Isaiah 30:1-17

Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance

1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,

“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,

And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,

In order to add sin to sin;

2Who proceed down to Egypt

Without consulting Me,

To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,

And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!

3“Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame,

And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.

4“For their officials are at Zoan

And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.

5“Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,

Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”

⁶The pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev:

Through a land of distress and anguish,

From where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,

They carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,

And their treasures on camels’ humps,

To a people who will not benefit them;

7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.

Therefore, I have called her

“Rahab who has been exterminated.”

8Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence

And inscribe it on a scroll,

That it may serve in the time to come

As a witness forever.

9For this is a rebellious people, false sons,

Sons who refuse to listen

To the instruction of the Lord;

10Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;

And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy the truth to us.

Speak to us pleasant words,

Prophesy illusions.

11“Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,

Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”

¹²Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Since you have rejected this word

And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,

13Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you

Like a breach about to fall,

A bulge in a high wall,

Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,

14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,

So ruthlessly shattered

That a shard will not be found among its pieces

To take fire from a hearth

Or to scoop water from a cistern.”

¹⁵For this is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“In repentance and rest you will be saved,

In quietness and trust is your strength.”

But you were not willing,

16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!”

Therefore you shall flee!

“And we will ride on swift horses!”

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

17One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;

You will flee at the threat of five,

Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top,

And like a flag on a hill.

God Is Gracious and Just