Isaiah
Chapter 30
1 Trouble to the stubborn children, says God, who make plans without including me, and who make agreements without my spirit, only adding more wrongdoings to their sins.
2 They go to Egypt without asking me, seeking help from Pharaoh’s power and putting their trust in Egypt’s protection!
3 So, relying on Pharaoh will embarrass you, and trusting in Egypt will bring you confusion.
4 His leaders were in Zoan, and his messengers went to Hanes.
5 They all felt ashamed because of a nation that could not bring them any benefit or help, but only brought them shame and disgrace.
6 The heavy loads of the southern animals: they go to a land of trouble and pain, where lions and poisonous snakes live. They will put their wealth on young donkeys and their valuables on camels, and take them to a people who won’t help them.
7 The Egyptians will try to help, but it will be useless and pointless; that’s why I said, “They can only sit still.”
8 Go, write this down on a tablet in front of them, and record it in a book, so it will last forever and be remembered always.
9 These are defiant people, dishonest kids, kids who won’t listen to God’s teachings.
10 They tell the seers, “Don’t see,” and the prophets, “Don’t tell us the truth. Tell us nice things, lie to us.”
11 Move away from the road, step aside from the path, and stop making us deal with the Holy One of Israel.
12 Therefore, the Holy One of Israel says, because you reject this message and rely on oppression and deceit, and depend on them:
13 This wrong will be like a crack in a wall that’s about to collapse—a bulge in a tall wall that will break suddenly, without warning.
14 He will smash it like a potter’s jar shattered into bits; he won’t hold back. So, when it breaks, there won’t be a piece left to carry coals from the fire or scoop water from a well.
15 God, the Holy One of Israel, says this: You will be saved by turning back and resting; your strength will be in calmness and trust, but you did not want this.
16 But you said, “No, we will escape on horses.” So you will run away. And you said, “We will ride fast horses.” So those chasing you will be fast.
17 A thousand will run away because one person scolds them; because five scold you, you will run away. You will be left alone like a flag on a mountain, like a banner on a hill.
18 So God will wait to be kind to you, and then he will rise up to show you mercy. For God decides what is right; happy are all who wait for him.
19 The people will live in Zion in Jerusalem; you will not cry anymore. God will be very kind to you when you call out; when he hears, he will respond to you.
20 Even if God gives you hard times and suffering, your teachers won’t be hidden away anymore, and you will be able to see your teachers.
21 You will hear a voice behind you saying, “This is the path, follow it,” whether you go right or left.
22 You will also make your silver idols and your gold statues unclean. You will throw them away like a dirty cloth and say to them, “Get away from here.”
23 God will send rain for your seeds you plant in the soil; you’ll have bread from the earth’s bounty, and it will be rich and abundant. On that day, your livestock will graze in spacious meadows.
24 The oxen and young donkeys that plow the land will eat pure food, which has been sifted with a shovel and a fan.
25 On every tall mountain and every high hill, there will be rivers and streams of water on the day of the great killing, when the towers collapse.
26 The moon will shine as brightly as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter, like seven days combined, when God repairs his people’s harm and heals their injuries.
27 Look, God’s name comes from afar, blazing with his anger, and the weight is great: his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28 His breath, like a flood, will come up to the neck, to separate the nations with a useless sieve; and there will be a bit in the mouths of the people, making them wander off course.
29 You will sing like on a holy night celebration; your hearts will be joyful like when someone plays a flute going to God’s mountain, to the great God of Israel.
30 God will make his mighty voice heard and show the striking power of his arm, with fierce anger, and with flames of a consuming fire, with storms, and strong winds, and hailstones.
31 Because of God’s command, the Assyrian will be defeated, the one who struck with a stick.
32 Everywhere the staff touches, as God decides, there will be music with drums and harps; and with it, He will fight in the trembling battles.
33 Tophet was set up long ago; it is made ready for the king. It is deep and wide, with a big pile of fire and wood. God’s breath, like a sulfur stream, lights it.