Isaiah 30
The Futility of
Reliance on Egypt |
1 |
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the
LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and
that cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit, that they may add
sin to sin:
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2 |
that walk to go down into Egypt, and have
not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of
Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
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3 |
Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh
be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
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4 |
For his princes were at Zo'an, and his
ambassadors came to Hanes.
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5 |
They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a
shame, and also a reproach.
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6 |
The burden of the beasts of the
south.
Into the land of trouble and anguish from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying
serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young
asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
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7 |
For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and
to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their
strength is to sit still.
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8 |
Now go, write it before them in a
table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come
for ever and ever:
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9 |
that this is a rebellious people,
lying children, children that will not hear the law of the
LORD:
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10 |
which say to the seers, See not; and to
the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us
smooth things, prophesy deceits:
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11 |
get you out of the way, turn aside out of
the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before
us.
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12 |
Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of
Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and
perverseness, and stay thereon:
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13 |
therefore this iniquity shall be to you
as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose
breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
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14 |
And he shall break it as the breaking of
the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so
that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take
fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the
pit.
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15 |
For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest
shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your
strength: and ye would not.
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16 |
But ye said, No; for we will flee upon
horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift;
therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
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17 |
One thousand shall flee at the
rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left
as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a
hill.
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The Promise of God's
Grace to Israel |
18 |
And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and
therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for
the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
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19 |
For the people shall dwell in Zion at
Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer
thee.
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20 |
And though the Lord give you the
bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy
teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see
thy teachers:
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21 |
and thine ears shall hear a word behind
thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to
the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
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22 |
Ye shall defile also the covering of thy
graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of
gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt
say unto it, Get thee hence.
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23 |
Then shall he give the rain of thy
seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the
increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that
day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
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24 |
The oxen likewise and the young asses
that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been
winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
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25 |
And there shall be upon every high
mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of
waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers
fall.
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26 |
Moreover the light of the moon shall be
as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be
sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth
the stroke of their wound.
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The LORD's Judgment on Assyria |
27 |
Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger,
and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of
indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
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28 |
and his breath, as an overflowing stream,
shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the
sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of
the people, causing them to err.
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29 |
Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when
one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel.
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30 |
And the LORD shall
cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting
down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering,
and tempest, and hailstones.
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31 |
For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
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32 |
And in every place where the
grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall
lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in
battles of shaking will he fight with it.
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33 |
For Tophet is ordained of old;
yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the
breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone,
doth kindle it.
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