Isaiah 31-32

English Standard Version

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

31 Woe^[a] to ^(A)those who go down to Egypt for help
    and rely on horses,
who ^(B)trust in chariots because they are many
    and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but ^(C)do not look to the Holy One of Israel
    or consult the Lord!
²And ^(D)yet he is wise and brings disaster;
    ^(E)he does not call back his words,
but ^(F)will arise against the house of the evildoers
    and against the helpers of ^(G)those who work iniquity.
³The Egyptians are man, and not God,
    and their horses ^(H)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.

⁴For thus the Lord said to me,
^(I)“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,
^(J)so the Lord of hosts will come down
    to fight^[b] on Mount Zion and on its hill.
⁵^(K)Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
    will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
    he will spare and rescue it.”

⁶^(L)Turn to him from whom people^[c] have ^(M)deeply revolted, O children of Israel. ⁷For in that day ^(N)everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

⁸^(O)“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 ^(P)put to forced labor.
⁹^(Q)His rock shall pass away in terror,
    and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose ^(R)fire is in Zion,
    and whose ^(S)furnace is in Jerusalem.

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

32 Behold, ^(T)a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
²^(U)Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
    a shelter from the storm,
^(V)like streams of water in a dry place,
    like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
³^(W)Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
    and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
⁴The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
    ^(X)and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
⁵^(Y)The fool will no more be called noble,
    nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
⁶For ^(Z)the fool speaks folly,
    and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
    to utter error concerning the Lord,
^(AA)to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷As for the scoundrel—^(AB)his devices are evil;
    he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
    even when the plea of the needy is right.
⁸But he who is noble plans noble things,
    and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

⁹^(AC)Rise up, you women ^(AD)who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
¹⁰In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹Tremble, you women ^(AE)who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
^(AF)strip, and make yourselves bare,
    ^(AG)and tie sackcloth around your waist.
¹²^(AH)Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
¹³^(AI)for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers,
^(AJ)yes, for all the joyous houses
    in the exultant city.
¹⁴For the palace is forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens forever,
^(AK)a joy of wild donkeys,
    a pasture of flocks;
¹⁵until ^(AL)the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
    and ^(AM)the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
¹⁶Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷^(AN)And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust^[d] forever.
¹⁸My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹^(AO)And it will hail when the forest falls down,
    ^(AP)and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰^(AQ)Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
    who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.