Isaiah 30
1 Yahweh says, “Terrible things will happen to you, my people who rebel against me. You make plans, but what you plan is not what I want. You have made an alliance [with the rulers of Egypt], but you did not ask my Spirit [if that was what you should do]. By doing that, you have increased the number of your sins.
Wo! sones forsakeris, seith the Lord, that ye schulden make a councel, and not of me; and weue a web, and not bi my spirit, that ye schulden encreesse synne on synne.
2 You went to Egypt [to ask their rulers for help], without asking for my advice. You have trusted in [the army of] the king of Egypt to protect you; you have [trusted in them] [like] people sit in the shade [to protect themselves from the sun] [MET].
Whiche goen, to go doun in to Egipt, and ye axiden not my mouth; ye hopynge help in the strengthe of Farao, and ye hauynge trist in the schadewe of Egipt.
3 [But] the result of your trusting in the king of Egypt is that you will be [disappointed and] disgraced; because of trusting in him, you will be humiliated.
And the strengthe of Farao schal be to you in to confusioun, and the trist of the schadewe of Egipt in to schenschipe.
4 Officials/ambassadors [from Judah] have gone to Zoan and Hanes [cities in Egypt to make treaties],
For whi thi princes weren in Taphnys, and thi messangeris camen til to Anes.
5 but all those [who trust in the King of Egypt] will be humiliated, because that nation will not be able to help you; the treaty that you have made [requesting help from them] will be useless; instead, the result will be that you will be humiliated and disgraced [DOU].”
Alle thei weren schent on the puple, that myyten not profite to hem; thei weren not in to help, and in to ony profit, but in to schame and schenschip.
6 [I received from Yahweh] this message about the animals in the southern part of Judah: That area is one where [people experience a lot of] troubles and difficulties, an area where there are male and female lions and various kinds of poisonous snakes. Caravans go through that area taking donkeys and camels loaded with valuable goods. [They are taking them] to Egypt to seek for protection [by the army of Egypt], [but] it will be useless.
The birthun of werk beestis of the south. In the lond of tribulacioun and of angwisch, a lionesse, and a lioun, of hem a serpent, and a cocatrice; thei weren berynge her richessis on the schuldris of werk beestis, and her tresours on the botche of camels, to a puple that myyte not profite to hem.
7 The promises made by [the king of] Egypt are worthless; therefore I call Egypt ‘the sea monster/dragon that does nothing’.
For whi Egipt schal helpe in veyn, and idili. Therfor Y criede on this thing, It is pride oneli; ceesse thou.
8 Yahweh told me to write on a scroll a message, in order that it would be a witness [to the people of Judah] that would endure forever.
Now therfor entre thou, and write to it on box, and write thou it diligentli in a book; and it schal be in the last dai in to witnessyng, til in to with outen ende.
9 [It would remind them] that they are deceitful and always rebelling against Yahweh; they refuse to pay attention to what he tells/teaches them.
For it is a puple terrynge to wrathfulnesse, and sones lieris, sones that nylen here the lawe of God.
10 They tell the people who see/receive visions [from Yahweh], “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Do not reveal to us what is right! Tell us pleasant things; do not tell us visions about things that are true!
Whiche seien to profetis, Nyle ye prophesie; and to biholderis, Nyle ye biholde to vs tho thingis that ben riytful; speke ye thingis plesynge to vs, se ye errouris to vs.
11 Stop doing what you have been doing [DOU]; stop telling us what the Holy One of Israel [says to us]!”
Do ye awei fro me the weie, bowe ye awei fro me the path; the hooli of Israel ceesse fro oure face.
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “You have rejected my message, and you are relying on those who oppress and deceive others.
Therfor the hooli of Israel seith these thingis, For that that ye repreuiden this word, and hopiden on fals caleng, and on noise, and tristiden on it,
13 Therefore, the result of your sin [of rejecting me] will be that you will [suddenly experience disasters]; what will happen to you will be like [SIM] a cracked wall that suddenly collapses [DOU].
therfor this wickidnesse schal be to you as a brekyng fallynge doun, and souyt in an hiy wal; for sudeynli while it is not hopid, the brekyng therof schal come.
