¹“Woe to the rebellious children ”, says the LORD , “who take counsel , but not from me ; and who make an alliance , but not with my Spirit , that they may add sin to sin ;

²who set out to go down into Egypt without asking for my advice , to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh , and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt !

³Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will be your shame , and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion .

⁴For their princes are at Zoan , and their ambassadors have come to Hanes .

⁵They shall all be ashamed because of a people that can ’t 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 , of 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 an unprofitable people .

⁷For Egypt helps in vain , and to no purpose ; therefore I have 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 LORD ’s law ;

¹⁰who tell the seers , “Don’t see !” and the prophets , “Don’t prophesy to us right things . Tell us pleasant things . Prophesy deceits .

¹¹Get out of the way . Turn away from the path . Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us .”

¹²Therefore the Holy One of Israel says , “Because you despise this word , and trust in oppression and perverseness , and rely on it ,

¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall , swelling out in a high wall , whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant .

¹⁴He will break it as a potter ’s vessel is broken , breaking it in pieces without sparing , so that there won’t be found amongst the broken pieces a piece good enough to take fire from the hearth , or to dip up water out of the cistern .”

¹⁵For thus said the Lord GOD , the Holy One of Israel , “You will be saved in returning and rest . Your strength will be in quietness and in confidence.” You refused ,

¹⁶but you said , “No , for we will flee on horses ;” therefore you will flee ; and , “We will ride on the swift ;” therefore those who pursue you will be swift .

¹⁷One thousand will flee at the threat of one. At the threat of five , you will flee until you are left like a beacon on the top of a mountain , and like a banner on a hill .

¹⁸Therefore the LORD will wait , that he may be gracious to you ; and therefore he will be exalted , that he may have mercy on you , for the LORD is a God of justice . Blessed are all those who wait for him .

¹⁹For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem . You will weep no more . He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry . When he hears you , he will answer you .

²⁰Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction , yet your teachers won’t be hidden any more , but your eyes will see your teachers ;

²¹and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left , your ears will hear a voice behind you , saying , “This is the way . Walk in it .”

²²You shall defile the overlaying of your engraved images of silver , and the plating of your molten images of gold . You shall cast them away as an unclean thing . You shall tell it , “Go away !”

²³He will give the rain for your seed , with which you will sow the ground; and bread of the increase of the ground will be rich and plentiful. In that day , your livestock will feed in large pastures .

²⁴The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that till the ground will eat savoury feed , which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork .

²⁵There will be brooks and streams of water on every lofty mountain and on every high hill in the day of the great slaughter , when the towers fall .

²⁶Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun , and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days , in the day that the LORD binds up the fracture of his people , and heals the wound they were struck with .

²⁷Behold , the LORD ’s name comes from far away , burning with his anger , and in thick rising smoke . His lips are full of indignation . His tongue is as a devouring fire.

²⁸His breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck , to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. A bridle that leads to ruin will be in the jaws of the peoples .

²⁹You will have a song , as in the night when a holy feast is kept , and gladness of heart , as when one goes with a flute to come to the LORD ’s mountain , to Israel ’s Rock .

³⁰The LORD 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, storm , and hailstones .

³¹For through the LORD ’s voice the Assyrian will be dismayed . He will strike him with his rod .

³²Every stroke of the rod of punishment , which the LORD will lay on him , will be with the sound of tambourines and harps . He will fight with them in battles , brandishing weapons .

³³For his burning place has long been ready . Yes , it is prepared for the king . He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood . The LORD ’s breath , like a stream of sulphur, kindles it .