Isaiah 31

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.