30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And ①make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;
▷ ①Lit pour out a drink offering
30:2 Who proceed down to Egypt
Without consulting ①Me,
To take refuge in the safety of Pharaoh,
And to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
▷ ①Lit My mouth
30:3 Therefore the safety of Pharaoh will be your shame,
And the shelter in the shadow of Egypt, your humiliation.
30:4 For their officials are at Zoan
And their ambassadors arrive at Hanes.
30:5 Everyone 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.”
30:6 The pronouncement concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of distress and anguish,
From ①where come lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent,
They carry their riches on the ②backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on camels’ humps,
To a people who will not benefit them;
▷ ①Lit them ②Lit shoulders
30:7 Even Egypt, whose help is vain and empty.
Therefore, I have called ①her
“ ②Rahab who has been exterminated.”
▷ ①Lit this one ②MT They are Rahab or arrogance, to remain; i.e., Egypt, as a sea monster; see note Job 26:12
30:8 Now go, write it on a tablet in their presence
And inscribe it on a scroll,
That it may ①serve in the time to come
②As a witness forever.
▷ ①Lit be ②As in most ancient versions; MT Forever and ever
30:9 For this is a rebellious people, false sons,
Sons who ①refuse to listen
To the ②instruction of the LORD;
▷ ①Lit are not willing ②Or Law
30:10 Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”;
And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy the truth to us.
Speak to us ①pleasant words,
Prophesy illusions.
▷ ①Lit smooth things
30:11 Get out of the way, turn aside from the path,
Stop speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel!”
30:12 Therefore 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,
30:13 Therefore 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,
30:14 Whose collapse is like the smashing of a potter’s jar,
①So ruthlessly shattered
That a shard will not be found among its pieces
To ②take fire from a hearth
Or to scoop water from a cistern.”
▷ ①Lit Crushed, it will not be spared ②Lit snatch up
30:15 For this is what the Lord ①GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
“In ②repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,
▷ ①Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD ②Lit returning
30:16 And 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.
30:17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one man;
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.
30:18 Therefore the LORD ①longs to be gracious to you,
And therefore He ②waits on high to have compassion on you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
How blessed are all those who ③long for Him.
▷ ①Lit waits ②Lit is on high ③Lit wait
30:19 ①For, 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.
▷ ①MT For a people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem
30:20 Although 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.
30:21 Your 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.
30:22 And 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 ①them, “Be gone!”
▷ ①Lit it “Go out”
30:23 Then 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 ①rich and ②plentiful; on that day your livestock will graze in a wide pasture.
▷ ①Lit fatness ②Lit fat
30:24 Also the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat ①seasoned feed, which ②has been winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
▷ ①Lit sorrel-seasoned ②Lit one winnows
30:25 And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be ①streams running with water on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
▷ ①Lit canals, streams of water
30:26 And 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 ①He has inflicted.
▷ ①Lit of His blow
30:27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from a ①remote place;
His anger is burning and ②dense with ③smoke;
His lips are filled with indignation,
And His tongue is like a consuming fire;
▷ ①Lit distance ②Lit heaviness ③Lit uplifting
30:28 His breath is like an overflowing river,
Which reaches to the neck,
To shake the nations back and forth in a ①sieve,
And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads astray.
▷ ①Lit sifting of the worthless
30:29 You will have ①songs 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.
▷ ①Lit the song
30:30 And the LORD will cause ①His voice of authority to be heard,
And the ②descending of His arm to be seen in fierce anger,
And in the flame of a consuming fire
In cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.
▷ ①Lit the majesty of His voice ②Lit descent
30:31 For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be terrified,
When He strikes with the rod.
30:32 And every ①blow of the ②rod of punishment,
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.
▷ ①Lit passing ②Lit staff of foundation
30:33 For ①Topheth has long been ready,
Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.
He has made it deep and large,
②A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;
The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.
▷ ①I.e., the place of human sacrifice to Molech ②Lit Its pile