Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

1 Woe to v those who go down to Egypt for help
and rely on horses,
who w trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but x do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!
 2 And y yet he is wise and brings disaster;
z he does not call back his words,
but a will arise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of b those who work iniquity.
 3 The Egyptians are man, and not God,
and their horses c are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.

4 For thus the Lord said to me,
d "As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
e so the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight 1 on Mount Zion and on its hill.
 5 f Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it."

6 g Turn to him from whom people 2 have h deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day i everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

8 j "And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be k put to forced labor.
 9 l His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,"
declares the Lord, whose m fire is in Zion,
and whose n furnace is in Jerusalem.

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:2
    Who 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!
    Isaiah 36:6
    Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 20:7
    Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
    Isaiah 30:16
    And you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
    Isaiah 36:9
    How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:11
    You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
  4. Cross References
    Psalms 94:8 - 10
    Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?
  5. Cross References
    Numbers 23:19
    God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 22:14
    The Lord of hosts has revealed himself in my ears: "Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die," says the Lord God of hosts.
  7. Cross References
    Psalms 94:4
    They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 17:5
    Thus says the Lord : "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.
  9. Cross References
    Hosea 11:10
    They shall go after the Lord ; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west.
    Amos 1:2
    And he said: "The Lord roars from Zion and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers.
    Amos 3:8
    The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 42:13
    The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war he stirs up his zeal; he cries out, he shouts aloud, he shows himself mighty against his foes.
  11. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:11
    Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions.
    Psalms 91:4
    He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:15
    For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:5
    Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:20
    In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats.
    Isaiah 30:22
    Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, "Be gone!
  15. Cross References
    Isaiah 37:36
    And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
  16. Cross References
    Genesis 49:15
    He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.
    Proverbs 12:24
    The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 32:31
    For their rock is not as our Rock; our enemies are by themselves.
    Isaiah 30:29
    You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
  18. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:33
    For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
  19. Cross References
    Psalms 21:9
    You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.
    Malachi 4:1
    For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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