Isaiah 31

Isaiah

31 ¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help;
they rely on horses,

and they 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,
nor do they seek the LORD,

²and yet He is wise and brings disaster,
and He will not take back His words,

but He will rise against the house of evildoers
and against those who help workers of iniquity.

³The Egyptians are human and not God,
and their horses are flesh and not spirit.

When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble;
and he who is helped will fall, and together they all will perish.

⁴For thus the LORD says to me,

The Lord

“Just as the lion
or the young lion growls over his prey,

and though a group of shepherds is called forth against it,

it is not terrified by their voice,
nor is it disturbed at their noise.”

Isaiah

So, the LORD of Hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion
and for its hill.

⁵Like birds hovering,
the LORD of Hosts will defend Jerusalem.

He will protect and deliver;
He will pass over and rescue.

⁶Return to Him,
against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

The Lord

⁷“For in that day everyone will despise his idols of silver
and his idols of gold, which your sinful hands have made for you.

⁸And the Assyrian will fall by a sword that is not of man,
and a sword, not of a human, will devour him, and he will flee from a sword,

and his young men will become forced laborers,
⁹and due to terror, he will pass to his stronghold,
and his officers will be terrified at the ensign,”

Isaiah

declares the LORD, whose light is in Zion
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.