Isaiah 30
1 Tragedy is coming to my defiant children, declares the Lord. You make plans that don't come from me; you make alliances against my wishes, adding sin to sin.
Alas! for sons who are rebellious, Declareth Yahweh. Executing a purpose, but not from me, And pouring out a libation but not from my spirit, —That they may add sin to sin:
2 You go to Egypt without asking me, looking to Pharaoh for protection, hoping to find safety hiding behind Egypt.
Who are setting out to go down to Egypt, But at my mouth, have not asked, —Betaking them to the protection of Pharaoh And seeking refuge under the shadow of Egypt.
3 But the protection of Pharaoh will be an embarrassment to you; hiding behind Egypt will only bring you humiliation.
Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh become to you a shame, And, the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, an insult;
4 Even though he has officials at Zoan and his messengers reach Hanes,
For their princes have been, in Zoan, —And, their messengers unto Hanes, would draw near.
5 the Egyptians will offend everyone because they are useless—they're no help and good for nothing, except for causing shame and bringing disgrace.
Every one, hath felt ashamed of a people that could not serve them, —Neither with help, nor with service, But they are a shame, yea even a reproach.
6 A message about the animals of the Negev. The messengers travel through a harsh and hostile land where lions and lionesses live, vipers and vicious snakes too. Their donkeys are burdened down with valuable gifts, their camels are loaded with treasure, to give to a worthless people that can't help.
The Oracle on the Beasts of the South, —Through a land of distress and oppression—Lioness and lion coming therefrom, Viper and fiery flying serpent, They would carry, on the shoulders of young asses their wealth And on the humps of camels their treasures Unto a people that cannot serve them.
7 Egypt's support is an empty breath of wind. That's why I call her Pride Sitting Down.
But, the Egyptians, with vanity and emptiness, would help, —Therefore have I proclaimed concerning this, Insolent, they sit still!
8 Now go and write all this down on a tablet and on a scroll so that it will last forever and ever.
Now, enter—Write it upon a tablet before them And upon a scroll, inscribe it, —That it may serve for a later day, For futurity, unto times age-abiding: —
9 For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, who refuse to listen to the Lord's instructions.
That it is, a rebellious people, Sons apt at deceiving, —Sons unwilling to hear the law of Yahweh:
10 They tell people who see visions, “Stop seeing visions!” and to the prophets, “Don't give us prophecies about doing right—just tell us pleasant things and give us fake prophecies.
Who have said to the seers, Ye must not see! To the prophets, Ye must not prophesy to us reproofs! Speak to us smooth things, Prophesy delusions:
11 Stop telling us straight; go a different direction! We don't want to hear any more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Depart ye from the way, Turn aside from the path, —Desist from setting before us the Holy One of Israel.
12 So this is how the Holy One of Israel replies, Since you have rejected this message, and since you trust in oppression and believe in dishonesty,
Therefore—Thus, saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have rejected this word, —And have trusted in oppression and perverseness, And have relied thereon,
13 your punishment will suddenly fall on you, like a high wall that bulges out and collapses in an instant.
Therefore, shall this iniquity become to you As a breach ready to fall, A bulging in a high wall, —Whose breaking down cometh, suddenly in a twinkling.
14 You will be smashed like a clay pot, broken into such tiny pieces that there won't be a big enough piece to pick up coals from a hearth or a little bit of water from a well.
Yea he will break it—as the breaking of the pitcher of a potter, crushed, he will not spare; So that there shall not be found when it is smashed, A sherd wherewith to snatch fire from a hearth, Or to skim off water out of a cistern.
15 This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, said, If you repent and patiently trust in me, you would be saved; you would be strong if you had such calm confidence. But you refused to do it.
For thus, said my Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel—By returning and resting, shall ye be saved, In keeping quiet and trusting, shall be your strength, —Howbeit ye would not!
16 You replied, “No! We'll escape on horseback! We'll get away on fast horses!” But the fast ones will be the ones chasing you!
But ye said, —Nay! but on horses, will we flee For this cause, shall ye indeed flee, —And on the swift, will we ride, For this cause, swift, shall be your pursuers:
17 Just one of them will chase after a thousand of you. Just five of them will make you all run away. All that will be left of you will look like a flag fluttering on the top of a mountain, a banner waving on a hill.
One thousand, before the war-cry of one—before the war-cry of five, shall ye flee, —Until ye have been left, As a pole on the top of a mountain, And as an ensign upon a hill.
18 So the Lord waits, wanting to be kind to you, ready to act to show you mercy, for the Lord is a God who does what is right. All who wait for him are blessed.
