The Two Attacks of the Assyrian
Isaiah 30 – 34
Isaiah 30 – 34
CHAPTER 30
1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of me, and who make leagues, but not by my Spirit, that they may heap sin upon sin; 2 who walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked of my mouth, — to take refuge under the protection of Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 For to you the protection of Pharaoh shall be a shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt a confusion. 4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes. 5 They were all ashamed of a people that did not profit them, nor were a help or profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 — The burden of the beasts of the south: Through a land of trouble and anguish, whence come the lioness and lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to the people that shall not profit them. 7 For Egypt shall help in vain, and to no purpose; therefore have I named her, Arrogance, that doeth nothing. 8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and record it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, as a witness for ever, 9 that this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah; 10 who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things; speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits; 11 get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us! 12 Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel: Because ye reject this word, and confide in oppression and wilfulness, and depend thereon, 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a towering wall, whose breaking shall come suddenly in an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of a potter’s vessel, that is broken in pieces unsparingly; and in the pieces of it there shall not be found a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to scoop water out of the cistern. 15 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest shall ye be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be your strength; but ye would not. 16 And ye said, No, but we will flee upon horses, — therefore shall ye flee; and, We will ride upon the swift, — therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 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 a banner on a hill. 18 And therefore will Jehovah wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he lift himself up, that he may have mercy upon you; for Jehovah is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 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; as he heareth it, he will answer thee. 20 And the Lord will give you the bread of adversity, and the water of oppression; yet thy teachers shall not be hidden any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. 21 And when ye turn to the right hand or when ye turn to the left, thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it. 22 And ye shall defile the silver covering of your graven images, and the gold overlaying of your molten images; thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth: Out! shalt thou say unto it. 23 And he will give the rain of thy seed with which thou shalt sow the ground; and bread, the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and rich. In that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures; 24 and the oxen and the asses that till the ground shall eat salted provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every hill that is lifted up, brooks and water-courses, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 And 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 Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the wound of their stroke. 27 Behold, the name of Jehovah cometh from far, burning with his anger — a grievous conflagration; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a consuming fire; 28 and his breath as an overflowing torrent, which reacheth even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to put a bridle into the jaws of the peoples, that causeth them to go astray. 29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a feast is sanctified; and joy of heart, as of one who goeth with a pipe to come unto the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And Jehovah will cause the majesty of his voice to be heard, and will shew the lighting down of his arm with indignation of anger, and a flame of consuming fire, with waterflood and storm and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be broken down: he will smite him with the rod. 32 And wherever shall pass the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, it shall be with tambours and harps; and with tumultuous battles will he fight with it. 33 For Topheth is prepared of old; for the king also it is prepared: he hath made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and depend on horses, and confide in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong; and who look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek Jehovah! 2 But he also is wise, and he bringeth evil, and recalleth not his words; and he will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of workers of iniquity. 3 And the Egyptians are men, and not GOD, and their horses flesh, and not spirit; and Jehovah shall stretch forth his hand, and he that helpeth shall stumble, and he that is helped shall fall, and they all shall perish together. 4 For thus hath Jehovah said unto me: Like as the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, is not afraid of their voice, nor giveth way before the multitude of them; so will Jehovah of hosts come down to war upon mount Zion, and on the hill thereof. 5 As birds with outstretched wings, so will Jehovah of hosts cover Jerusalem; covering, he will also deliver, passing over, he will rescue it. 6 Turn unto him from whom ye have deeply revolted, ye children of Israel; 7 for in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have made unto you. 8 And Asshur shall fall by the sword, not of a great man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become tributary; 9 and for fear, he shall pass over to his rock, and his princes shall be afraid of the banner, saith Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
1 Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. 2 And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the storm; as brooks of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. 3 And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken; 4 and the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. 5 The vile man shall be no more called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful: 6 for the vile man will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. 7 The instruments also of the churl are evil: he deviseth wicked devices to destroy the meek with lying words, even when the needy speaketh right. 8 But the noble deviseth noble things; and to noble things doth he stand. 9 Rise up, ye women that are at ease, hear my voice; ye careless daughters, give ear unto my speech. 10 In a year and some days shall ye be troubled, ye careless women; for the vintage shall fail, the ingathering shall not come. 11 Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones; strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth on your loins! 12 They shall smite on the breasts in lamentation for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vineyards. 13 Upon the land of my people shall come up thistles and briars, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. 14 For the palace shall be deserted, the multitude of the city shall be forsaken; hill and watchtower shall be caves for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks; 15 until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. 16 And judgment shall inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness dwell in the fruitful field. 17 And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. 18 And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. 19 And it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place. 20 Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth the feet of the ox and the ass.
1 Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and that dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; when thou shalt make an end of dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. 2 Jehovah, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be their arm every morning, yea, our salvation in the time of trouble. 3 At the noise of the tumult the peoples fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered. 4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running of locusts shall they run upon it. 5 Jehovah is exalted; for he dwelleth on high: he hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness; 6 and he shall be the stability of thy times, the riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of Jehovah shall be your treasure. 7 Behold, their valiant ones cry without; the messengers of peace weep bitterly. 8 The highways are desolate, the wayfaring man ceaseth. He hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man. 9 The land mourneth, it languisheth; Lebanon is ashamed, is withered; the Sharon is become as a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped. 10 Now will I arise, saith Jehovah; now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself. 11 Ye shall conceive dry grass, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath shall devour you as fire. 12 And the peoples shall be as burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath surprised the hypocrites: Who among us shall dwell with the consuming fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting flames? 15 — He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from taking hold of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil: 16 he shall dwell on high, the fortresses of the rocks shall be his high retreat; bread shall be given him, his water shall be sure. 17 Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land that is far off. 18 Thy heart shall meditate on terror: Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers? 19 Thou shalt no more see the fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst comprehend, of a stammering tongue that cannot be understood. 20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be pulled up, neither shall any of its cords be broken; 21 but there Jehovah is unto us glorious, — a place of rivers, of broad streams: no galley with oars shall go there, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. 22 For Jehovah is our judge, Jehovah, our lawgiver, Jehovah, our king: he will save us. 23 Thy tacklings are loosed; they strengthen not the socket of their mast, they cannot spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. 24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples: let the earth hear, and all its fulness; the world, and all that cometh forth of it. 2 For the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations, and his fury against all their armies: he hath devoted them to destruction, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. 3 And their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fade away, as a leaf fadeth from off the vine, and as the withered fruit from the fig-tree. 5 For my sword is bathed in the heavens; behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my ban, to judgment. 6 The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Jehovah hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 And the buffaloes shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. 8 For it is the day of Jehovah’s vengeance, the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. 9 And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; yea, the land thereof shall become burning pitch: 10 it shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever. 11 And the pelican and the bittern shall possess it, and the great owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And he shall stretch out upon it the line of waste, and the plummets of emptiness. 12 Of her nobles who should proclaim the kingdom, none are there; and all her princes shall be nought. 13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in her fortresses; and it shall be a dwelling-place of wild dogs, a court for ostriches. 14 And there shall the beasts of the desert meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; the lilith also shall settle there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There shall the arrow-snake make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there also shall the vultures be gathered one with another. 16 Search ye in the book of Jehovah and read: not one of these shall fail, one shall not have to seek for the other; for my mouth, it hath commanded, and his Spirit, it hath gathered them. 17 For he himself hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them with the line: they shall possess it for ever; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.