Isaiah 30:15-25

15 For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel has said; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16 But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be even more swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five ye shall all flee: until ye are left as a mast upon the top of a mountain and as a banner of example on a hill.
18 And therefore will the LORD wait for you, that he may have mercy on you, and therefore will he be exalted having mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all those that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he who has mercy shall show mercy unto thee; at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20 But the Lord shall give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction; thy rain shall never more be taken away, but thine eyes shall see thy rain:
21 Then thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, that ye not turn to the right hand and that ye not turn to the left hand.
22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver and the protection of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Go away from here.
23 Then he shall give the rain unto thy planting when thou shalt sow the ground; and bread of the fruit of the earth, and it shall be fat and fertile: in that day thy cattle shall feed in large pastures.
24 Thine oxen and thine asses that work the ground shall eat clean grain, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers shall fall.

Isaiah 30:15-25 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.

The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010