Chapter 30
1 " Woe to the rebellious children ", says Yahweh , " who take counsel , but not from me ; and who make an alliance , but not with my Spirit , that they may add sin to sin ;
2 who set out to go down into Egypt without asking for my advice , to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh , and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt !
3 Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame , and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion .
4 For their princes are at Zoan , and their ambassadors have come to Hanes .
5 They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can ’t profit them , that are not a help nor profit , but a shame , and also a reproach ."
6 The burden of the animals of the South . Through the land of trouble and anguish , of the lioness and the lion , the viper and fiery flying serpent , they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys , and their treasures on the humps of camels , to an unprofitable people .
7 For Egypt helps in vain , and to no purpose ; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still .
8 Now go , write it before them on a tablet , and inscribe it in a book , that it may be for the time to come forever and ever .
9 For it is a rebellious people , lying children , children who will not hear Yahweh ’s law ;
10 who tell the seers , "Don’t see !" and the prophets , "Don’t prophesy to us right things . Tell us pleasant things . Prophesy deceits .
11 Get out of the way . Turn away from the path . Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us ."
12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says , " Because you despise this word , and trust in oppression and perverseness , and rely on it ,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall , swelling out in a high wall , whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant .
14 He will break it as a potter ’s vessel is broken , breaking it in pieces without sparing , so that there won’t be found among the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth , or to dip up water out of the cistern ."
15 For thus said the Lord Yahweh , the Holy One of Israel , " You will be saved in returning and rest . Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence." You refused ,
16 but you said , " No , for we will flee on horses ;" therefore you will flee ; and , " We will ride on the swift ;" therefore those who pursue you will be swift .
17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five , you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain , and like a banner on a hill .
18 Therefore Yahweh will wait , that he may be gracious to you ; and therefore he will be exalted , that he may have mercy on you , for Yahweh is a God of justice . Blessed are all those who wait for him .
19 For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem . You will weep no more . He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry . When he hears you , he will answer you .
20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction , yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more , but your eyes will see your teachers ;
21 and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left , your ears will hear a voice behind you , saying , " This is the way . Walk in it ."
22 You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver , and the plating of your molten images of gold . You shall cast them away as an unclean thing . You shall tell it , " Go away !"
23 He will give the rain for your seed , with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day , your livestock will feed in large pastures .
24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savory feed , which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork .
25 There will be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter , when the towers fall .
26 Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun , and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days , in the day that Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people , and heals the wound they were struck with .
27 Behold , Yahweh ’s name comes from far away , burning with his anger , and in thick rising smoke . His lips are full of indignation . His tongue is as a devouring fire.
28 His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck , to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples .
29 You will have a song , as in the night when a holy feast is kept , and gladness of heart , as when one goes with a flute to come to Yahweh ’s mountain , to Israel ’s Rock .
30 Yahweh will cause his glorious voice to be heard , and will show the descent of his arm , with the indignation of his anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, storm , and hailstones .
31 For through Yahweh ’s voice the Assyrian will be dismayed . He will strike him with his rod .
32 Every stroke of the rod of punishment , which Yahweh will lay on him , will be with the sound of tambourines and harps . He will fight with them in battles , brandishing weapons .
33 For his burning place has long been ready . Yes , it is prepared for the king . He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood . Yahweh ’s breath , like a stream of sulfur , kindles it .