Isaiah 30:1-6

Egypt Will Prove Unreliable

30:1 “The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord,

“those who make plans without consulting me, ³ 

who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴ 

and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

30:2 They travel down to Egypt

without seeking my will, ⁶ 

seeking Pharaoh’s protection,

and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade. ⁷ 

30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,

and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.

30:4 Though his ⁸  officials are in Zoan

and his messengers arrive at Hanes, ⁹ 

30:5 all will be put to shame ¹⁰ 

because of a nation that cannot help them,

who cannot give them aid or help,

but only shame and disgrace.”

30:6 This is a message ¹¹  about the animals in the Negev:

Through a land of distress and danger,

inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions, ¹² 

by snakes and darting adders, ¹³ 

they transport ¹⁴  their wealth on the backs of donkeys,

their riches on the humps of camels,

to a nation that cannot help them. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 31:1-3

Egypt Will Disappoint

31:1 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ¹⁶ 

those who rely on war horses,

and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ¹⁷ 

and in their many, many horsemen. ¹⁸ 

But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ¹⁹ 

and do not seek help from the Lord.

31:2 Yet he too is wise ²⁰  and he will bring disaster;

he does not retract his decree. ²¹ 

He will attack the wicked nation, ²² 

and the nation that helps ²³  those who commit sin. ²⁴ 

31:3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;

their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.

The Lord will strike with ²⁵  his hand;

the one who helps will stumble

and the one being helped will fall.

Together they will perish. ²⁶ 

Isaiah 57:9

57:9 You take olive oil as tribute ²⁷  to your king, ²⁸ 

along with many perfumes. ²⁹ 

You send your messengers to a distant place;

you go all the way to Sheol. ³⁰ 

Jeremiah 2:18

2:18 What good will it do you ³¹  then ³²  to go down to Egypt

to seek help from the Egyptians? ³³ 

What good will it do you ³⁴  to go over to Assyria

to seek help from the Assyrians? ³⁵ 

Jeremiah 2:36

2:36 Why do you constantly go about

changing your political allegiances? ³⁶ 

You will get no help from Egypt

just as you got no help from Assyria. ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 44:12-14

44:12 I will see to it that all the Judean remnant that was determined to go ³⁸  and live in the land of Egypt will be destroyed. Here in the land of Egypt they will fall in battle ³⁹  or perish from starvation. People of every class ⁴⁰  will die in war or from starvation. They will become an object of horror and ridicule, an example of those who have been cursed and that people use in pronouncing a curse. ⁴¹  44:13 I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt with war, starvation, and disease just as I punished Jerusalem. 44:14 None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah. Though they long to return and live there, none of them shall return except a few fugitives.’” ⁴² 

Hosea 5:13

5:13 When Ephraim saw ⁴³  his sickness

and Judah saw his wound,

then Ephraim turned ⁴⁴  to Assyria,

and begged ⁴⁵  its great king ⁴⁶  for help.

But he will not be able to heal you!

He cannot cure your wound! ⁴⁷ 

Hosea 7:11

Israel Turns to Assyria and Egypt for Help

7:11 Ephraim has been like a dove,

easily deceived and lacking discernment.

They called to Egypt for help;

they turned to Assyria for protection.

Hosea 9:3

Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian Exodus

9:3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.

Ephraim will return to Egypt;

they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

Hosea 12:1

12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind;

he chases the east wind all day;

he multiplies lies and violence.

They make treaties ⁴⁸  with Assyria,

and send olive oil as tribute ⁴⁹  to Egypt.

[30:1]  ¹ tn Or “stubborn” (NCV); cf. NIV “obstinate.”

[30:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe [to] rebellious children.”

[30:1]  ³ tn Heb “making a plan, but not from me.”

[30:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “and pouring out a libation, but not [from] my spirit.” This translation assumes that the verb נָסַךְ (nasakh) means “pour out,” and that the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה (massekhah) means “libation.” In this case “pouring out a libation” alludes to a ceremony that formally ratifies an alliance. Another option is to understand the verb נָסַךְ as a homonym meaning “weave,” and the cognate noun מַסֵּכָה as a homonym meaning “covering.” In this case forming an alliance is likened to weaving a garment.

[30:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “consequently adding sin to sin.”

[30:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who go to descend to Egypt, but [of] my mouth they do not inquire.”

[30:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “to seek protection in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek refuge in the shade of Egypt.”

[30:4]  ⁸ sn This probably refers to Judah’s officials and messengers.

[30:4]  ⁹ sn Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta in the north; Hanes was located somewhere in southern region of lower Egypt, south of Memphis; the exact location is debated.

[30:5]  ¹⁰ tn The present translation follows the marginal (Qere) reading of the Hebrew text; the consonantal text (Kethib) has “made to stink, decay.”

[30:6]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally, “burden” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “oracle.”