14 You will be smashed like a clay jar is smashed [when it is dropped], and it shatters completely, with the result that there is not one piece big enough to carry some coals from a stove or to carry a little bit of water from a well.”
And it schal be maad lesse, as a galoun of a pottere is brokun with ful strong brekyng; and a scherd schal not be foundun of the gobetis therof, in which scherd a litil fier schal be borun of brennyng, ethir a litil of watir schal be drawun of the diche.
15 Yahweh, [our] God, the Holy One of Israel, [also] says this: “You will be rescued [from your enemies only] if you repent and trust [in what I will do for you]; you will be strong [only] if you quit worrying and trust in me. But you do not want [to do that].
For whi the Lord God, the hooli of Israel, seith these thingis, If ye turnen ayen, and resten, ye schulen be saaf; in stilnesse and in hope schal be youre strengthe. And ye nolden.
16 You said, ‘No, we will escape on horses [that the army of Egypt will give us]!’ So, you will [try to] flee. You said, ‘We will [escape from the army of Assyria] by riding on swift horses!’ [But] those who pursue you will [also ride] swiftly.
And ye seiden, Nai, but we schulen fle to horsis; therfor ye schulen fle. And we schulen stie on swifte horsis; therfor thei schulen be swiftere, that schulen pursue you.
17 [As a result], 1,000 [of you] will flee when [only] one of them pursues you! When only five [of their soldiers] threaten [to kill you], [all of] will flee. [Only a few of] you will be left, like [SIM] a [single] flagpole on top of a mountain with one signal flag on the pole.”
A thousynde men schulen fle fro the face of the drede of oon; and ye schulen fle fro the face of drede of fyue, til ye be left as the mast of a schip in the cop of a munteyn, and as a signe on a litil hil.
18 [But] wants to be kind to you; he desires to show you that he is merciful. [Do not forget that] Yahweh is a God who acts justly; he is pleased with those who patiently trust in him.
Therfor the Lord abidith, that he haue mercy on you, and therfor he schal be enhaunsid sparynge you; for whi God is Lord of doom, blessid ben alle thei that abiden hym.
19 You people who live in Jerusalem [DOU], [some day] you will not cry any more. Yahweh will be kind to you when you call out to him for help. He will answer/help you as soon as he hears you call.
Forsothe the puple of Sion schal dwelle in Jerusalem; thou wepynge schal not wepe, he doynge merci schal haue merci on thee; at the vois of thi cry, anoon as he herith, he schal answere to thee.
20 Although [now] Yahweh has caused you to [daily] experience [MET] great troubles and suffer much, [he], your teacher, will not hide himself from you. He [SYN] will teach you many things clearly.
And the Lord schal yyue to thee streyt breed, and schort watir, and schal no more make thi techere to fle awei fro thee; and thin iyen schulen be seynge thi comaundour,
21 And you will hear him speak to you to guide you. [Right] behind you he will say, “This is the road on which you should walk; walk on this road!”
and thin eeris schulen here a word bihynde the bak of hym that monestith; This is the weie, go ye therynne, nether to the riyt half nether to the left half.
22 When that happens, you will destroy [all] your idols that are covered with silver or gold. You will throw them away like you throw away a filthy rag, and you will say to them, “We do not need you any more!”
And thou schalt defoule the platis of the grauun ymagis of thi siluer, and the cloth of the yotun ymage of thi gold; and thou schalt scatere tho, as the vnclennesse of a womman in vncleene blood; Go thou out, and thou schalt seie to it.
23 [If you do that], Yahweh will bless you by giving you good rain at the time that you plant your crops. You will have good harvests, and plenty of pasture with grass for your cattle to eat.
And reyn schal be youun to thi seed, where euere thou schalt sowe in erthe, and the breed of fruytis of erthe schal be moost plenteuouse and fat; in that dai a lomb schal be fed largeli in thi possessioun.
