First Upload: Wednesday March 13, 2019
Last Modified: Thursday May 30, 2019
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
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1 "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.
3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace.
4 Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys' backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction.
10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
Every canonical verse is exportable except the last one, "Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king," which is part of the oracle about King Ahaz announced on canonical Chapter 14.
Revised Chapter 30 enrols the last verse of this canonical chapter, imports nine more from five chapters and adopts the title, "The Oracle About King Ahaz."
1-5. "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the Lord, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; 2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge. 3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace. 4 Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, 5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
Destination: Obviously Revised Chapter 19, "Egypt."
6-7. An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys' backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation, 7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
Destination: Obviously Revised Chapter 19, "Egypt."
8-14. Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness. 9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. 10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!" 12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit, 13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant. 14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
Explanation: The Lord carries on a conversation with Isaiah ("Go now, write it on a tablet for them") about the disobedient people of Israel (verses 9-11). The warning passed down on verses 12-14 materialized when the land of Judah was raided and invaded in the monarchy of Ahaz.
Destination: Revised Chapter 6, "The Vision of The Lord."
15-17. This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it. 16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
Analysis: The Daughter of Zion (i.e. Jerusalem) was left "like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill" (v 17) during the invasion of the land of Judah in the monarchy of Ahaz (Isaiah 1:8). Verses 15 and 16 censure the people of Jerusalem for having rejected the Lord's offer of salvation through repentance, rest, quietness and trust. Evidently they had continued to sin, revel, carouse and disbelieve right up to the outbreak of serious trouble (Isaiah 22:13). Verse 16 indicates that fear of a joint invasion by Ephraim and Aram had already gripped the land of Judah.
Destination: Revised Chapter 1, "The Invasion of Judah During the Reign of Ahaz."
18-24. Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! 19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it." 22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!" 23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
Explanation: Isaiah pens this plea after becoming acquainted with the Lord's condemnation of his people.
Destination: Revised Chapter 6, "The Vision of The Lord."
25. In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
Analysis: These "towers" destined to fall are the same lofty towers mentioned on Isaiah 2:12-15.
Destination: Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord,"
25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 2:17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, 2:18 and the idols will totally disappear.
26. The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
Analysis: This verse tabs the monarchy of Hezekiah or the reign of the Branch of the Lord. The next verse 29 uses the pronoun "you" to address the people of the Lord. Revised Chapter 60, "The City of The Lord, Zion of The Holy One of Israel," could in principle host verse 26, but there the pronoun "you" addresses the city of Jerusalem. The three principal chapters dealing with the reign of the Branch of the Lord could in principle host verse 26, but they do not address the people.
Destination: Revised Chapter 6, "The Vision of The Lord,"
26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted. 29 And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
27-28. See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire. 28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
Destination: Obviously Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord."
29. And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Analysis: The Daughter of Zion (i.e. Jerusalem) was left "like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill" (v 17) during the invasion of the land of Judah in the monarchy of Ahaz (Isaiah 1:8). Verses 15 and 16 censure the people of Jerusalem for having rejected the Lord's offer of salvation through repentance, rest, quietness and trust. Evidently they had continued to sin, revel, carouse and disbelieve right up to the outbreak of serious trouble (Isaiah 22:13). Verse 16 indicates that fear of a joint invasion by Ephraim and Aram had already gripped the land of Judah.
Destination: Revised Chapter 6, "The Vision of The Lord." See verse 26 for the placement of this verse.
30. The Lord will cause men to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
Analysis: The noun "men" tabs mankind in general, no nationality or ethnicity specified. Therefore this verse is a last-days verse.
Destination: Revised Chapter 24, "The Day of The Lord."
31-32. The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down. 32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
Destination: Obviously Revised Chapter 10, "Assyria."
14:28. This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:
33:14. The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
48:22. "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked.".
50:10-11. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 11 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.
57:1-2. The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
57:20-21. But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
14:28 This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:
33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
33:14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: "Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?"
48:22 "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked. 50:10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 50:11 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment."
57:1 The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 57:2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. 57:20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. 57:21 "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
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