[30:6]  ¹² tc Heb “[a land of] a lioness and a lion, from them.” Some emend מֵהֶם (mehem, “from them”) to מֵהֵם (mehem), an otherwise unattested Hiphil participle from הָמַם (hamam, “move noisily”). Perhaps it would be better to take the initial mem (מ) as enclitic and emend the form to הֹמֶה (homeh), a Qal active participle from הָמָה (hamah, “to make a noise”); cf. J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:542, n. 9.

[30:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “flying fiery one.” See the note at 14:29.

[30:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “carry” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[30:6]  ¹⁵ sn This verse describes messengers from Judah transporting wealth to Egypt in order to buy Pharaoh’s protection through a treaty.

[31:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] those who go down to Egypt for help.”

[31:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and trust in chariots for they are many.”

[31:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and in horsemen for they are very strong [or “numerous”].”

[31:1]  ¹⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[31:2]  ²⁰ sn This statement appears to have a sarcastic tone. The royal advisers who are advocating an alliance with Egypt think they are wise, but the Lord possesses wisdom as well and will thwart their efforts.

[31:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he does not turn aside [i.e., “retract”] his words”; NIV “does not take back his words.”

[31:2]  ²² tn Heb “and he will arise against the house of the wicked.”

[31:2]  ²³ sn That is, Egypt.

[31:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and against the help of the doers of sin.”

[31:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “will extend”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV “stretch out.”

[31:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “together all of them will come to an end.”

[57:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “you journey with oil.”

[57:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the king.” Since the context refers to idolatry and child sacrifice (see v. 5), some emend מֶלֶך (melekh, “king”) to “Molech.” Perhaps Israel’s devotion to her idols is likened here to a subject taking tribute to a ruler.

[57:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and you multiply your perfumes.”

[57:9]  ³⁰ sn Israel’s devotion to her idols is inordinate, irrational, and self-destructive.

[2:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “What to you to the way.”

[2:18]  ³² tn The introductory particle וְעַתָּה (vÿ’attah, “and now”) carries a logical, not temporal, connotation here (cf. BDB 274 s.v. עַתָּה 2.b).

[2:18]  ³³ tn Heb “to drink water from the Shihor [a branch of the Nile].” The reference is to seeking help through political alliance with Egypt as opposed to trusting in God for help. This is an extension of the figure in 2:13.

[2:18]  ³⁴ tn Heb “What to you to the way.”

[2:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to drink water from the River [a common designation in biblical Hebrew for the Euphrates River].” This refers to seeking help through political alliance. See the preceding note.

[2:36]  ³⁶ tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”

[2:36]  ³⁷ tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”

[44:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “they set their face to go.” Compare 44:11 and 42:14 and see the translator’s note at 42:15.

[44:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “fall by the sword.”

[44:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “All of them without distinction,” or “All of them from the least important to the most important”; Heb “From the least to the greatest.” See the translator’s note on 42:1 for the meaning of this idiom.

[44:12]  ⁴¹ tn See the study note on 24:9 and the usage in 29:22 for the meaning and significance of this last phrase.

[44:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “There shall not be an escapee or a survivor to the remnant of Judah who came to sojourn there in the land of Egypt even to return to the land of Judah which they are lifting up their souls [= “longing/desiring” (BDB 672 s.v. נָשָׂא Piel.2)] to return to live there; for none shall return except fugitives.” The long, complex Hebrew original has been broken up and restructured to better conform with contemporary English style. Another possible structure would be “None of the Judean remnant who have come to live in the land of Egypt will escape or survive. None of them will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah where they long to return to live. Indeed (emphatic use of כִּי [ki]; cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.e) none of them shall return except a few fugitives.” This verse is a good example of rhetorical hyperbole where a universal negative does not apply to absolutely all the particulars. Though the Lord denies at the outset that any will escape or survive the punishment of vv. 12-13 to return to Judah, he says at the end that a few fugitives will return (the two words for fugitive are from the same root and mean the same thing). (E. W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech, 618-19, might classify this as a synecdoche of genus where a universal negative does not deny particularity.) That this last statement is not a gloss or an afterthought is supported by what is said later in v. 28.

[5:13]  ⁴³ tn Hosea employs three preterites (vayyiqtol forms) in verse 13a-b to describe a past-time situation.

[5:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “went to” (so NAB, NRSV, TEV); CEV “asked help from.”

[5:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “sent to” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[5:13]  ⁴⁶ tc The MT reads מֶלֶךְ יָרֵב (melekh yarev, “a contentious king”). This is translated as a proper name (“king Jareb”) by KJV, ASV, NASB. However, the stative adjective יָרֵב (“contentious”) is somewhat awkward. The words should be redivided as an archaic genitive-construct מַלְכִּי רָב (malki rav, “great king”; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) which preserves the old genitive hireq yod ending. This is the equivalent of the Assyrian royal epithet sarru rabbu (“the great king”). See also the tc note on the same phrase in 10:6.

[5:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “your wound will not depart from you.”

[12:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “a treaty” (so NIV, NRSV); KJV, NASB “a covenant”; NAB “comes to terms.”

[12:1]  ⁴⁹ tn The phrase “as tribute” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity. Cf. NCV “send a gift of olive oil.”