Isaiah 30

1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.

2 They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

4 For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They bring neither help nor benefit, but only shame and disgrace.”

6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people of no profit to them.

7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the days to come, a witness forever and ever.

9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

10 They say to the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions.

11 Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

13 this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant!

14 It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar, shattered so that no fragment can be found. Not a shard will be found in the dust large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth or to skim the water from a cistern.”

15 For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence—but you were not willing.”

16 “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.

17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee, until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.

18 Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore He rises to show you compassion, for the LORD is a just God. Blessed are all who wait for Him.

19 O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.

20 The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.

21 And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

22 So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”

23 Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

25 And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

27 Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense smoke. His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

28 His breath is like a rushing torrent that rises to the neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction; He bridles the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.

29 You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

31 For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD; He will strike them with His scepter.

32 And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished.

33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.

1 ¶ Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt [your] confusion.

4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

5 They were all ashamed of a people [that] could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence [come] the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people [that] shall not profit [them].

7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength [is] to sit still.

8 ¶ Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:

9 That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD:

10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

12 Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water [withal] out of the pit.

15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17 One thousand [shall flee] at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.

18 ¶ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD [is] a God of judgment: blessed [are] all they that wait for him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.

20 And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:

21 And thine ears shall hear a 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 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.

23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.

24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.

25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers [and] streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 Moreover 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 seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.

27 ¶ Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning [with] his anger, and the burden [thereof is] heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and [there shall be] a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing [them] to err.

29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night [when] a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of [his] anger, and [with] the flame of a devouring fire, [with] scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, [which] smote with a rod.

32 And [in] every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, [it] shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.

33 For Tophet [is] ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made [it] deep [and] large: the pile thereof [is] fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

1 Woe unto the apostate children, saith the LORD, which counsel without me, and seek refuge without my Spirit, to heap sin upon sin,

2 Who go down into Egypt, and ask not my mouth, that they may strengthen themselves with the power of Pharaoh, and shelter themselves under the shadow of Egypt.

3 For the strength of Pharaoh shall be a reproach unto you, and the shelter under the shadow of Egypt a mockery.

4 Their princes have been in Zoan, and their message is come to Hanesh,

5 But they shall all be ashamed of the people, which shall not be able to profit them, neither to help them, nor to profit them, but only to shame and to mock them.

6 This is the burden of the beasts that go toward the south, where there are lions, and lionesses, and vipers, and fiery flying dragons, in the land of affliction and anguish: they carry their goods upon the backs of the colts, and their treasures upon the humps of the camels, unto the people, which cannot profit them.

7 For Egypt is nothing, and her help is vain. Therefore thus preach I: Rahab shall sit quietly by.

8 Go therefore, write it before them upon a tablet, and write it in a book, that it may stand for ever.

9 For they are a rebellious people, and lying children, which will not hear the law of the LORD,

10 But say unto the seers: Ye shall not see! and to the showers: Ye shall not see us the right doctrine: but preach unto us gently, behold us deceit!

11 Depart from the way, make yourselves of the way; let the holy one in Israel cease from us.

12 Therefore thus saith the Holy One in Israel, Because ye reject this word, and rely upon iniquity and wickedness, and defy it,

13 Then shall such iniquity be unto you as a breach in a high wall, when it begineth to trickle, which suddenly falleth and is broken down,

14 As when a pot is broken, which is broken, and not spared; so that there is not found of the pieces thereof a fragment to make fire out of the hearth, or to draw water out of a well.

15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; If ye be quiet, ye shall be saved: by quietness and hope ye shall be strong. But ye will not

16 And say, Nay; but on horses will we flee (therefore ye shall be fugitives> and on runners will we ride (therefore your pursuers will overtake you).

17 For a thousand of you shall flee from the rebuke of a few, yea, from five ye shall all flee: until ye be left as a pole upon a mountain, and as a banner upon a hill.

18 Therefore wait ye on the LORD, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: good to all them that wait on him.

19 For the people of Zion shall dwell at Jerusalem: thou shalt not weep: he will be gracious unto thee when thou shalt call; he will answer thee when he heareth.

20 And the LORD will give you bread in tribulation, and water in anguish: for he will not suffer thy teacher to depart, but thine eyes shall see thy teacher,

21 And thine ears shall hear the word spoken behind thee, saying thus, This is the way that ye go: otherwise not to the right hand, nor to the left.

22 And ye shall profane your silvered idols, and the precious garments of your images, and shall cast them away as filth, and shall say unto them, Get thee out.

23 And he shall give rain unto thy seed, which thou hast sown in the field, and bread of the revenue of the field, and full sufficiency thereof. And thy cattle shall feed in that day in a wide pasture.

24 The oxen and the bullocks that till the field shall eat mingled fodder, which is winnowed with the shovel and the tub.

25 And upon all the great mountains, and upon all the great hills, shall be divided rivers of water in the time of the great battle, when the towers shall fall.

26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven times brighter than now, in the days when the LORD shall bind up the hurt of his people, and heal their wounds.

27 Behold, the name of the LORD cometh afar off; his wrath burneth, and is very fierce; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is as a consuming fire.

28 And his breath shall be as a flood of waters reaching unto the neck, to scatter the heathen, until they be destroyed, and to drive the nations to and fro with a bridle in their beacons.

29 Then shall ye sing as at the night of a holy feast, and rejoice with all your heart, as when one goeth with a pipe unto the mountain of the LORD, the stronghold of Israel.

30 And the LORD shall sound with his glorious voice, and his outstretched arm shall be seen with wrathful anger, and with flames of devouring fire, and with rays, and with heavy rain, and with hail.

31 For Assyria shall be afraid at the voice of the LORD, which smiteth him with the rod.

32 For the rod shall pierce all the way, and shall smite when the LORD bringeth it upon him with timbrels and harps, and shall fight against them in every place.

33 For the pit is prepared from yesterday; yea, the same is prepared for the king, deep and wide enough: so is the tabernacle within, fire and wood the multitude: the breath of the LORD shall kindle it as a river of brimstone.