And, therefore, will Yahweh wait, That he may grant you favour, And, therefore, will he lift himself up, That he may show you compassion, —For A God of justice, is, Yahweh, How happy all they who are waiting for him
19 People of Zion, you who live in Jerusalem, you won't have to weep any more. When you cry for help he will be kind to you. He will answer you immediately he hears you.
For, a people, In Zion, shall dwell, In Jerusalem, —As for weeping, thou shalt not weep! As for favour, he will grant thee favour, at the sound of thine outcry, —As soon as he heareth, he hath answered thee!
20 Even though the Lord will give you the bread of hardship to eat and the water of suffering to drink, your teacher will no longer hide himself from you—you will see him with your own eyes.
Though My Lord, should give you bread in short measure and water in scant allowance Yet will thy Teacher not hide himself any more, But thine eyes shall ever be looking on thy Teacher.
21 When you walk to the right or to the left, you will hear this command coming from behind you: “This is the way to follow.”
So shall, thine own ears, hear a word from behind thee saying, —This, is the way, walk ye therein, When ye would turn to the right hand Or when ye would turn to the left.
22 You will defile your silver-coated idols coated with silver and your gold-covered images. You will throw them away like a dirty cloth used for periods, and say to them, “out of here!”
Then will ye defile—The overlaying of thy graven images of silver, And the coating of thy molten image, of gold, —Thou wilt cash them away, as a woman the token of her sickness, Begone! shalt thou say thereto,
23 He will send rain when you sow, and the land will produce great harvests. At that time your cattle will feed in rich pastures.
Then will he give—Rain for thy seed—wherewith thou shalt sow thy ground and Bread as the increase of thy ground, which shall be fertile and fat, —Thy cattle, in that day, shall feed in broad pasture:
24 The oxen and donkeys that help cultivate the earth will eat good greens and grain, spread with fork and shovel.
And the oxen and the young asses that till the ground, salted provender, shall eat, which hath been winnowed with shovel or fan.
25 At that time when your enemies are killed and the fortresses fall, streams of water will flow down every mountain and hill.
Then shall there be, On every lofty mountain and On every lifted hill, Channels, Conduits of water, —In the great day of slaughter, When the towers fall.
26 The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter, like having seven days light in one. This is the way it will be when the Lord bandages the injuries of his people and heals the wounds he caused 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, —In the day—When Yahweh, bindeth up, the laceration of his people, and When the severe wound caused by smiting them, he healeth.
27 Look how the Lord arrives from far away, burning with anger and accompanied by thick clouds of smoke! What he says shows his anger—it's like a fire that burns everything up.
Lo! the Name of Yahweh, coming in from afar, His anger kindling, A heavy storm, —His lips, are full of indignation, And, his tongue, is like a fire that devoureth;
28 His breath rushes out like a flood that comes up to the neck. He shakes the nations in a sieve that destroys them; he puts bridles in the mouths of the different peoples to lead them away.
And, his breath like an overflowing torrent, even unto the neck, doth reach, To sift nations with a sieve of calamity, —A bridle leading to ruin, being upon the jaws of the peoples.
29 But you will have a song to sing like you do on the night of a holy festival. You will celebrate in happiness like those who play pipes as they go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
A song, shall ye have, As in the night of hallowing a festival, —And gladness of heart, As when one goeth with the flute to enter Into the mountain of Yahweh Unto the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will shout so everyone hears him he will reveal his great power. He will hit out in his anger and fury, with a fire that burns everything up, and with torrential rain, storm, and hail.
Then will Yahweh cause to be heard—the resounding of his voice And the bringing down of his arm, shall be seen, In a rage of anger, And with the flame of a devouring fire, —A burst and a downpour, and a hailstone!
31 At the Lord's command the Assyrians will be shattered, knocked down by his scepter.
For at the voice of Yahweh, shall Assyria be crushed, —With his rod, will he smite.
32 Every time the Lord hits them with his rod of punishment it will be accompanied by the music of tambourines and harps as he fights them, swinging into them in battle.
And it shall come to pass, —that, every stroke of the staff of doom which Yahweh shall lay upon him, shall be with timbrels and with lyres, —when, with battles of brandished weapons, he hath fought against them.
33 The place of burning has been prepared a long time ago, ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, and has plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a flood of burning sulfur, sets it on fire.
For there hath been set in order, beforehand a Topheth, Yea, the same, for the king, hath been prepared He hath made it deep—made it large, —The circumference thereof is for fire and wood in abundance, the breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of brimstone, is ready to kindle it.
