Isaiah 30:12

12 This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,

Isaiah 30:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 30:12

Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel
The prophet introduces his message with the phrase they objected to: ministers of the word must not seek to please men, nor should they be deterred from the use of phrases, because disliked by natural men: as, in our days, men do not love to hear the name of Christ so often mentioned, or his Gospel, or the glorious truths of it; but the use of them should not be left off on that account, but rather they should be the more inculcated, as we find this phrase was; see ( Isaiah 30:15 ) : Because ye despise this word;
either this name of the Lord, "the Holy One of Israel"; or this prophecy that was delivered unto them, which reproved them for their confidence in Egypt, and exhorted them to sit still at home, and trust in the Lord; but instead of that they trusted in what was very bad, as follows: but trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon;
either in oppressors, and perverse persons, as the Egyptians were; or in their wealth, got by oppression, rapine, and fraud, which they carried to Egypt, and on which they depended for help and relief; and in that perverse disposition of mind, contradicting the Lord speaking by his prophets, resolving to take their own way, not doubting but that they should have success.

Isaiah 30:12 In-Context

10 They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies.

11 Forget all this gloom. Get off your narrow path. Stop telling us about your ‘Holy One of Israel.’”

12 This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel: “Because you despise what I tell you and trust instead in oppression and lies,

13 calamity will come upon you suddenly— like a bulging wall that bursts and falls. In an instant it will collapse and come crashing down.

14 You will be smashed like a piece of pottery— shattered so completely that there won’t be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace or a little water from the well.”