Isaiah 30

1Woe to the rebellious children, declares Yahweh, who carry out a plan, but not from me, and who pour out a libation, but not by my Spirit, so as to add sin to sin.

2who set out to go down to Egypt, but have not asked my mouth, to seek refuge in Pharaoh’s stronghold and to take shelter in the shadow of Egypt.

3Then Pharaoh’s stronghold will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.

4For his officials are in Zoan, and his envoys reach Hanes.

5Everyone is put to shame because of a people that cannot profit them—who are not for help and not for profit, but for shame and also for reproach.

6An oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev: through a land of distress and hardship, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying fiery serpent, they carry their wealth on the shoulders of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who cannot profit them.

7For Egypt’s help is utterly empty and worthless; therefore I call her, “Rahab Who Sits Still.”

8Now come, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a scroll, that it may stand for a later day, as a witness forever and ever.

9For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the law of Yahweh,

10who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the visionaries, “Do not envision for us what is right; speak to us smooth things; envision illusions.”

11Turn aside from the way; depart from the path; remove the Holy One of Israel from before us.

12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word, and have trusted in oppression and perversity, and have relied on it,

13Therefore this iniquity will be to you like a falling breach, bulging out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.

14and its breaking is like the breaking of a potter’s jar, smashed without pity, so that among its shattered pieces not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth or to scoop water from a cistern.

15For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and trust will be your strength.” But you were unwilling.

16But you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—therefore you will flee; and, “We will ride on swift horses”—therefore your pursuers will be swift.

17A thousand will flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five you will flee, until you are left like a signal pole on the top of a mountain, and like a banner on a hill.

18Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he rises up to show you mercy; for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.

19For a people in Zion will dwell in Jerusalem; you will surely weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.

20And the Lord will give you bread of distress and water of oppression, yet your teacher will no longer hide himself, and your eyes will see your teacher.

21And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it,” when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left.

22And you will defile the silver overlay of your carved idols and the gold plating of your cast images. You will scatter them like a menstrual cloth; you will say to them, “Go out!”

23And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground; and it will be rich and plentiful. On that day your livestock will graze in a broad pasture.

24And the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.

25And on every high mountain and on every lofty hill there will be streams, channels of water, on the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26And the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people and heals the wound from his blow.

27Look, the name of Yahweh comes from afar, burning with his anger, and with dense smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.

28and his breath is like an overflowing stream; it reaches up to the neck, to sift nations with a sieve of emptiness, and a misleading bridle is on the jaws of the peoples.

29The song will be for you as in the night when a feast is consecrated, and gladness of heart as when one goes with the flute to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.

30And Yahweh will make the majesty of his voice heard, and will show the descending blow of his arm, in furious anger and a flame of consuming fire, with cloudburst and storm and hailstones.

31For at the voice of Yahweh Assyria will be shattered; with a rod he will strike.

32And every stroke of the appointed rod that Yahweh lays on him will be with tambourines and lyres; and with battles of brandishing he will fight against them.

33For Topheth has long been prepared; indeed, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and wide, with a pyre of fire and wood in abundance. The breath of Yahweh, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.