1“Woe to the rebellious children,”
2They set out to go down to Egypt
3But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,
4For though their princes are at Zoan
5everyone will be put to shame
6This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev:
7Egypt’s help is futile and empty;
8Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence
9These are rebellious people, deceitful children,
10They say to the seers,
11Get out of the way; turn off the road.
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
13this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail,
14It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar,
15For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:
16“No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.”
17A thousand will flee at the threat of one;
18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
19O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.
20The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him.
21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”
22So you will desecrate your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, saying to them, “Be gone!”
23Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.
24The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.
25And from every high mountain and every raised hill, streams of water will flow in the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.
27Behold, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
28His breath is like a rushing torrent
29You will sing
30And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard
31For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the LORD;
32And with every stroke of the rod of punishment 30:32 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac; MT the rod of foundation; DSS the rod of His foundation
33For Topheth has long been prepared;