he hears you, he will
answer you.
20 Though the Lord may give you the
bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
yet your teachers won’tbehiddenany
more, but your eyes will see your teachers;
21 and when you turn to the right hand,
and when you turn to the left, your ears
will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This
is the way. Walk in it.”
22 You shall defile the overlaying of your
engraved images of silver, and the plating
of your molten images of gold. You shall
cast them away as an unclean thing. You
shall tell it, “Go away!”
23 He will give the rain for your seed,
with which you will sow the ground; and
bread of the increase of the ground will
be rich and plentiful. In that day, your
livestock will feed in large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that t
ill the ground will eat savory
feed, which has been winnowed with the
shovel and with the fork.
25 There will be brooks and streams of
water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill
in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover the light of the moon will be
like the light of the sun, and the light of the
sun will be seven times brighter, like the
light of seven days, in the day that Yahweh
binds up the fracture of his people, and
heals the wound they were struck with.
27 Behold, Yahweh’s name comes from
far away, burning with his anger, and in
thick rising smoke. His lips are full of
indignation. His tongue is as a devouring
fire.
28 His breath is as an overflowing stream
that reaches even to the neck, to sift the
nations with the sieve of destruction. A
bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws
of the peoples.
29 You will have a song, as in the night
when a holy feast is kept, and gladness
of heart, as when one goes with a flute
to come to Yahweh’s mountain, to Israel’s
Rock.
30Y ahweh will causehis glorious voice to
be heard, and will show the descent of his
arm, with the indignation of his anger and
the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast,
storm, and hailstones.
31 For through Yahweh’s voice the Assyrian
will be dismayed. He will strike him
with his rod.
32 Every stroke ofthe rod of punishment,
which Yahweh will lay on him, will be with
the sound of tambourines and harps. He
will fight with them in battles, brandishing
weapons.
33 For his burning place has long been
ready. Yes, it is prepared for the king. He
has made its pyre deep and large with fire
and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a
stream of sulfur, kindles it.