Condemnation of the Egyptian Alliance

1Woe to the rebellious children!a

This is the Lord’s declaration.

They carry out a plan,b but not mine;

they make an alliance,

but against my will,

piling sin on top of sin.

2Without asking my advice

they set out to go down to Egypta

in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.b

3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and refuge in Egypt’s shadow your humiliation.a

4For though hisA princes are at Zoana

and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

5everyone will be ashamed

because of a people who can’t help.

They are of no benefit, they are no help;

they are good for nothing but shame and disgrace.a

6A pronouncementa concerning the animals of the Negev:A

Through a land of trouble and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,b

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people who will not help them.

7Egypt’s help is completely worthless;

therefore, I call her:

Rahab Who Just Sits.a

8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the future,

forever and ever.

9They are a rebellious people,

deceptive children,a

children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

10They say to the seers, “Do not see,”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy the truth to us.

Tell us flattering things.a

Prophesy illusions.

11Get out of the way!

Leave the pathway.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel.”a

12Therefore the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message

and have trusted in oppression and deceit,

and have depended on them,

13this iniquitya of yours will be

like a crumbling gap,

a bulge in a high wall

whose collapse will come in an instant — suddenly!

14Its collapse will be like the shattering

of a potter’s jar,a crushed to pieces,

so that not even a fragment of pottery

will be found among its shattered remains —

no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth

or scoop water from a cistern.”

15For the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“You will be delivered by returning and resting;

your strength will lie in quiet confidence.

But you are not willing.”

16You say, “No!

We will escape on horses” —

therefore you will escape! —

and, “We will ride on fast horses” —

but those who pursue you will be faster.a

17One thousand will flee at the threat of one,a

at the threat of five you will flee,

until you remain

like a solitary pole on a mountaintop

or a banner on a hill.

The Lord’s Mercy to Israel

18Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy,

and is rising up to show you compassion,a

for the Lord is a just God.

All who wait patiently for him are happy.

19For people will live on Zion in Jerusalem. You will never weep again; he will show favor to you at the sound of your outcry; as soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,a but your TeacherA will not hide any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher, 21and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”a 22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

23Then he will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.a 24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovela and fork. 25Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall. 26The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brightera — like the light of seven days — on the dayb that the Lord bandages his people’s injuries and heals the wounds he inflicted.c

Annihilation of the Assyrians

27Look! The name of the Lord is coming from far away,

his anger burning and heavy with smoke.A

His lips are full of fury,

and his tongue is like a consuming fire.

28His breath is like an overflowing torrenta

that rises to the neck.b

He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction

and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples

to lead them astray.c

29Your singing will be like that

on the night of a holy festival,

and your heart will rejoice

like one who walks to the music of a flute,

going up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the Rock of Israel.a

30And the Lord will make the splendor of his voice heard

and reveal his arma striking in angry wrath

and a flame of consuming fire,

in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.

31Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord.

He will strike with a rod.

32And every stroke of the appointedA staff

that the Lord brings down on him

will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres;

he will fight against him with brandished weapons.

33Indeed! Topheth has been readya

for the king for a long time.

Its funeral pyre is deep and wide,

with plenty of fire and wood.

The breath of the Lord,b like a torrent of burning sulfur,

kindles it.