HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 259
29.1 Ariel, probably an altar hearth (cf. Ezek 43.15), an allusion to Jerusalem.
29.2 Like an Ariel. The city will be burned like an altar hearth (1.25; 4.4; 33.14).
29.3 Like David, as David once besieged Jerusalem (2 Sam 5.6–9).
29.4 Jerusalem will be brought down to the underworld (5.14–15). Voice of a ghost, a reference to the muttering or chirping sound that necromancers made when invoking the spirits of the dead (see 8.19).
29.5–8 Then after he has punished Jerusalem, the Lord will suddenly intervene to drive away all those nations he has used as his agents to fight against the city (see 10.12).
29.5 Small dust, flying chaff, quickly blown away (17.13).
29.6 Cf. 30.30.
29.7–8 The enemy vanishes overnight (17.14; 31.4–9; 2 Kings 19.35).
29.9–16 Judah is incapable of discerning what God is doing, so his work seems shocking and amazing, while the plans of its shrewd political counselors come to naught.
29.9–10 Mere drunkenness cannot explain Judah’s lack of vision and judgment (28.7); God must have blinded them (cf. 6.9–10; but see 30.10).
29.10 Your eyes, you prophets…your heads, you seers, perhaps better “your eyes, the prophets…your heads, the seers.” The question is whether God has blinded the prophets who opposed Isaiah’s message, or whether God blinded the people by withholding a prophetic message from those who did not want to hear what the prophets had to say (cf. 30.9–10).
29.11 Sealed document, a scroll that cannot be unrolled and read without breaking the seal that secures it.
29.13 Judah’s worship is only pretense, not a genuine response to God from the heart (see 1.10–17).
29.14 Thus even Judah’s wise cannot discern God’s plan (5.12–13).
29.15 Hide a plan. Some try to keep their own political plans secret from God and his prophet (30.1–2), apparently on the premise that international politics are too subtle and complicated for the simple religious mind to grasp (28.9–10).
29.16 But believing plans can be hidden is to forget who is the creature and who the creator.
29.17–24 These verses reverse earlier judgments and are generally dated to the later period of chs. 40–66.
29.17 Lebanon, a metaphor for God’s people; once decimated (10.18–19, 33–34), they will again become as numerous as a forest (4.2; 60.21–22; 61.3).
29.18 A reversal of vv. 9–12.
29.19 Holy One of Israel. See note on 1.4.
29.20–21 The scoffer will no longer rule (28.14) and oppress God’s people (10.1–3).
29.22 Abraham. Cf. 41.8; 51.2.
29.23 Sanctify, count as holy. Stand in awe of, be in dread of (see 8.12–13).
ISAIAH 30
The Futility of Reliance on Egypt
1Oh, rebellious children, says the LORD,
who carry out a plan, but not mine;
who make an alliance, but against my will,
adding sin to sin;
2who set out to go down to Egypt
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh,
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt;
3Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.
4For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,
5everyone comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
but shame and disgrace.
6An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and roaringa lion,
of viper and flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
and their treasures on the humps of camels,
to a people that cannot profit them.
7For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty,
therefore I have called her,
“Rahab who sits still.”b
A Rebellious People
8Go now, write it before them on a tablet,
and inscribe it in a book,
so that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.
9For they are a rebellious people,
faithless children,
children who will not hear
the instruction of the LORD;
10who say to the seers, “Do not see”;
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things,
prophesy illusions,
11leave the way, turn aside from the path,
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
Because you reject this word,
and put your trust in oppression and deceit,
and rely on them;
13therefore this iniquity shall become for you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;
14its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a sherd is found
for taking fire from the hearth,
or dipping water out of the cistern.
15For 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 refused 16and said,
“No! We will flee upon horses”—
therefore you shall flee!
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”—
therefore your pursuers shall be swift!
17A thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
at the threat of five you shall flee,
until you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.
God’s Promise to Zion
18Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the LORD is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.
19Truly, O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. 20Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like filthy rags; you will say to them, “Away with you!”
23He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; 24and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26Moreover the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the LORD binds up the injuries of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Judgment on Assyria
27See, the name of the LORD comes from far away,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;c
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck—
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads them astray.
29You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival 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. 30And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones. 31The Assyrian will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. 32And every stroke of the staff of punishment that the LORD lays upon him will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with him. 33For his burning placed has long been prepared; truly it is made ready for the king,e its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
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a Cn: Heb from them
b Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Or Topheth
e Or Molech
30.1–5 Isaiah condemns Judah’s negotiations with Egypt (703–701 BCE) as rebellion against God and the resulting defensive alliance against Assyria as ultimately useless.
