Old Testament · Isaiah

Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

1Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong; but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, and the LORD they do not seek.
2Yet he also is wise, and brings evil, and does not turn back his words; and he will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of the workers of iniquity.
3And the Egyptians are man^a and not God, and their horses are flesh^b and not spirit^c; and the LORD stretches out his hand, and the helper stumbles, and the helped one falls, and together all of them perish.

4For thus said the LORD to me: As the lion growls, and the young lion, over its prey, against whom a multitude of shepherds is called, at their voice he is not dismayed, and at their din he does not cower; so the LORD of hosts^d shall come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.

5Like birds flying, so the LORD of hosts shall shield Jerusalem; shielding and delivering, passing over and rescuing.

6Return to him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7For in that day each man^e shall reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands made for you as a sin.

8And Asshur shall fall by a sword, not of man; and a sword, not of man, shall devour him; and he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become forced labor.
9And his rock shall pass away from terror, and his princes shall be dismayed at the banner, declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.