Isa 19, Isa 29-32, Jer 43:10-13, 44:30 | ESV | STEP | An oracle concerning Egypt . Behold , the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt ; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence , and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them .

1 An ^aoracle concerning ^bEgypt.

Behold, the Lord ^cis riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and ^dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will ^emelt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
^fand they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound ^{▼▼Or I will swallow up} their ^hcounsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and ⁱthe mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of ^ja hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The ^kfishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in ^lcombed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the ^mpillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who ⁿwork for pay will be grieved.
11 The princes of ^oZoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your ^pwise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of ^qZoan have become fools,
and the princes of ^rMemphis are deluded;
those who are the ^scornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her ^ta spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
^uas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that ^vhead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

16 In that day the Egyptians will be ^wlike women, and ^xtremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

18 ^yIn that day there will be ^zfive cities in the land of Egypt that ^aaspeak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction. ^{▼▼Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun}

19 In that day there will be an ^acaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ^adpillar to the Lord at its border. 20 ^aeIt will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, ^afhe will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21 ^agAnd the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day ^ahand worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 ^aiAnd the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

23 ^ajIn that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, ^akand the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ^ala blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt ^ammy people, and Assyria ^anthe work of my hands, and ^aoIsrael my inheritance.”

Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem

1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city ^apwhere David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel. ^{▼▼ Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)}
3 ^arAnd I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you ^aswith towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 ^atAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like ^authe voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ^avsmall dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
^awAnd in an instant, suddenly,
6 ^axyou will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And ^aythe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be ^azlike a dream, a vision of the night.
8 ^baAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves ^{▼▼Or Linger awhile} and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
^bcstagger, but not with strong drink!
10 ^bdFor the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is ^besealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13 And the Lord said:
“Because ^bfthis people ^bgdraw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, ^bhI will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and ^bithe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, ^bjyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are ^bkin the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 ^blYou turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
^bmuntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day ^bnthe deaf shall hear
^bothe words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
^bpthe eyes of the blind shall see.
19 ^bqThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and ^brthe scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and ^bslay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea ^btturn aside him who is in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, ^buwho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
^bvthe work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
^bwthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those ^bxwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Isaiah 30

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

1 “Ah, ^bystubborn children,” declares the Lord,
^bz“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make ^caan alliance, ^{▼▼Hebrew who weave a web} but not of my Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin;
2 ^ccwho set out to go down to Egypt,
without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
3 ^cdTherefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
4 For though his officials are at ^ceZoan
and ^cfhis envoys reach ^cgHanes,
5 everyone comes to shame
through ^cha people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.”
6 An ^cioracle on ^cjthe beasts of ^ckthe Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
from where come the lioness and the lion,
the adder and the ^clflying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7 Egypt’s ^cmhelp is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her
^cn“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

8 And now, go, ^cowrite it before them on a tablet
and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever. ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever}
9 ^cqFor they are a rebellious people,
lying children,
children unwilling to hear
the instruction of the Lord;
10 ^crwho say to ^csthe seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us ^ctsmooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
and trust in ^cuoppression and perverseness
and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^cvlike a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is ^cwlike that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
with which to take fire from the hearth,
or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In ^cxreturning ^{▼▼Or repentance} and ^czrest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon ^dahorses”;
therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 ^dbA thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore the Lord ^dcwaits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he ^ddexalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^deblessed are all those who wait for him.
19 For a people shall dwell ^dfin Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the ^dgbread of adversity and the ^dhwater of affliction, ^diyet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 ^djAnd your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is ^dkthe way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. ^dlYou will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 ^dmAnd he will give ^dnrain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. ^doIn that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and ^dpthe oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And ^dqon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, ^drwhen the towers fall. 26 ^dsMoreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when ^dtthe Lord binds up ^duthe brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; ^{▼▼Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds}
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 ^dwhis breath is ^dxlike an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples ^dya bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, ^dzas when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to ^eathe mountain of the Lord, to ^ebthe Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord ^ecwill cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger ^edand a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst ^eeand storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, ^efwhen he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them ^egwill be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. ^ehBattling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For ^eia burning place ^{▼▼Or For Topheth} has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, ^ekits pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; ^elthe breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

1 Woe to ^emthose who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who ^entrust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but ^eodo not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
2 And ^epyet he is wise and brings disaster;
^eqhe does not call back his words,
but ^erwill arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of ^esthose who work iniquity.
3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses ^etare flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
^eu“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
^evso the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike} on Mount Zion and on its hill.
5 ^exLike birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”
6 ^eyTurn to him from whom people ^{▼▼Hebrew they} have ^fadeeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day ^fbeveryone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

8 ^fc“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be ^fdput to forced labor.
9 ^feHis rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose ^fffire is in Zion,
and whose ^fgfurnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

1 Behold, ^fha king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2 ^fiEach will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm,
^fjlike streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 ^fkThen the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
^fland the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5 ^fmThe fool will no more be called noble,
nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
6 For ^fnthe fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
^foto leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the scoundrel— ^fphis devices are evil;
he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8 But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

9 ^fqRise up, you women ^frwho are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women ^fswho are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
^ftstrip, and make yourselves bare,
^fuand tie sackcloth around your waist.
12 ^fvBeat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 ^fwfor the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
^fxyes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
^fya joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15 until ^fzthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and ^gathe wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 ^gbAnd the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust ^{▼▼Or security} forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 ^gdAnd it will hail when the forest falls down,
^geand the city will be utterly laid low.
20 ^gfHappy are you who sow beside all waters,
who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

Jeremiah 43:10-13

10 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ^ggmy servant, ^ghand I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. 11 He shall come ^giand strike the land of Egypt, ^gjgiving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. 12 ^gkI shall kindle a fire ^glin the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them ^gmand carry them away captive. ^gnAnd he shall clean the land of Egypt ^goas a shepherd cleans his cloak of vermin, and he shall go away from there in peace. 13 He shall break the ^gpobelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt, ^gqand the temples of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.’”

Jeremiah 44:30

30 Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will give ^grPharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies ^gsand into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave ^gtZedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and sought his life.”