Isaiah 30:8-17

30:8 Now go, write it down on a tablet in their presence,

inscribe it on a scroll,

so that it might be preserved for a future time

as an enduring witness.

30:9 For these are rebellious people –

they are lying children,

children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law.

30:10 They say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”

and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right!

Tell us nice things,

relate deceptive messages.

30:11 Turn aside from the way,

stray off the path.

Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”

30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message;

you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick,

and rely on that kind of behavior.

30:13 So this sin will become your downfall.

You will be like a high wall

that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;

it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.

30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,

so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged.

Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough

to scoop a hot coal from a fire

or to skim off water from a cistern.”

30:15 For this is what the master, the Lord, the Holy One of Israel says:

“If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered;

if you calmly trusted in me you would find strength,

but you are unwilling.

30:16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’

so you will indeed flee.

You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’

so your pursuers will be fast.

30:17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier;

at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away,

until the remaining few are as isolated

as a flagpole on a mountaintop

or a signal flag on a hill.”