Do Not Go Down to Egypt
1
"Ah, 1stubborn children," declares the LORD, 2"who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make 3an alliance,a but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
2
4who 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
5Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
5
everyone comes to shame through 9a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace."
6
An 10oracle on 11the beasts of 12the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the 13flying 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.
A Rebellious People
8
And now, go, 16write 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.b
9
17For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;
10
18who say to 19the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us 20smooth 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 21oppression and perverseness and rely on them,
13
therefore this iniquity shall be to you 22like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14
and its breaking is 23like 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 24returningc and 25rest 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 26horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17
27A 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 28waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he 29exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; 30blessed are all those who wait for him.
19
For a people shall dwell 31in 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 32bread of adversity and the 33water of affliction, 34yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
21
35And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is 36the 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. 37You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!"
23
38And he will give 39rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. 40In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures,
24
and 41the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork.
25
And 42on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, 43when the towers fall.
26
44Moreover, 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 45the LORD binds up 46the 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;d his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28
47his breath is 48like 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 49a bridle that leads astray.
29
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, 50as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to 51the mountain of the LORD, to 52the Rock of Israel.
30
And the LORD 53 will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger 54and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst 55and storm and hailstones.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)