Judah Warned against Egyptian Alliance
1“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And Lit pour out a drink offeringmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
2Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting Lit My mouthMe,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
4For their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
5Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who do not benefit them,
Who are not a help or benefit, but a source of shame and also disgrace.”
6The pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From Lit themwhere come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the Lit shouldersbacks of young donkeys,
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
7Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called Lit this oneher
“MT They are Rahab or arrogance, to remain; i.e., Egypt, as a sea monster; see note Job 26:12Rahab who has been exterminated.”
8Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may Lit beserve in the time to come
As in most ancient versions; MT Forever and ever
As a witness forever.
9For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who Lit are not willingrefuse to listen
To the Or Lawinstruction of the Lord;
10Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy the truth to us.
Speak to us Lit smooth thingspleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
11Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Since you have rejected this word
And have put your trust in oppression and crookedness, and have relied on them,
13Therefore this wrongdoing will be to you
Like a breach about to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose collapse comes suddenly in an instant,
14Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
Lit Crushed, it will not be spared
So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To Lit snatch uptake fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
“In Lit returningrepentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
16And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses!”
Therefore you shall flee!
“And we will ride on swift horses!”
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.
You will flee at the threat of five,
Until you are left like a signal post on a mountain top,
And like a flag on a hill.
God Is Gracious and Just
And therefore He Lit is on highwaits on high to have compassion on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who Lit waitlong for Him.
19
MT For a people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
For, you people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will certainly be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
20Although the Lord has given you bread of deprivation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher, will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher.
21Your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left.
22And you will desecrate your carved images plated with silver, and your cast metal images plated with gold. You will scatter them as a filthy thing, and say to Lit it “Go out”them, “Be gone!”
23Then He will give you rain for your seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the yield of the ground, and it will be Lit fatnessrich and Lit fatplentiful; on that day your livestock will graze in a wide pasture.
24Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat Lit sorrel-seasonedseasoned feed, which Lit one winnowshas been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be Lit canals, streams of waterstreams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound Lit of His blowHe has inflicted.
His anger is burning and Lit heavinessdense with Lit upliftingsmoke;
His lips are filled with indignation,
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
28His breath is like an overflowing river,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a Lit sifting of the worthlesssieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray.
29You will have Lit the songsongs as in the night when you keep the festival,
And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,
To go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
And the Lit descentdescending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
31For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
Which the Lord will lay on him,
Will be with the music of tambourines and lyres;
And in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them.
33For I.e., the place of human sacrifice to MolechTopheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
Lit Its pile
A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
New American Standard Bible
Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.
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