Isaiah 30:1-13 ▼

1 |Oh, you stubborn children,| declares the LORD, |who carry out plans— but they are not mine, and who make alliances— but not by my Spirit, piling sin upon sin.

2 They set out to go down to Egypt, without asking my advice; taking refuge in Pharaoh's protection, and seeking shelter in Egypt's shadow.

3 But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and sheltering in Egypt's shadow your longing.

4 And it will turn out that his officials are at Zoan, and his envoys will reach Hanes.

5 There is only loathsome destruction through a people that cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace.|

6 An oracle about the animals of the Negev: |Through a land of trouble, dryness, and distress, of lionesses and roaring lions, where there is no water, a land of vipers and darting snakes, he carries their riches on donkeys' backs, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a nation that cannot benefit them,

7 to Egypt, which gives help that is worthless and useless. Therefore I call her, 'Rahab, who just sits still.'|

8 |Go now, and write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribing it in a book, so that for times to come it may be an everlasting witness.

9 For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to hear the LORD's instruction.

10 They say to the seers, 'Don't see visions,' and to the prophets, 'Don't give us visions of what is right! Instead, tell us welcome things, prophesy illusions,

11 get out of the way, turn aside from the path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.|

12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: |Because you reject this message, and put your trust in oppression and enjoy it, and since you rely on it,

13 therefore, for you this sin will become like a breach in a high wall that is about to collapse, bulging out, and whose crash comes suddenly—in an instant.