Isaiah 30

Woe, rebellious children! Thus says the Lord: You made a plan, but not through me, and covenants, but not through my spirit, so as to add sins to sins.

those who go to descend into Egypt, yet did not ask me, in order to be helped by Pharaoh and sheltered by the Egyptians.

For the shelter of Pharaoh shall be to you for shame, and a reproach to those who trust in Egypt.

For in Tanis there are chief men, evil messengers; in vain shall they labor,

toward a people that will not profit them, neither for help nor for gain, but for shame and reproach.

The vision of the four-footed beasts in the wilderness: In affliction and distress — a lion and a lion's cub from there, and asps and the offspring of flying asps — who were carrying their wealth on donkeys and camels to a nation that will not profit them for help, but for shame and reproach.

Egyptians will profit you with vain and empty things. Announce to them that this comfort of yours is vain.

Now then, sit down and write these things on a tablet and in a book, for these things shall be for days of times, and even forever.

For it is a disobedient people, lying sons, who were not willing to hear the law of God.

who say to the prophets, 'Do not proclaim to us,' and to those who see visions, 'Do not speak to us, but speak to us and proclaim to us another delusion.

And turn us away from this way; remove this path from us, and remove the Holy One of Israel from us.'

Therefore thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: Because you disobeyed these words and hoped in a lie, and because you murmured and became confident in this word —

therefore this sin shall be to you like a wall falling suddenly, the wall of a fortified city that has been captured, whose fall is suddenly at hand.

And its fall shall be like the shattering of an earthen vessel, fragments from a potter's jar so fine that among them one cannot find a sherd with which to carry fire or with which to draw off a little water.

Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel: When you turn back and groan, then you shall be saved, and you shall know where you were when you trusted in vain things. Your strength has become vain, and you were not willing to listen.

But you said, 'On horses we will flee' — therefore you shall flee; and you said, 'On swift ones we will be riders' — therefore swift shall be those who pursue you.

At the voice of one, a thousand shall flee; and at the voice of five, many shall flee, until you are left like a mast on a mountain and like one carrying a signal on a hill.

And again God will wait to show you compassion, and therefore he shall be exalted to have mercy on you; for the Lord our God is a judge. And where will you leave your glory? Blessed are those who remain in him.

For a holy people shall dwell in Zion, and Jerusalem wept with weeping: 'Have mercy on me!' He will have mercy on you; the voice of your cry — when he saw it, he listened to you.

And the Lord will give you bread of affliction and scant water, and those who lead you astray shall no longer draw near to you, because your eyes shall see those who lead you astray.

And your ears shall hear the words of those who led you astray behind you, who say, 'This is the way, let us walk in it,' whether to the right or to the left.

And you shall remove the idols overlaid with silver and those overlaid with gold; you shall break them into fragments and winnow them away like the water of a woman in her separation, and you shall thrust them out like dung.

Then there shall be rain for the seed of your land, and the bread of the produce of your land shall be plenty and rich; and in that day your cattle shall graze in a fat and spacious place.

Your bulls and the oxen that work the ground shall eat chaff prepared with barley, winnowed.

And there shall be on every high mountain and on every lofty hill water flowing through, in that day when many perish and when towers fall.

And the light of the moon shall be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day when the Lord heals the fracture of his people and heals the pain of your wound.

Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time; his wrath is burning, with glory. The oracle of his lips is an oracle full of anger, and the anger of his wrath shall devour like fire.

And his breath is like water sweeping through a ravine; it shall reach up to the neck and shall be divided, to throw the nations into confusion over a vain delusion; and delusion shall pursue them and seize them face to face.

Must you always be glad and always go into my holy places, as those keeping a feast and as those rejoicing, to enter with a flute into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?

And God will make the glory of his voice to be heard, and will show the wrath of his arm with wrath and anger and a devouring flame; he will hurl thunderbolts violently, like water and hail sweeping down with force.

For at the voice of the Lord the Assyrians shall be defeated, by the blow with which he strikes them.

And it shall be for him all around, from where his hope of help was, in which he himself had trusted: they with flutes and lyre shall fight against him in turn.

For you shall be called to account before the days. Was it also prepared for you to reign? A deep ravine, wood laid in order, fire and much wood. The wrath of the Lord is like a ravine burning with brimstone.