1 Woe to the rebellious children, says Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of Me; and who pour out drink offerings, but not of My Spirit; that they sweep away sin after sin;

2 who set out to go down to Egypt and have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the refuge of Pharaoh and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!

3 Therefore the refuge of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt shall be your reproach.

4 For his rulers were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.

5 They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them, nor be a help nor gain, but a shame and also a reproach.

6 The burden concerning the beasts of the south. Into the land of trouble and anguish, from where the lioness and the lion come; the viper, and the fiery flying serpent; they carry their riches on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.

7 For Egypt helps in vain, and unto emptiness. Therefore I have proclaimed concerning this, Their arrogance will be to sit still.

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and note it in a book, so that it may be for time to come forever and ever,

9 that this is a rebellious people, lying children; children who will not hear the Law of Jehovah;

10 who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy deception;

11 turn away from the path, thrust aside from the way, desist from the Holy One of Israel from before us.

12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you have despised this Word, and trust in oppression and perversity, and lean on them;

13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a high wall, whose crashing comes suddenly in an instant.

14 And He shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the fragments of it a shard with which to take fire from the hearth, or to take water out of the cistern.

15 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you shall be saved; and in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you were not willing.

16 But you said, No; for we will flee on horses. Therefore you shall flee. And you said, We will ride on the swift; therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five you shall flee, until you are left as a beacon on the top of a mountain, and as a sign on a hill.

18 And so Jehovah waits to be gracious to you. And therefore He is exalted, that He may have mercy on you; for Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for Him.

19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry. When He hears it, He will answer you.

20 And though Jehovah gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers shall not be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers.

21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk in it, when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left.

22 You shall also defile the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold. You shall cast them away like a menstruous cloth. You shall say to them, Get away!

23 Then He shall give the rain for your seed with which you sow the ground. And the bread of the produce of the earth also shall be fat and plentiful. In that day your cattle shall feed in large pastures.

24 Also the oxen and the young asses that plow the ground shall eat cured fodder, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork.

25 And there shall be on every high mountain, and on every high hill, rivers, streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

26 And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the breach of His people and heals the stroke of their wound.

27 Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from afar, burning with His anger, and the burden of it is heavy; His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue like a devouring fire.

28 And like an overflowing stream, His breath shall reach up to the middle of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity. And there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to go astray.

29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy feast is consecrated; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain of Jehovah, to the Mighty One of Israel.

30 And Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall cause to be seen the bringing down of His arm, with raging anger and flame of a devouring fire, with driving storm, cloudburst and hailstones.

31 For through the voice of Jehovah, Assyria shall be beaten down, as struck with a rod.

32 And in every place where the appointed staff shall pass, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, it shall be with tambourines and harps. In war with brandishing He will engage the battle.

33 For Tophet was arranged in order of old; yea, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large. He makes a fire with much wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it like a torrent of brimstone.