Woe to the Rebellious Nation

1Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not from me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

2That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my counsel; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.

4For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

5They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor a profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.

6The burden concerning the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the backs of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.

7For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I called her, Rahab who sits still.

8Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come, forever and ever:

9That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:

10Who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

11Get out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

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

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

14And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found among the fragments of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to dip water out of the cistern.

15For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: but you would not.

16But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.

17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a flagstaff upon the top of a mountain, and as a banner on a hill.

18And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of justice: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the sound of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.

20And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall your teachers not be moved into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:

21And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.

22You shall defile also the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as an unclean thing; you shall say unto them, Get away.

23Then shall he give the rain for your seed, that you shall sow the ground with; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be rich and plentiful: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures.

24The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that work the ground shall eat salted provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

25And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.

27Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue like a devouring fire:

28And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.

29You shall 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 into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.

30And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the descending of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

31For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, as he strikes with the rod.

32And in every place where the staff of punishment shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with timbrels and harps: and in battles of brandishing will he fight with it.

33For Tophet was ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: its pyre is fire with much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.