Isaiah 30:19-32:20
English Standard Version Anglicised
19 For a people shall dwell (A)in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the (B)bread of adversity and the (C)water of affliction, (D)yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 (E)And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is (F)the way, walk in it”, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. (G)You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
23 (H)And he will give (I)rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. (J)In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and (K)the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And (L)on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, (M)when the towers fall. 26 (N)Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when (O)the Lord binds up (P)the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;[a]
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 (Q)his breath is (R)like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples (S)a bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, (T)as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to (U)the mountain of the Lord, to (V)the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord (W)will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger (X)and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst (Y)and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, (Z)when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them (AA)will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. (AB)Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For (AC)a burning place[b] has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, (AD)its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; (AE)the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it.
Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt
31 Woe to (AF)those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who (AG)trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but (AH)do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
2 And (AI)yet he is wise and brings disaster;
(AJ)he does not call back his words,
but (AK)will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of (AL)those who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses (AM)are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
(AN)“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
(AO)so the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight[c] on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 (AP)Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”
6 (AQ)Turn to him from whom people[d] have (AR)deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day (AS)everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8 (AT)“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be (AU)put to forced labour.
9 (AV)His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose (AW)fire is in Zion,
and whose (AX)furnace is in Jerusalem.
A King Will Reign in Righteousness
32 Behold, (AY)a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2 (AZ)Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm,
(BA)like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 (BB)Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
(BC)and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5 (BD)The fool will no more be called noble,
nor the scoundrel said to be honourable.
6 For (BE)the fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practise ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
(BF)to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the scoundrel—(BG)his devices are evil;
he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8 But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands.
Complacent Women Warned of Disaster
9 (BH)Rise up, you women (BI)who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women (BJ)who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
(BK)strip, and make yourselves bare,
(BL)and tie sackcloth round your waist.
12 (BM)Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 (BN)for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
(BO)yes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens for ever,
(BP)a joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15 until (BQ)the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and (BR)the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 (BS)And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust[e] for ever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places.
19 (BT)And it will hail when the forest falls down,
(BU)and the city will be utterly laid low.
20 (BV)Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 30:27 Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds
- Isaiah 30:33 Or For Topheth
- Isaiah 31:4 The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike
- Isaiah 31:6 Hebrew they
- Isaiah 32:17 Or security
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.