Isa 30 | ESV | STEP | Ah , stubborn children , declares the Lord , who carry out a plan , but not mine , and who make an alliance , but not of my Spirit , that they may add sin to sin ;

‏ Isaiah 30

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

1 “Ah, ^astubborn children,” declares the Lord,
^b“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make ^can alliance, ^{▼▼Hebrew who weave a web} but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 ^ewho set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 ^fTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at ^gZoan
and ^hhis envoys reach ⁱHanes,
5 everyone comes to shame
through ^ja people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”

6 An ^koracle on ^lthe beasts of ^mthe Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the ⁿflying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 Egypt’s ^ohelp is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
^p“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

8 And now, go, ^qwrite it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever. ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever}
9 ^sFor they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 ^twho say to ^uthe seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us ^vsmooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in ^woppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^xlike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is ^ylike that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In ^zreturning ^{▼▼Or repentance} and ^abrest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon ^achorses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 ^adA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore the Lord ^aewaits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he ^afexalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^agblessed are all those who wait for him.

19 For a people shall dwell ^ahin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the ^aibread of adversity and the ^ajwater of affliction, ^akyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 ^alAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is ^amthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. ^anYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 ^aoAnd he will give ^aprain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. ^aqIn that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and ^arthe oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And ^ason every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, ^atwhen the towers fall. 26 ^auMoreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when ^avthe Lord binds up ^awthe brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; ^{▼▼Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds}
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 ^ayhis breath is ^azlike an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples ^baa bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, ^bbas when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to ^bcthe mountain of the Lord, to ^bdthe Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord ^bewill cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger ^bfand a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst ^bgand storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, ^bhwhen he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them ^biwill be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. ^bjBattling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For ^bka burning place ^{▼▼Or For Topheth} has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, ^bmits pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; ^bnthe breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.