1“Woe to rebellious sons,” declares Yahweh, “who carry out a plan, but not from me, and who pour out a libation, but not from my Spirit, so as to heap sin upon sin—
2who set out to go down to Egypt without asking of my mouth, to take refuge in the stronghold of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.
3But the stronghold of Pharaoh will become your shame, and shelter in the shadow of Egypt your disgrace.
4For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes,
5everyone comes to shame over a people who cannot profit them—no help and no benefit, but only shame and even disgrace.”
6An oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev: Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, viper and flying serpent, they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who cannot profit them.
7Egypt’s help is worthless and empty. Therefore I have called this one: “Rahab who sits still.”
8Now come, write it on a tablet before them and inscribe it on a scroll, that it may be for a later day, as a witness forever.
9For they are a rebellious people, lying sons, sons unwilling to hear the instruction of Yahweh;
10who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to those who envision, “Do not envision for us what is right; speak to us smooth things, envision illusions.
11Turn aside from the way, swerve from the path; make the Holy One of Israel cease from before us.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel: “Because you have rejected this word and trusted in oppression and deceit and relied on it,
13therefore this iniquity will become for you like a breach about to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse comes suddenly, in an instant.
14Its shattering will be like the shattering of a potter’s vessel, smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found to scoop fire from a hearth or to skim water from a cistern.”
15For thus says the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength. But you were not willing.
16You said, “No! We will flee on horses”—therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift steeds”—therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, until you are left like a flagpole on a mountaintop, like a signal on a hill.
18Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he rises up to show you mercy; for Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him.
19For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem. You shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.
20Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will no longer hide himself, and your eyes shall see your Teacher.
21And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or whenever you turn to the left.
22Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered images; you will scatter them like a menstruous cloth. “Away!” you will say to them.
23And he will give rain for your seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in a broad pasture.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork.
25And on every high mountain and on every lofty hill there will be streams, channels of water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, in the day when Yahweh binds up the fracture of his people and heals the wound of his blow.
27Behold, the name of Yahweh comes from far away, burning with his anger and dense with rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing torrent that reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and a bridle that leads astray on the jaws of the peoples.
29You will have a song as on the night when a festival is kept holy, and gladness of heart, as when one marches with the flute to come to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.
30And Yahweh will make heard the majesty of his voice and reveal the descent of his arm in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and downpour and hailstones.
31For at the voice of Yahweh Assyria will be shattered; with a rod he will strike.
32And every passing stroke of the rod of chastisement that Yahweh lays upon it will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; and in brandishing battles he will fight against them.
33For a Topheth has long been prepared; indeed, it is made ready for the king. He has made its pyre deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it ablaze.
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