1 Woe to the rebellious children, says Yahweh, who take counsel, but
not of me; and who make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin
to sin, 2 that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my
mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take
refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh
be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For
their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes. 5 They
shall all be ashamed because of a people that can’t profit them, that are not
a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 The burden of the
animals of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from whence
come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry
their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the
humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7 For
Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab who
sits still. 8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in
a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9 For it is
a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the law of
Yahweh; 10 who tell the seers, “Don’t see;” and to the prophets, “Don’t
prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits,
11 get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One
of Israel to cease from before us.” 12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of
Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and
perverseness, and rely thereon; 13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes
suddenly in an instant. 14 He shall break it as a potter’s vessel is
broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be
found among the pieces of it a broken piece with which to take fire from the
hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.” 15 For thus said the Lord
Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest shall you be
saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. You would
not: 16 but you said, No, for we will flee on horses; therefore shall
you flee: and, We will ride on the swift; therefore shall those who
pursue you be swift. 17 One thousand shall flee at the threat of
one; at the threat of five shall you flee: until you be left as a
beacon on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill. 18 Therefore
will Yahweh wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore will he be
exalted, that he may have mercy on you: for Yahweh is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in
Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more; he will surely be gracious to you
at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear, he will answer you.
20 Though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of
affliction, yet shall not your teachers be hidden anymore, but your eyes
shall see your teachers; 21 and your ears shall hear a word behind you,
saying, This is the way, walk you in it; when you turn to the right
hand, and when you turn to the left. 22 You shall defile the
overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your molten
images of gold: you shall cast them away as an unclean thing; you shall tell
it, Get you hence. 23 He will give the rain for your seed, with which you
shall sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall
be fat and plenteous. In that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures;
24 the oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground shall eat
savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.
25 There shall be on every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, brooks
and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the
towers fall. 26 Moreover 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 Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the
stroke of their wound. 27 Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of
indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire; 28 and his breath is
as an overflowing stream, that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations
with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causes to err shall
be in the jaws of the peoples. 29 You shall have a song as in the
night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with
a pipe to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel. 30 Yahweh
will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the lighting down of
his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a
devouring fire, with a blast, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through
the voice of Yahweh shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he
strike him. 32 Every stroke of the appointed staff, which Yahweh
shall lay on him, shall be with the sound of tambourines and harps;
and in battles with the brandishing of his arm will he fight with
them. 33 For a Topheth is prepared of old; yes, for the king it is made
ready; he has made it deep and large; the pile of it is fire and much wood;
the breath of Yahweh, like a stream of sulfur, does kindle it.
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