The Worthless Treaty with Egypt

30 “Woe to the rebellious children,”

declares the LORD,

“to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine,

who form an alliance, but against My will,

heaping up sin upon sin.

2 They set out to go down to Egypt

without asking My advice,

to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protection

and take refuge in Egypt’s shade.

3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame,

and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

4 For though their princes are at Zoan

and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

5 everyone will be put to shame

because of a people useless to them.

They cannot be of help;

they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.”

6 This is the burden against the beasts of the Negev:

Through a land of hardship and distress,

of lioness and lion,

of viper and flying serpent,

they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys

and their treasures on the humps of camels,

to a people of no profit to them.

7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty;

therefore I have called her

Rahab Who Sits Still.[fn]

8 Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence

and inscribe it on a scroll;

it will be for the days to come,

a witness forever and ever.

9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children,

children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

10 They say to the seers,

“Stop seeing visions!”

and to the prophets,

“Do not prophesy to us the truth!

Speak to us pleasant words;

prophesy illusions.

11 Get out of the way; turn off the road.

Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“Because you have rejected this message,

trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,

13 this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail,

a bulge in a high wall,

whose collapse will come suddenly—

in an instant!

14 It will break in pieces like a potter’s jar,

shattered so that no fragment can be found.

Not a shard will be found in the dust

large enough to scoop the coals from a hearth

or to skim the water from a cistern.”

15 For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said:

“By repentance and rest

you would be saved;

your strength would lie in quiet confidence—

but you were not willing.”

16 “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.”

Therefore you will flee!

“We will ride swift horses,”

but your pursuers will be faster.

17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one;

at the threat of five you will all flee,

until you are left alone like a pole on a mountaintop,

like a banner on a hill.