CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Isaiah 30
Chapter 30 of 66
Chapter Overview
What happens in Isaiah 30
Isaiah warns the people of Judah against seeking help from Egypt instead of trusting God. Their alliance with Egypt will bring only shame and disappointment. Yet God longs to be gracious to his people. He promises to guide them, provide for them, and one day defeat the Assyrians who threaten them.
Scripture
Isaiah 30
The Foolishness of Trusting Egypt
Study note
When Assyria threatened Judah, the leaders in Jerusalem sent ambassadors south to Egypt seeking a military alliance. They carried treasures on donkeys and camels through the dangerous desert. Isaiah calls them 'rebellious children' because they made these plans without asking God. Egypt was an unreliable ally. Isaiah gives Egypt a nickname, meaning her strength is in sitting still, implying she will do nothing to help.
1 'How awful for my rebellious children,' says the Lord. 'They cook up plans, but not my plans. They form partnerships, but not through my Spirit, stacking one sin on top of another.' Woe 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:
2 They head down to Egypt to find help without even asking me. They look for safety under Pharaoh's wing and try to hide in Egypt's shadow. That 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!
3 But Pharaoh's protection will only shame you. Hiding in Egypt's shadow will end in disgrace. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 Even though Judah's leaders have traveled to the city of Zoan, and their messengers have gone all the way to Hanes, For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 everyone will end up humiliated by a nation that is no help at all. Egypt brings nothing useful — only shame and disappointment. They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6 This is a message about the animals of the southern desert. Through a dangerous land full of trouble — a land of lions and deadly snakes — the people load up donkeys and camels with their riches. They haul treasures to a nation that cannot help them at all. The 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.
7 Egypt's help is worthless. Therefore I have nicknamed her 'The Big Do-Nothing.' For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
A People Who Reject God's Word
Study note
God tells Isaiah to write down his message as a permanent record. The people are rebellious. They tell the prophets, 'Do not tell us the truth. Tell us pleasant things. Tell us lies.' They want to stop hearing about the Holy One of Israel. Because they rejected God's word and trusted in oppression and deceit, their downfall will come suddenly, like a high wall that collapses all at once. God offered them salvation through rest and trust, but they refused.
8 Now go and write this down on a tablet where they can see it, and record it on a scroll. It will serve as a permanent witness for the future, for all time. Now 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:
9 These are stubborn, dishonest people — children who flat-out refuse to listen to what the Lord teaches. That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 They tell the prophets, 'Stop seeing visions!' They tell the seers, 'Do not tell us the truth! Tell us nice things. Give us pleasant lies!' Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 'Move out of our way! Step off the path! Stop shoving the Holy One of Israel in our faces!' Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 So the Holy One of Israel says this. 'You tossed aside my warning. You put your trust in abuse and crooked dealing. You leaned on them like a crutch.' Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 This sin will be like a crack in a tall wall that keeps bulging out. Then all at once, in one quick moment, the whole thing crashes down.' Therefore 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.
14 It will shatter like a clay pot smashed to bits. You will not find a piece big enough to scoop a coal. You will not find one big enough to dip water. And 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.
15 Here is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'You will be rescued by coming back to me and resting. Your strength will come from being quiet and trusting me.' But you refused. For 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.
16 You said, 'Never. We will escape on fast horses!' So you will have to run for your lives. You said, 'We will ride on the fastest horses available!' So your pursuers will be even faster. But 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.
17 A thousand of you will turn and run at the threat of just one enemy. Five enemies will make all of you scatter, until you are standing alone like a lonely flagpole on a mountaintop, like a single banner waving on a hill. One 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.
God's Gracious Promise
Study note
Despite their rebellion, God longs to show mercy. He is waiting for the right time to be gracious. Even though he may give them hardship for a while, he will guide them with his voice, saying, 'This is the way, walk in it.' The people will throw away their idols in disgust. Then God will send rain for their crops and rich food for their animals. In that day, the light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter.
18 Yet the Lord is eager to show you his grace. He gets up to show you compassion, because the Lord is a God who does what is fair. Everyone who waits for him will be blessed. And 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.
19 People of Zion, you who live in Jerusalem, you will not cry anymore. The Lord will be so kind to you when you call out to him. The moment he hears, he will respond. For 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.
20 Even though the Lord has given you hardship for bread and suffering for water, your Teacher will not stay hidden anymore. You will see your Teacher with your own eyes. And 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:
21 Whenever you start going the wrong way, whether to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the right road. Stay on it.' And 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.
22 Then you will look at your silver-coated idols and your gold-plated images as something disgusting. You will throw them out like dirty rags and say, 'Get lost!' Ye 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.
23 He will send rain for the seeds you plant, and the food your land produces will be rich and plentiful. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in wide, open meadows. Then 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.
24 The oxen and donkeys that plow the fields will eat the best grain, spread out with forks and shovels. The 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.
25 On every tall mountain and every high hill, streams of water will flow. This will happen on the day of great ruin, when the towers fall down. And 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.
26 The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will blaze seven times brighter — like a whole week of sunlight packed into one day. This will happen when the Lord bandages his people's wounds and heals the injuries they suffered. 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 the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
God's Judgment on Assyria
Study note
The Lord will come in power against Assyria. His voice will shatter the Assyrians, and his people will celebrate with songs of joy, like the music at a holy festival. Tophet was a place in the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem where fires burned. Isaiah uses it as an image of the judgment prepared for the Assyrian king.
27 Look! The name of the Lord comes from far away, blazing with anger. His fury is heavy and thick like smoke. His lips overflow with wrath, and his words are like an all-consuming fire. Behold, 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:
28 His breath is like a raging flood that rises to your neck. He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of ruin and to clamp a bridle on the jaws of the peoples, steering them toward destruction. And 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.
29 But you will sing! It will be like the joyful music on the night of a holy celebration. Your hearts will be glad, like people marching with flutes on their way to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel. Ye 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.
30 The Lord will let everyone hear his thundering voice. He will show his arm striking down with fierce anger — with consuming fire, cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and hail. And 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.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter the Assyrians as he beats them down with his rod. For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 Every blow the Lord lands on them will be accompanied by the beat of tambourines and harps. He will fight against them with mighty, sweeping strikes. And 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.
33 A place of burning has been set up for a long time. It has been prepared for the king. The fire pit has been dug deep and wide, stacked high with fire and wood. The breath of the Lord, like a river of burning sulfur, lights it ablaze. For 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Isaiah 30
The folly of trusting Egypt instead of GodRejecting prophetic truth for comfortable liesGod longs to be gracious to those who waitDivine guidance and provision after discipline
Apply This Today
Living Isaiah 30
In strength and quietness is our salvation, but we often prefer the noise of our own frantic plans. God longs to be gracious to us, but He waits for us to stop running to our own solutions. When we finally listen for his voice saying 'this is the way, walk in it,' we find the guidance we desperately needed all along.
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