Isaiah Chapter 31

Isaiah 31 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1Ha! Those who go down to Egypt for help And rely upon horses! They have put their trust in abundance of chariots, In vast numbers of riders, And they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel, They have not sought G OD .
2. 2But [God] too is wise— Bringing on misfortune And not canceling prior pronouncements. [God] shall rise against the house of evildoers, And the allies of the workers of iniquity.
3. 3For the Egyptians are human, not God, And their horses are flesh, not spirit; And when G OD stretches out an arm, The helper shall trip And the helped one shall fall, And both shall perish together.
4. 4For thus G OD has said to me: As a lion—a great beast— Growls over its prey And, when the shepherds gather In force against it, Is not dismayed by their cries Nor cowed by their noise— So G OD of Hosts will descend to make war Against the mount and the hill of Zion.
5. 5Like the birds that fly, even so will G OD of Hosts shield Jerusalem, shielding and saving, protecting and rescuing.
6. 6Return, O children of Israel, to the One to whom they have been so shamefully false;
7. 7for in that day everyone will reject their idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have made for your guilt.
8. 8Then Assyria shall fall, Not by the sword of mortals; A sword not of humans shall devour him. He shall shrivel ; cf. 10.18; in contrast to others “flee.” before the sword, And his young men pine away. ; cf. 10.18; in contrast to others “become tributary.”
9. 9His rock shall melt with terror, And his officers shall collapse from weakness — Declares G OD , who has a fire in Zion, Who has an oven in Jerusalem.

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