Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Go down to Egypt

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

And rely on horses,

And trust in chariots because they are many

And in horsemen because they are very mighty,

But they do not have regard for the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!

²Yet He also is wise and will bring about an evil demise

And does not turn His words aside,

But will arise against the house of evildoers

And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

³Now the Egyptians are men and not God,

And their horses are flesh and not spirit;

So Yahweh will stretch out His hand,

And he who helps will stumble,

And he who is helped will fall,

And all of them will come to an end together.

⁴For thus says Yahweh to me,

“As the lion or the young lion growls over its prey,

Against which a multitude of shepherds is called out,

And it will not be dismayed at their voice nor afflicted at their noise,

So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

⁵Like flying birds so Yahweh of hosts will defend Jerusalem.[#31:5 Or hovering]

He will defend and deliver it ;

He will pass over and provide a way of escape.

⁶Return to Him against whom you have deeply rebelled, O sons of Israel.[#31:6 Lit they]

⁷For in that day every man will reject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made for you as a sin.

⁸And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,

And a sword not of man will devour him.

So he will flee from the sword,

And his choice men will become forced laborers.

⁹“His rock will pass away because of terror,

And his princes will be dismayed at the standard,”

Declares Yahweh, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.