The Prophets · Old Testament
Isaiah 30
Isaiah 30: woe to those who go down to Egypt, and the Lord who waits to be gracious
General context
The Lord pronounces woe on rebellious children who take counsel but not of him and go down into Egypt to trust in the shadow of Pharaoh. Pharaoh's strength will be their shame; their princes were at Zoan and ambassadors at Hanes, and all were ashamed of a people who could not profit them. A burden of the beasts of the south pictures riches carried on asses and camels to a people who will not help; the Egyptians help in vain, and their strength is to sit still. The speaker is told to write in a book that this is a rebellious people who tell seers not to see and prophets to speak smooth things, and who want the Holy One of Israel out of their way. Their iniquity will be like a bulging wall that breaks suddenly, shattered like a potter's vessel. The Lord God says that in returning and rest they would be saved, but they would not; they said they would flee on horses, so their pursuers will be swift, until they are left like a beacon on a mountain. Yet the Lord waits to be gracious, and blessed are all who wait for him. The people in Zion will weep no more; their teachers will be seen, a word behind them will say this is the way, and they will throw away their images. Rain, bread, streams on every hill and sevenfold light come in the day the Lord binds up his people's breach. Then the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with anger, sifting the nations; the people will have a song as on a holy night, the Lord's voice will beat down the Assyrian who smote with a rod, each stroke with tabrets and harps, and Tophet is prepared for the king, kindled by the breath of the Lord.
Cited passages: Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 30:2, Isaiah 30:3, Isaiah 30:4, Isaiah 30:6, Isaiah 30:7, Isaiah 30:8, Isaiah 30:10, Isaiah 30:11, Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 30:14, Isaiah 30:15, Isaiah 30:16, Isaiah 30:17, Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 30:19, Isaiah 30:20, Isaiah 30:21, Isaiah 30:22, Isaiah 30:23, Isaiah 30:25, Isaiah 30:26, Isaiah 30:27, Isaiah 30:28, Isaiah 30:29, Isaiah 30:31, Isaiah 30:32, Isaiah 30:33
Isaiah 30 (KJV)
1Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
8Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord:
10Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
14And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
16But 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 swift.
17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
20And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
21And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
22Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
23Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
24The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25And 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 fall.
26Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
27Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
29Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty One of Israel.
30And the Lord shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
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Historical context
The chapter names Egypt and Pharaoh as the object of the rebellious children's trust, and names two places, Zoan and Hanes, where princes and ambassadors went; it does not say who sent them or which king of Judah was reigning. The chapter does not name the rebellious children, but its promises are addressed to the people who will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, and the Lord is called the Holy One of Israel in verses 11, 12 and 15. The Assyrian appears only at verse 31 as the one who smote with a rod and will be beaten down by the Lord's voice, and the king for whom Tophet is prepared in verse 33 is not named; the text does not say whether he is the Assyrian king. Tophet is named without explanation. The command to write in a table and a book is given to an unnamed speaker, and the text does not say who writes it. The words in verses 10 and 11 are attributed by the Lord to the people, as what they say to seers and prophets, and are not narrated as an event. The chapter gives no date. The people's preference for horses in verse 16 matches the reliance on Egypt's horses condemned in 31:1.
Cited passages: Isaiah 30:2, Isaiah 30:4, Isaiah 30:19, Isaiah 30:12, Isaiah 30:31, Isaiah 30:33, Isaiah 30:8, Isaiah 30:10, Isaiah 30:16, Isaiah 31:1
Literary context
The chapter moves from accusation to promise to judgment on the enemy. The opening woe repeats the phrase but not: counsel but not of me, a covering but not of my spirit, and the shadow of Egypt recalls the shadow from the heat that the Lord gives in 25:4. Two proverbs of uselessness carry the argument, a people that could not profit them and a strength that is to sit still. The people's own words are quoted against them twice: they tell the seers not to see, and they say No, we will flee upon horses, and each saying is answered with therefore. The bulging wall and the shattered vessel give the sudden collapse a shape. The turn comes at verse 18 on the word wait, used first of the Lord waiting to be gracious and then of those who wait for him. What follows undoes the earlier images: instead of silenced seers, teachers seen and a voice behind saying the way; instead of a broken vessel, a bound-up breach. The last verses reuse the tabrets and harps that ceased in 24:8 as the music of the Assyrian's beating, and the fire of Tophet closes the chapter as the fire of the Lord's tongue opened its final movement.
Cited passages: Isaiah 30:1, Isaiah 25:4, Isaiah 30:5, Isaiah 30:7, Isaiah 30:16, Isaiah 30:13, Isaiah 30:18, Isaiah 30:20, Isaiah 30:21, Isaiah 30:26, Isaiah 24:8, Isaiah 30:32, Isaiah 30:27
Key moments
- Woe to the rebellious children (Isaiah 30:1). The Lord condemns those who take counsel without him and go down to Egypt.
- Egypt's strength is to sit still (Isaiah 30:7). The Egyptians help in vain, and their strength is idleness.
- Write it in a book (Isaiah 30:8). The word about this rebellious people is to be written for the time to come.
- Speak smooth things (Isaiah 30:10). The people tell seers not to see and prophets to prophesy deceits.
- In returning and rest (Isaiah 30:15). The Lord offers salvation in quietness, and the people would not.
- The Lord waits to be gracious (Isaiah 30:18). The Lord waits so he may show mercy, and those who wait for him are blessed.
- The Assyrian beaten down (Isaiah 30:31). The Lord's voice beats down the Assyrian who smote with a rod.
For reflection
The Lord says that in returning and rest they would be saved, and the people answer that they will flee on horses. What does the text show about why quietness and confidence were harder to choose than speed?
People in this chapter
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