Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Isaiah 30
Woe to the Rebellious Children
“Woe to rebellious children,” declares the LORD,
“who carry out plans that are not mine,
who make an alliance without my Spirit,
adding sin to sin.
They go down to Egypt without asking my counsel,
seeking refuge in Pharaoh’s protection,
shelter in Egypt’s shade.
But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you shame,
and shelter in Egypt’s shade, humiliation.
Though his officials are in Zoan
and his messengers reach Hanes,
all are put to shame by a people who cannot benefit them,
who offer neither help nor advantage,
only shame and disgrace.”
An oracle concerning the beasts of the Negeb:
Through a land of distress and hardship,
of lioness and lion, viper and flying fiery serpent,
they carry wealth on donkeys’ shoulders,
treasures on camels’ humps,
to a people who cannot benefit them.
Egypt’s help is breath and emptiness;
so I call her “Rahab, sitting still.”
Now go, write it on a tablet before them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
so it may remain for a coming day,
forever and ever.
For they are a rebellious people, lying children,
children unwilling to hear the LORD’s instruction.
They say to those who see, “Do not see!”
and to the seers, “Do not see straight for us!
Tell us smooth things;
see illusions.
Leave the way! Turn aside from the path!
Get Israel’s Holy One out of our sight!”
So Israel’s Holy One says:
“Because you reject this word
and trust in oppression and crookedness,
leaning on them,
this guilt will be like a widening breach
bulging in a high wall,
whose collapse comes suddenly, in an instant.
It will shatter like a potter’s jar,
crushed without mercy,
not a shard among its fragments large enough
to scoop fire from a hearth
or dip water from a cistern.”
For the Lord GOD, Israel’s Holy One, says:
“In returning and rest you will be saved;
in quietness and trust will be your strength.”
But you were unwilling.
You said, “No! We will flee on horses!”
Therefore you will flee.
“We will ride swift mounts!”
Therefore your pursuers will be swift.
A thousand will flee at one person’s threat;
at the threat of five you will flee,
until what remains of you is like a mast on a mountaintop,
like a signal on a hill.
Yet the LORD waits to show you favor;
he rises to have compassion on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice.
Happy are all who wait for him!
People in Zion, dwelling in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely show you favor at the sound of your cry; as soon as he hears, he will answer.
Though the Lord gives you bread of distress and water of oppression, your Teacher will no longer hide; your eyes will see your Teacher.
Your ears will hear a word behind you: “This is the way; walk in it,” whenever you turn right or left. You will defile the silver plating of your carved idols and the gold covering of your cast images. You will scatter them like a menstrual cloth and say, “Away with you!” He will give rain for the seed you sow in the soil, and the soil’s grain will be rich and plentiful. On that day your livestock will graze in spacious pasture. The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat seasoned fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork.
On every high mountain and lofty hill there will be streams of running water, on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.
The moon’s light will be like the sun’s, and the sun’s light seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, when the LORD binds his people’s fracture and heals the wound from his blow.
Look! The name of the LORD comes from afar,
his anger burning, his burden heavy.
His lips are full of indignation,
his tongue like devouring fire.
His breath is like a flooding stream rising to the neck,
sifting nations in a sieve of destruction;
a bridle that leads astray is on the peoples’ jaws.
You will have a song as on a night when a festival is consecrated,
and gladness of heart like those who go with a flute
to the LORD’s mountain, to Israel’s Rock.
The LORD will make his majestic voice heard
and show his arm descending,
with furious anger and devouring flame,
cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
At the LORD’s voice Assyria will be shattered;
he will strike with the rod.
Every stroke of the appointed staff
that the LORD brings down upon him
will be accompanied by tambourines and lyres;
with swinging blows he will battle them.
Topheth has long been prepared;
it is made ready even for the king.
Its fire pit is deep and wide,
with fire and wood in abundance.
The LORD’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, sets it ablaze.