Isaiah 30

1The LORD says: How terrible it will be for My rebellious children. They make plans, but they do not ask Me. They make agreements, but those agreements are not from My Spirit. So they add sin to sin.

2They go down to Egypt without asking Me. They look to Pharaoh for strength. They hide in the shadow of Egypt for protection.

3But Pharaoh's strength will bring you shame. The protection of Egypt will bring you disgrace.

4Your leaders are in the city of Zoan. Your messengers have come to the city of Hanes.

5Everyone will be ashamed of a people who cannot help them. That people brings no help and no good. They bring only shame and disgrace.

6This is a message about the animals of the south. Your messengers travel through a land of trouble and pain. Lions and snakes and flying serpents live in that land. Your messengers carry riches on young donkeys and treasures on camels. They carry them to a people who cannot help you.

7Egypt's help is worth nothing, and it does no good. So I have said about Egypt: Their strength is to sit still.

8Now go. Write this on a tablet in front of them. Write it in a book. It will last for all time to come.

9These people are rebellious. They are children who lie. They are children who will not listen to the LORD's teaching.

10They tell the seers: Do not see. They tell the prophets: Do not tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.

11They say: Get out of our way. Turn away from the path. Stop talking to us about the Holy One of Israel.

12So the Holy One of Israel says: You reject this message. You trust in cruelty and lies. You depend on them.

13So this sin will be like a high wall with a crack in it. The wall bulges out and is ready to fall. It will break suddenly, in a moment.

14The Holy One will break it like a clay pot smashed into pieces. He will not hold back. No piece will be left big enough to carry fire from the fireplace. No piece will be big enough to carry water from a pool.

15This is what the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, says: Come back to Me and rest, and you will be saved. Be quiet and trust Me, and you will be strong. But you refused.

16You said: No. We will escape on horses. So you will run away. You said: We will ride fast horses. So the ones chasing you will be fast.

17One thousand of you will run away from one enemy. Five enemies will make all of you run away. Then you will be left like a lonely flagpole on a mountain. You will be like a signal flag on a hill.

18But the LORD is waiting to be kind to you. The LORD will rise up to show you mercy. The LORD is a God who is fair. Everyone who waits for Him is blessed.

19People will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You will not cry anymore. The LORD will be very kind when you cry for help. As soon as He hears you, He will answer you.

20The Lord may give you the bread of trouble and the water of pain. But your teacher will not hide anymore. Your own eyes will see your teacher.

21Your ears will hear a voice behind you saying: This is the way. Walk in it. You will hear it when you turn to the right and when you turn to the left.

22You will treat your idols as unclean. Your idols are covered with silver and gold. You will throw them away like dirty rags. You will say to them: Get away from here.

23Then the LORD will send rain for the seed you plant in the ground. The food from the ground will be rich and plentiful. On that day your farm animals will graze in wide fields.

24The oxen and young donkeys that work the ground will eat good feed. It will be cleaned of dirt and husks with a shovel and a fork.

25In the day of great killing, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every high hill.

26The moon will shine like the sun. The sun will shine seven times brighter, like the light of seven days. This will happen when the LORD heals His people and bandages their wounds.

27Look, the LORD comes from far away. His anger burns, and thick smoke rises. His lips are full of anger. His tongue is like a fire that burns everything up.

28His breath is like a flooding river that reaches up to the neck. He will shake the nations in a sieve that destroys. He will put a bridle in the mouths of the people. It will lead them the wrong way.

29You will sing as you do on a night of a holy feast. Your hearts will be glad, like people walking with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel.

30The LORD will make His glorious voice heard. He will show His powerful arm coming down in anger. There will be flames of fire that burn everything up. There will be storm winds, rain, and hailstones.

31The voice of the LORD will crush Assyria. Assyria hit people with a rod.

32Every blow of the staff the LORD lays on Assyria will be met with tambourines and harps. The LORD will fight them with a swinging arm.

33A place for burning, called Tophet, was prepared long ago. It is ready for the king. It is deep and wide. It has a pile of fire and much wood. The breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, will set it on fire.