The prophet threatens the people for their confidence in Egypt, 1-7, and contempt of God's word, 8-17. God's mercies toward his church, 18-26. God's wrath and the people's joy in the destruction of Assyria, 27-33.
1 "Woe to the rebellious children," says the LORD,/
"who take counsel, but not from me,/
and who cover with a covering, but not of my Spirit,/
so that they may add sin to sin,
2 Who 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!
3 Therefore, the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame,/
and refuge in the shadow of Egypt your disgrace.
4 For his princes were at Zoan/
and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed/
of a people who could not profit them,/
nor be a help nor profit,/
but a shame and also a reproach."
6 [The burden of the beasts of the south.]
Into the land of trouble and anguish,/
where the young and the old lion/
and the viper and flying serpent come from,/
they will carry their riches/
upon the shoulders of young donkeys/
and their treasures upon the bunches of camels/
to a people who shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptian shall help in vain and to no purpose./
Therefore, I have cried concerning this,/
"Their strength is to sit still."
8 Now go, write it before them in a tablet/
and note it in a book,/
so that it may be for the time to come/
forever and ever,
9 That this is a rebellious people,/
lying children,/
children who will not hear the law of the LORD,
10 Who say to the seers, "Do not see,"/
and to the prophets,/
"Do not prophesy to us right things./
Speak to us smooth things./
Prophesy deceits.
11 Withdraw from the way./
Turn aside from the path./
Cause the Holy One of Israel/
to cease from before us."
12 Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel:/
"Because you despise this word/
and trust in oppression and perverseness/
and lean upon it,
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you/
as a breach ready to fall,/
swelling out in a high wall,/
whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it/
as the breaking of the potter's vessel/
that is broken in pieces./
He shall not spare,/
so that there shall not be found in its bursting/
a piece to take fire from the hearth,/
or to take water out of the pit."
15 For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:/
"In returning and rest you shall be saved./
In quietness and in confidence your strength shall be."/
And you have not been willing.
16 But you said, "No, for we will flee upon horses."/
Therefore, you shall flee./
And you also said, "We will ride upon the swift."/
Therefore, those who pursue you shall be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one./
At the rebuke of five you shall flee/
until you are left/
as a beacon upon the top of a mountain/
and as an ensign on a hill.
18 And therefore, the LORD will wait/
so that he may be gracious to you,/
and therefore, he will be exalted/
so that he may have mercy upon you,/
for the LORD is a God of judgment./
Blessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You shall no longer weep. He will be very gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he hears it, he will answer you. 20 And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be hidden anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. 22 You shall also defile the covering of your engraved images of silver and the ornament of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away as a polluted cloth. You shall say to it, "Be gone from me."
23 Then he shall give the rain of your seed, with which you shall sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day your cattle shall feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that plow the ground shall eat clean provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 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. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far,/
burning with his anger, and its burden is heavy./
His lips are full of indignation/
and his tongue as a devouring fire.
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.
29 You shall have a song, as in the night,/
when a holy solemnity is kept,/
and gladness of heart,/
as when one goes with a pipe/
to come upon the mountain of the LORD,/
to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard/
and shall show the descent of his arm,/
with the indignation of his anger,/
with the flame of a devouring fire,/
with scattering, tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice of the LORD/
the Assyrian shall be beaten down,/
who smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff passes,/
which the LORD lays upon him,/
it shall be with tambourines and harps./
And in battles of shaking he will fight with it.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old./
Indeed, for the king it is prepared./
He has made it deep and large./
Its pile is fire and much wood./
The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone,/
kindles it.
Matthew Henry Commentary - Isaiah, Chapter 30[➚]