Isaiah 30:1-17

Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance

1 Woe to the rebellious children! [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the Lord's declaration. They carry out a plan, but not Mine, They make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin.
2 They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.
3 But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.
4 For though his[a] princes are at Zoan and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,
5 everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can't help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.
6 An oracle about the animals of the Negev:[b] Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not help them.
7 Egypt's help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.
8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.
9 They are a rebellious people, deceptive children, children who do not obey the Lord's instruction.
10 They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things. Prophesy illusions.
11 Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."
12 Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,
13 this iniquity of yours will be like a spreading breach, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come very suddenly.
14 Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter's jar, crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains- no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."
15 For the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."
16 You say, "No! We will escape on horses"- therefore you will escape!- and, "We will ride on fast horses"- but those who pursue you will be faster.
17 One thousand [will flee] at the threat of one, at the threat of five you will flee, until you alone remain like a [solitary] pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.

Isaiah 30:1-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 30

This chapter contains a complaint of the Jews for their sins and transgressions; a prophecy of their destruction for them; a promise of grace and mercy, and of happy times, to the saints; and a threatening of utter and dreadful ruin to the wicked. The Jews are complained of for their rebellion against God, their slighting his counsel and protection, their trust in Egypt, and application there for help; whither they went with their riches for safety, but in vain, it being contrary to the will and counsel of God, Isa 30:1-7 next follows a denunciation of ruin and destruction for these things, rebellion, and lying, and vain confidence, as well as for contempt of the word of God, which, that it might appear sure and certain, is ordered to be written in a book, Isa 30:8-12 and this ruin is signified by the sudden falling of a wall, and by the breaking of a potter's vessel into pieces, which can never be used more, Isa 30:13,14 and seeing they rejected the way of salvation proposed by the Lord, and took their own way, first destruction is threatened them, which should be very easily brought about, and become so general, that few should escape it, Isa 30:15-17 and then promises of grace and mercy are made to them that wait for the Lord, Isa 30:18 such as a dwelling place in Zion, hearing their prayers, granting them teachers to instruct them, and the riddance of idolatry from them, Isa 30:19-22 and also many outward blessings, as seasonable rain, good bread corn, fat pastures, good food for cattle, and fruitfulness of mountains and hills, Isa 30:23-25 likewise an amazing degree of spiritual light and glory, and healing of the Lord's people, Isa 30:26 and the chapter is concluded with a threatening Of God's wrath upon the Assyrian, expressed by various similes, as of an angry man, an overflowing torrent, a tempest of thunder, lightning, and hail, and the fire of Tophet, Isa 30:27-33.

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