30.1 Rebellious children. See 1.2, 4.
30.2 Without asking for my counsel. One normally consulted the deity through prophets or the priestly oracle before making a treaty; the failure to do so implied an impious attitude of human self-sufficiency (29.15; cf. Josh 9.14–21). The royal court, because it was apparently trying to keep its rebellious negotiations with Egypt secret from Assyrian spies, refused to consult such prophets as Isaiah, who had publicly opposed such diplomatic moves in the past (cf. 20.1); public opposition by prophets would alert the Assyrians to the revolt that was brewing.
30.4 Zoan. See note on 19.11. Hanes, an Egyptian city fifty miles south of Memphis.
30.6–7 The military assistance Judah hoped to acquire by sending a treasure caravan through the desert to Egypt will prove totally useless.
30.6 Land of trouble…flying serpent, traditional description of the desert between Palestine and Egypt (Deut 8.15).
30.7 Rahab, a mythological sea dragon slain by God in the cosmogonic battle that led to creation (51.9–10; 89.9–10; Job 9.13; 26.12–13; Ps 89.9–10).
30.8–17 Isaiah is told to record his message as a future witness against Judah, because at the present time the people are unwilling to listen (8.16–18).
30.9 Rebellious people. See 30.1. Faithless children. See 1.2–4.
30.10 The people effectively silenced their seers and prophets (see 29.10). Smooth things, illusions, pleasant words confirming their own plans and hopes, even if false.
30.11 Hear no more about the Holy One of Israel, keep silent about God’s demands and plans.
30.12 This word, the promise recorded in v. 15. Judah’s rival military option involved the oppression of heavy taxation, forced labor, government appropriation of property (22.8–11) and the deceit of secret alliances (28.15; 29.15).
30.15 Judah’s salvation lay in trusting God (cf. 28.12).
30.16 The horses they chose to trust in instead of God will only speed their cowardly flight (cf. Ps 20.7).
30.17 A thousand shall flee. See Lev 26.36–37; Deut 32.30. Signal on a hill, a metaphor for an isolated and exposed remnant (see 31.9).
30.18–26 An oracle of promise is inserted here, perhaps because of the signal metaphor (v. 17), which is often used in promises of Israel’s restoration (11.10–11;13.2; 49.22).
30.18 Waits. See 8.17. Because the LORD is a God of justice, his desire to save must wait until Jerusalem has been transformed by judgment (1.27).
30.19 See 65.19, 24.
30.20 Hide himself. Cf. 8.17.
30.25–26 These blessings presuppose God’s judgment.
30.27–33 This oracle probably dates to 701 BCE (see 37.21–29). For the fire imagery, cf. 10.16–17;33.10–14.
30.28 Bridle. See 37.29.
30.29 Rock of Israel, an epithet for God as a source of refuge for his people (17.10; 26.4).
30.33 Burning place, Topheth, where children were sacrificed in the fire (2 Kings 23.10; Jer 7.31; 19.4–9).
ISAIAH 31
Alliance with Egypt Is Futile
1Alas for those who go down to Egypt for help
and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the LORD!
2Yet he too is wise and brings disaster;
he does not call back his words,
but will rise against the house of the evildoers,
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.
3The Egyptians are human, and not God;
their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the LORD stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.
4For thus the LORD said to me,
As a lion or a young lion growls over its prey,
and—when a band of shepherds is called out against it—
is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so the LORD of hosts will come down
to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.
5Like birds hovering overhead, so the LORD of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it,
he will spare and rescue it.
6Turn back to him whom youa have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel. 7For on that day all of you shall throw away your idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
8“Then the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of mortals;
and a sword, not of humans, shall devour him;
he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced labor.
9His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
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a Heb they
31.1–3 Cf. 30.1–17; Jer. 17.5–8.
31.4–9 The mixed imagery of an attacking lion (5.29) and protecting birds (Deut 32.11) suggests God’s siege of Jerusalem followed by his deliverance of the city (see 29.1–8).
31.4 Cf. Jer 25.30, 34–38.
31.6–7 A call to repentance originally addressed to the Northern Kingdom (cf. 2.20; 17.7–8).
31.8–9 God will destroy Assyria; the Lord dwells in Jerusalem like a fire or a furnace, ready to refine his own people or consume his enemies (see 1.25; 30.27–33; 33.14).
ISAIAH 32
Government with Justice Predicted
1See, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes will rule with justice.
2Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed,
and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.
4The minds of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.
5A fool will no longer be called noble,
nor a villain said to be honorable.
6For fools speak folly,
and their minds plot iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the LORD,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7The villainies of vil
lains are evil;
they devise wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8But those who are noble plan noble things,
and by noble things they stand.
Complacent Women Warned of Disaster
9Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.
10In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent ones;
for the vintage will fail,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and put sackcloth on your loins.
12Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers;
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the jubilant city.
14For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
the joy of wild asses,
a pasture for flocks;
15until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
The Peace of God’s Reign
16Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
18My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19The forest will disappear completely,a
and the city will be utterly laid low.
20Happy will you be who sow beside every stream,
who let the ox and the donkey range freely.
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