Isaiah 31

Help Not in Egypt but in God

1 Woe to those who go down to ¹Egypt for help And ²rely on horses, And trust in chariots because they are many And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not ³look to the ⁴Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!

2 Yet He also is ⁵wise and will ⁶bring disaster And does ⁷not retract His words, But will arise against the house of ⁸evildoers And against the help of the ⁹workers of iniquity.

3 Now the Egyptians are ¹⁰men and not God, And their ¹¹horses are flesh and not spirit; So the LORD will ¹²stretch out His hand, And ¹³he who helps will stumble And he who is helped will fall, And all of them will come to an end together.

4 For thus says the LORD to me, "As the ¹⁴lion or the young lion growls over his prey, Against which a band of shepherds is called out, And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise, So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage ¹⁵war on Mount Zion and on its hill."

5 Like flying ¹⁶birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will ¹⁷protect and deliver it; He will pass over and rescue it.

6 ¹⁸Return to Him from whom you have ¹⁹deeply defected, O sons of Israel.

7 For in that day every man will ²⁰cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your ²¹sinful hands have made for you as ²²a sin.

8 And the ²³Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a ²⁴sword not of man will devour him. So he will ²⁵not escape the sword, And his young men will become ²⁶forced laborers.

9 "His ²⁷rock will pass away because of panic, And his princes will be terrified at the ²⁸standard," Declares the LORD, whose ²⁹fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 31 Commentary

Chapter 31

The sin and folly of seeking help from Egypt. (1-5) God's care for Jerusalem. (6-9)

Verses 1-5 God will oppose the help sought from workers of iniquity. Sinners may be convicted of folly by plain and self-evident truths, which they cannot deny, but will not believe. There is no escaping the judgments of God; and evil pursues sinners. The Lord of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion. The Lion of the tribe of Judah will appear for the defence of his church. And as birds hovering over their young ones to protect them, with such compassion and affection will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. He will so defend it, as to secure its safety.

Verses 6-9 They have been backsliding children, yet children; let them return, and their backslidings shall be healed, though they have sunk deep into misery, and cannot easily recover. Many make an idol of their silver and gold, and by the love of that are drawn from God; but those who turn to God, will be ready to part with it. Then, when they have cast away their idols, shall the Assyrian fall by the sword of an angel, who strikes more strongly than a mighty man, yet more secretly than a mean man. God can make the stoutest heart to tremble. But if we keep up the fire of holy love and devotion in our hearts and houses, we may depend upon God to protect us and them.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 30:2, 7; Isaiah 36:6
• 2. Deuteronomy 17:16; Psalms 20:7; Psalms 33:17; Isaiah 2:7; Isaiah 30:16
• 3. Isaiah 9:13; Daniel 9:13; Amos 5:4-8
• 4. Isaiah 10:17; Isaiah 43:15; Hosea 11:9; Habakkuk 1:12; Habakkuk 3:3
• 5. Isaiah 28:29; Romans 16:27
• 6. Isaiah 45:7
• 7. Numbers 23:19; Jeremiah 44:29
• 8. Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 14:20
• 9. Isaiah 22:14; Isaiah 32:6
• 10. Ezekiel 28:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:4
• 11. Isaiah 36:9
• 12. Isaiah 9:17; Jeremiah 15:6; Ezekiel 20:33, 34
• 13. Isaiah 30:5, 7; Matthew 15:14
• 14. Numbers 24:9; Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8
• 15. Isaiah 42:13; Zechariah 12:8
• 16. Deuteronomy 32:11; Psalms 91:4
• 17. Isaiah 37:35; Isaiah 38:6
• 18. Isaiah 44:22; Isaiah 55:7; Jer 3:10, 14, 22; Ezekiel 18:31, 32
• 19. Isaiah 1:2, 5
• 20. Isaiah 2:20; Isaiah 30:22
• 21. 1 Kings 12:30
• 22. 1 Kings 12:30
• 23. Isaiah 10:12; Isaiah 14:25; Isaiah 30:31-33; Isaiah 37:7, 36-38
• 24. Isaiah 66:16
• 25. Isaiah 21:15
• 26. Genesis 49:15; Isaiah 14:2
• 27. Deuteronomy 32:31, 37
• 28. Isaiah 5:26; Isaiah 13:2; Isaiah 18:3
• 29. Isaiah 10:16, 17; Isaiah 30:33; Zechariah 2:5

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "hovering"
• [b]. Lit "they"
• [c]. Lit "flee"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 31

This chapter denounces woe to those that trusted in the Egyptians; assures the Jews of God's care and protection of them; calls them to repentance, and foretells the destruction of the Assyrian army. The sin of those that trusted in Egypt, with the reasons of their trust, and not looking to the Lord, and seeking him, is declared in Isa 31:1 and their folly exposed in so doing; since the Lord is wise, powerful, and unchangeable, and the Egyptians frail and weak; so that the helper and the helped must fall before him, Isa 31:2,3 whereas protection might be expected from the Lord, as is promised, whose power is like that of the lion, and whose tender care is like that of birds to defend their young, Isa 31:4,5 wherefore the Jews are called upon to return to the Lord by repentance, from whom they had revolted; which would be shown by their detestation of idolatry, the sin they had been guilty of, Isa 31:6,7 and the chapter is closed with a prophecy of the ruin of the Assyrian army, and the flight of their king, Isa 31:8,9.