Alliance with Egypt Condemned
“Woe to the arebellious children,” declares Yahweh,
“Who bexecute counsel, but not Mine,
And cmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin,
2 Who ago down to Egypt—
But did not bask Me—
cTo find strength in the strong defense of Pharaoh
And to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore the strong defense of Pharaoh will be ayour shame
And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.
4 For atheir princes are at Zoan
And their messengers reach Hanes.
5 Everyone will be aashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,
Who are bnot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”
6 The oracle concerning the abeasts of the bNegev.
Through a land of cdistress and anguish,
From where come lioness and lion, viper and dflying fiery serpent,
They ecarry their wealth on the backs of young donkeys
And their treasures on fcamels’ humps,
To a people who cannot profit them;
7 Even Egypt, whose ahelp is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called her
“bRahab who has ceased.”
8 Now go, awrite it on a tablet before them
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may be in the time to come
As a witness forever.
9 For this is a arebellious people, bfalse sons,
Sons who are not willing to clisten
To the law of Yahweh,
10 Who say to the aseers, “You must not see,”
And to those who have visions, “You must not bbehold visions for us of what is right,
cSpeak to us pleasant words,
Behold visions of illusions.
11 Get out of the way, aturn aside from the path,
bCease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“aSince you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in boppression and deviousness and have relied on them,
13 Therefore this ainiquity will be to you
Like a bbreach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking comes csuddenly in an instant,
14 Whose breaking is like the breaking of a apotter’s jar,
So ruthlessly shattered
That a potsherd will not be found among its pieces
To take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
15 For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said,
“In repentance and arest you will be saved,
In bquietness and trust is your might.”
But you were not willing,
16 And you said, “No, for we will flee on ahorses,”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses,”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 aOne thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left as a flag on a mountain top
And as a standard on a hill.
Yahweh Is Gracious and Just
18 Therefore Yahweh awaits with longing to be gracious to you,
And therefore He is on bhigh to have compassion on you.
For Yahweh is a cGod of justice;
How blessed are all those who dwait for Him.
19 O people in Zion, ainhabitant in Jerusalem, you will bweep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will canswer you. 20 The Lord has given you abread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer bhide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. 21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the away, walk in it,” whenever you bturn to the right or to the left. 22 And you will defile your graven aimages overlaid with your silver, and your molten aimages plated with your gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing and say to them, “bBe gone!”
23 Then He will agive you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fat; on that day byour livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. 24 Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which has been awinnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And it will be that on every lofty mountain and on aevery lifted up hill there will be streams running with water on the day of the great bslaughter, when the towers fall. 26 aAnd the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day bYahweh binds up the cfracture of His people and dheals the bruise He has inflicted.
27 Behold, athe name of Yahweh comes from afar;
bBurning is His anger and heavy is His smoke;
His lips are filled with cindignation
And His tongue is like a dconsuming fire;
28 His abreath is like an overflowing torrent,
Which breaches to the neck,
To cshake the nations back and forth in a sieve of worthlessness,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples dthe bridle which staggers one to ruin.
29 You will have songs as in the night when you set yourself apart as holy for the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.
30 And Yahweh will cause His splendid voice to be heard,
And the descending of His arm to be seen in raging anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31 For aat the voice of Yahweh bAssyria will be dismayed,
When He strikes with the crod.
32 And every blow of the aappointed staff,
Which Yahweh will cause to rest upon him,
Will be with the music of btambourines and lyres;
And in battles, cwaving weapons He will fight them.
33 For aTopheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The bbreath of Yahweh, like a torrent of cbrimstone, sets it afire.