1Yahweh says, “How terrible it will be for these disobedient children! They make plans, but not with my help; they make alliances, but not with my Spirit, piled up sin upon sin.
2They are heading down to Egypt without asking for my advice. They want to find strength in Pharaoh and protection under Egypt’s shadow.
3Because of this, Pharaoh’s strength will bring you shame, and seeking protection in Egypt’s shadow will lead to your disgrace.
4Their leaders are in Zoan, and their messengers have reached Hanes.
5Everyone will be ashamed of a people who cannot help them—they bring no aid or benefit, only shame and dishonor.”
6This is a message about the animals of the South: Through a land of trouble and distress, filled with lionesses and lions, vipers and fiery flying snakes, they carry their wealth on the backs of young donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who cannot help them.
7For Egypt offers useless and profitless help; therefore, I have named her ‘Rahab, the one who does nothing.’
8“Now go, write this on a tablet for them, and record it in a book, so it will be a testimony for all time to come.”
9For they are a rebellious people, deceitful children, children who refuse to listen to Yahweh’s law.
10They tell the seers, “Don’t see visions for us!” and to the prophets, “Don’t prophesy the truth to us. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceptions.
11Get out of our way! Step off the path! Stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
12Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you reject this message, and instead trust in oppression and crooked dealings, and rely on them,
13this sin will be like a bulging crack in a high wall, ready to collapse, and its breaking will happen suddenly, in an instant.
14He will shatter it like a potter’s jar is smashed, broken into pieces without mercy, so that not a single shard will be found among the broken pieces that can carry fire from the hearth or scoop water from the cistern.”
15For this is what the Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, said: “If you return and remain calm, you will be saved. Your strength will come from quietness and trust.” But you refused.
16You said, “No, we will flee on horses!” Therefore, you will indeed flee. And you said, “We will ride on swift horses!” Therefore, those who pursue you will be swift.
17A thousand of you will flee at the threat of one person. At the threat of five, you will all run away until you are left like a flagpole on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.
18Yet Yahweh is waiting to show you favor; he is rising up to have compassion on you. For Yahweh is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait patiently for him.
19Indeed, people will live in Zion, in Jerusalem. You will no longer weep. He will surely be gracious to you when he hears your cry; as soon as he hears you, he will answer you.
20Even though the Lord may give you hardship and suffering, your teachers will no longer be hidden from you; you will see them clearly.
21And when you go off course to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, "This is the way, walk in it."
22You will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like something unclean, saying to them, "Get out!"
23Then God will send rain for the seeds you plant in the ground, and the harvest from the land will be rich and plentiful. On that day, your livestock will graze in wide pastures.
24Your oxen and young donkeys that work the ground will eat well-prepared feed, winnowed with shovels and forks.
25On every tall mountain and high hill, there will be streams and rivers of water on the day of great slaughter, when strongholds fall.
26Also, the light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun's light will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day Yahweh heals his people's injuries and mends the wounds they received.
27Look, Yahweh's name comes from afar, burning with his anger, in a cloud of thick, rising smoke. His lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a consuming fire.
28His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck, to sift the nations with a sieve of destruction; and a bit that leads astray will be in the jaws of the people.
29You will sing songs, as on a night when a holy feast is celebrated; and your hearts will be joyful, like someone going with a flute to come to Yahweh's mountain, to the Rock of Israel.
30Yahweh will make his glorious voice heard and show his powerful arm striking down with furious anger, with a flame of consuming fire, with a cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
31For at Yahweh's voice, the Assyrians will be terrified. He will strike them with his rod.
32Every blow from the punishing rod that Yahweh brings upon them will be accompanied by the sound of tambourines and harps. He will fight them in battles, brandishing weapons.
33His crematorium has long been ready; it is prepared for the king. He has made its pyre deep and wide with fire and plenty of wood. Yahweh's breath, like a stream of sulfur, sets it ablaze.