HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 999
ISAIAH 31
page 629
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
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O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem,
you will weep no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of
your cries.
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food
and suffering for drink,
he will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your
own eyes.
Your own ears will hear him.
Right behind you a voice will say,
“This is the way you should go,”
whether to the right or to the left.
Then you will destroy all your silver idols
and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags,
saying to them, “Good riddance!”
23 Then
the Lord will bless you with rain at
planting time. There will be wonderful harvests
and plenty of pastureland for your livestock.
24 The oxen and donkeys that till the ground
will eat good grain, its chaff blown away by
the wind. 25 In that day, when your enemies are
slaughtered and the towers fall, there will be
streams of water flowing down every mountain
and hill. 26 The moon will be as bright as the sun,
and the sun will be seven times brighter—like
the light of seven days in one! So it will be when
the Lord begins to heal his people and cure the
wounds he gave them.
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Look! The Lord is coming from far away,
burning with anger,
surrounded by thick, rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury;
his words consume like fire.
His hot breath pours out like a flood
up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for
destruction.
He will bridle them and lead them away
to ruin.
But the people of God will sing a song of joy,
like the songs at the holy festivals.
You will be filled with joy,
as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims
to Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord—
to the Rock of Israel.
And the Lord will make his majestic
voice heard.
He will display the strength of his
mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames,
with cloudbursts, thunderstorms, and
huge hailstones.
30:32 As in some Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version;
Masoretic Text reads with the founded rod.
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At the Lord’s command, the Assyrians will
be shattered.
He will strike them down with his royal
scepter.
And as the Lord strikes them with his rod
of punishment,*
his people will celebrate with
tambourines and harps.
Lifting his mighty arm, he will fight the
Assyrians.
Topheth—the place of burning—
has long been ready for the Assyrian
king;
the pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord, like fire from a
volcano,
will set it ablaze.
The Futility of Relying on Egypt
1 What sorrow awaits those who look
to Egypt for help,
trusting their horses, chariots, and
charioteers
and depending on the strength of human
armies
instead of looking to the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
2 In his wisdom, the Lord will send great
disaster;
he will not change his mind.
He will rise against the wicked
and against their helpers.
3 For these Egyptians are mere humans,
not God!
Their horses are puny flesh, not mighty
spirits!
When the Lord raises his fist against them,
those who help will stumble,
and those being helped will fall.
They will all fall down and die together.
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4 But
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this is what the Lord has told me:
“When a strong young lion
stands growling over a sheep it has
killed,
it is not frightened by the shouts and noise
of a whole crowd of shepherds.
In the same way, the Lord of Heaven’s
Armies
will come down and fight on Mount Zion.
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hover
over Jerusalem
and protect it like a bird protecting
its nest.
He will defend and save the city;
he will pass over it and rescue it.”
6 Though you are such wicked rebels, my
people, come and return to the Lord. 7 I know
the glorious day will come when each of you
will throw away the gold idols and silver images
your sinful hands have made.