24 After the wind [blows away the chaff], the oxen and donkeys that [pull the plow to] plow your ground will have good grain to eat.
And thi bolis and coltis of assis, that worchen the lond, schulen ete barli with chaf meynd togidere, as it is wyndewid in the cornfloor.
25 At that time, when [your enemies] have been slaughtered and their towers have (collapsed/been destroyed), there will be streams flowing down every hill and mountain [in Judah].
And strondis of rennynge watris schulen be on ech hiy munteyn, and on ech litil hil reisid, in the dai of sleyng of many men, whanne touris fallen doun.
26 The moon will seem to shine as brightly as the sun, and the sun will seem to shine seven times as brightly as previously. That is what it will be like when Yahweh causes [the suffering of] his people [to cease; it will be as though] [MET] he will be putting bandages on their wounds and healing them.
And the liyt of the moone schal be as the liyt of the sunne, and the liyt of the sunne schal be seuenfold, as the liyt of seuene daies, in the dai in which the Lord schal bynde togidere the wounde of his puple, and schal make hool the smytynge of the wounde therof.
27 [It is as though] we see Yahweh coming from far away; he is extremely angry, and there are thick clouds of smoke around him. By what he says [MTY] he shows that he is angry; what he says is like [SIM] a devastating/destructive fire.
Lo! the name of the Lord cometh doun fro fer; his strong veniaunce is brennynge and greuouse to bere; hise lippis ben fillid of indignacioun, and his tunge is as fier deuouringe.
28 His breath is like [SIM] a flood that covers [his enemies] up to their necks. He will separate [MET] the nations in order to destroy [some of them]; [it is as though] he will put hooks in their mouths and take them away.
His spirit is as a stef streem, flowynge `til to the myddis of the necke, to leese folkis in to nouyt, and the bridil of errour, that was in the chekis of puplis.
29 But [his people] will sing joyfully like they sing during the nights when they celebrate a holy festival. They will be very joyful, like [SIM] [a large group of his people] are joyful when they go up to Zion Hill in Jerusalem, along with men playing flutes [when they are all going there to worship Yahweh]. He is [like] [MET] a huge rock under which [we] Israeli people [are safe].
Song schal be to you, as the vois of an halewid solempnyte; and gladnesse of herte, as he that goth with a pipe, for to entre in to the hil of the Lord, to the stronge of Israel.
30 And Yahweh will enable [us] to hear him speaking powerfully/majestically. He will show us that he [SYN] is very powerful. [We] will see him [SYN] smash [his enemies]. Being very angry, he will descend with a big rainstorm and thunder and hail [to punish them].
And the Lord schal make herd the glorie of his vois, and he schal schewe the ferdfulnesse of his arm in manassyng of strong veniaunce, and in flawme of fier brennynge; he schal hurtle doun in whirlewynd, and in stoon of hail.
31 [The soldiers of] Assyria will be terrified when they hear the voice of Yahweh and when he strikes them with his rod.
For whi Assur smytun with a yerde schal drede of the vois of the Lord;
32 And while Yahweh strikes them to punish them, [his people] will [celebrate by] playing tambourines and harps. [It will be as though] Yahweh will lift up his powerful hand/arm and defeat the Assyrian army in battle.
and the passyng of the yerd schal be foundid, which yerde the Lord schal make for to reste on hym. In tympans, and harpis, and in souereyn batels he schal ouercome hem.
33 [The valley of] Topheth [outside Jerusalem] has been prepared for a long time; it is ready for the king [of Assyria]; the (funeral pyre/pile of wood) [for burning his body] is wide and high, and [it will be as though] Yahweh will light the fire with his breath, which will come out like a stream of burning sulfur.
For whi Tophet, that is, helle, deep and alargid, is maad redi of the kyng fro yistirdai; the nurschyngis therof ben fier and many trees; the blast of the Lord as a streem of brymstoon kyndlith it.
