“Woe to the rebellious children,” says YAHWEH,1 “who take counsel, but not of me; and who make a league, but not with my Spirit,2 that they may add sin to sin, 2that set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Firaun,3 and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! 3Therefore shall the strength of Firaun be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4For their princes are at Zoan, and their ambassadors are come to Hanes. 5They shall all be ashamed because of a people that cannot profit them, that are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.”
6The burden of the animals of the South.
Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches on the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her Rahab who sits still. 8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. 9For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear the Taurat4 of YAHWEH; 10who tell the seers, “Do not see;” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits, 11get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” 12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely thereon; 13therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. 14He shall break it as a potter’s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing; so that there shall not be found among its pieces a broken piece with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
15For thus said the Lord, YAHWEH, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling, 16 You said, “No, for we will flee on horses;” therefore you shall flee: and, “We will ride on the swift;” therefore shall those who pursue you be swift. 17One thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee: until you be left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.
18Therefore YAHWEH will wait, that he may be gracious to you; and therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy on you: for YAHWEH is a God5 of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. 19For the people shall dwell in Al-Quds6, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more; he will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he shall hear, he will answer you. 20Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be hidden anymore, but your eyes will see your teachers; 21and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it;” when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. 22You will defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver, and the plating of your cast metal images of gold: you will throw them away as an unclean thing; you will tell it, “Begone.”
23He will give the rain for your seed, with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will feed in large pastures; 24the oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savoury provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and fork. 25There shall be on every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, brooks and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26Moreover 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 YAHWEH binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27Behold, the Name of YAHWEH comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire; 28and his breath is as an overflowing stream, that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and a bridle that causes to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples. 29You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of YAHWEH, to the Rock of Israel. 30YAHWEH will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the descent of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast, tempest, and hailstones. 31For through the voice of YAHWEH shall the Assyrian be dismayed; with his rod will he strike him. 32Every stroke of the appointed staff, which YAHWEH shall lay on him, shall be with the sound of tambourines and harps; and in battles with the brandishing of his arm will he fight with them. 33For Topheth is prepared from of old; yes, for the king it is made ready; he has made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of YAHWEH, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
- 30:1 YAHWEH, the name God revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.” ↩︎
- 30:1 Spirit, or Holy Spirit, or Spirit of God; not an angel, created being, nor an impersonal force, but the uncreated, eternal essence of God himself. The Spirit was present and active at the creation of heaven and earth (see Genesis 1:2). He is also the one who moved the prophets to speak God’s Word to mankind (see 2 Peter 1:21). The Spirit also lives inside of every follower of ‘ISA AL-MASIH, empowering them to live in a way pleasing to God (see 1 Corinthians 3:16). ↩︎
- 30:2 Firaun, an Arabic term derived from the Hebrew title Pharaoh, used for the kings of ancient Egypt. ↩︎
- 30:9 Taurat, this Arabic term is derived from the Hebrew word Torah, which means “instruction” or “teaching.” Depending on context, Taurat can refer to,
1. The whole Hebrew Bible contained here under the title Taurat, equivalent to what Jews today call Tanakh, and what Christians call the Old Testament.
2. The revelation given to Prophet Musa, that is, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, sometimes called the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is a Greek word meaning “five books” and includes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These five books are attributed to Prophet Musa himself. This is the traditional and most common meaning given to Taurat or Torah.
3. The Law of Musa found within the Pentateuch, with its hundreds of rules and regulations covering many aspects of daily life for the people of Israel. The most famous of these laws are the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20.
4. Taurat can also refer to divine instruction and teaching in general without reference to a particular book of the Hebrew Bible. ↩︎ - 30:18 God, in Hebrew elohim, which is related to the Arabic allah. Both words translate correctly as “God,” referring to the one true God. ↩︎
- 30:19 Al-Quds, meaning “the Holy (City).” The Hebrew text reads Zion, a synonym for Jerusalem. It originally referred to Mount Zion, one of the hills of Jerusalem. ↩︎