依靠埃及徒勞無益
1耶和華說：
「我悖逆的兒女有禍了！
他們推行的計劃並非我的心意，
他們與人結盟並非出於我的靈，
以致罪上加罪。
2他們不求問我便去埃及，
要得到法老的保護，
尋求埃及的蔭庇。
3然而，法老的保護必成為你們的羞愧，
埃及的蔭庇必成為你們的恥辱。
4雖然他們的官長已在瑣安，
使臣已到哈內斯，
5但他們必因無用的埃及人而蒙羞，
那些人帶不來任何助益，
只帶來羞愧和恥辱。」
6以下是關於南地動物的預言：
他們用驢馱著財物，
用駱駝馱著珍寶，
穿過公獅、母獅、蝮蛇和飛蛇出沒的艱險之地，
前往一個對他們毫無益處的國家。
7埃及的幫助是徒然的，
所以我稱她為「沒用的拉哈伯30·7 「拉哈伯」埃及的別名，也有「海怪」之意。」。
8現在，你去當著他們的面把這些話刻在版上，
記在書卷上，
永遠留給後世作明證。
9因為他們是悖逆的民族，
是說謊的兒女，
不肯聽從耶和華的教導。
10他們對先見說：
「你們不要再看異象了。」
對先知說：
「不要再教導我們正道。
給我們說些好聽的話，
講些虛幻的事吧。
11閃開此道！離開此路！
不要再給我們講以色列聖者的事。」
12因此，以色列的聖者說：
「因為你們藐視我的話，
依仗欺壓之能和詭詐之術，
13你們這罪必像一堵斷裂、凸起的高牆，
搖搖欲墜，瞬間倒塌，
14又像瓦器一樣被無情地摔碎，
找不到一塊可以用來從火爐中取炭或從水池裡舀水的碎片。」
15主耶和華——以色列的聖者說：
「你們回轉並安息，就必得拯救；
你們安靜並信靠，就必得力量。
但你們卻不肯。
16你們說，『不，我們要騎馬奔逃。』
所以你們必奔逃。
你們又說，『我們要騎快馬逃跑。』
所以追趕你們的人必疾馳如飛。
17他們一人叱喝，
必嚇得你們千人逃跑；
他們五人叱喝，
你們必全部逃跑，
剩下的像山頂上的旗桿、高崗上的旗幟。」
18然而，耶和華正在等候，
準備施恩給你們，
祂必憐憫你們。
因為耶和華是公正的上帝，
等候祂的人有福了！
19住在耶路撒冷的錫安百姓啊，你們必不再哭泣。祂聽到你們的呼求後，必恩待你們；祂聽見後，必應允你們。 20雖然主讓你們吃苦受難、歷盡艱辛，但你們的教師必不再隱藏，你們必親眼看見你們的教師。 21不管你們向左還是向右，都會聽見背後有聲音說：「這是正路，走在上面吧！」 22你們必拋棄自己那些鍍金和包銀的偶像，把它們當作污穢之物丟掉，對它們說：「去吧！」
23你們撒種，主必降雨，並使你們五穀豐登。那時，你們的牲畜必在寬闊的草場上吃草； 24耕田的牛和驢必吃用叉子和鏟子揚淨、拌上鹽的飼料。 25在你們的敵人被殺戮、城樓倒塌的日子，你們的高山岡陵上必有溪水奔流。 26耶和華包紮祂子民的創傷，醫治他們的傷口時，月亮必發出太陽般的光輝，太陽的光輝必增加七倍，燦爛得好像七個太陽同時發光。
27看啊，耶和華的名從遠方來，
伴著滾滾濃煙，
祂的怒氣如烈火，
祂口中充滿憤怒，舌頭好像烈焰。
28祂的氣息像淹到人頸項的洪流。
祂必用毀滅的篩子篩淨列國，
並把嚼環放在列邦口中，
引他們走上歧途。
29但你們必歡唱，好像晚上慶祝節期；你們必充滿喜樂，好像人們吹著笛子登耶和華的山、到以色列的磐石那裡。 30耶和華必使人聽見祂威嚴的聲音，在憤怒、烈焰、暴雨、狂風和冰雹中讓人看見祂降罰的臂膀。 31亞述人聽見耶和華的聲音必心驚膽戰，祂必用杖擊打他們。 32耶和華的刑杖每責打他們一下，必伴隨著擊鼓彈琴的聲音。祂必在戰場上揮手擊打他們。 33焚燒之地陀斐特早預備好了，是為亞述王預備的，又寬又深，堆滿了火和木柴，耶和華的氣息必如同一股硫磺火點燃那些木柴。
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
1“Woe to the obstinate children,”
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2who go down to Egypt
without consulting me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.
3But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace.
4Though they have officials in Zoan
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5everyone will be put to shame
because of a people useless to them,
who bring neither help nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.”
6A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev:
Through a land of hardship and distress,
of lions and lionesses,
of adders and darting snakes,
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,
their treasures on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
7to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
Therefore I call her
Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.
9For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions.
11Leave this way,
get off this path,
and stop confronting us
with the Holy One of Israel!”
12Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message,
relied on oppression
and depended on deceit,
13this sin will become for you
like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14It will break in pieces like pottery,
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it.
16You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five
you will all flee away,
till you are left
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner on a hill.”
18Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
19People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”
23He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28His breath is like a rushing torrent,
rising up to the neck.
He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit that leads them astray.
29And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
your hearts will rejoice
as when people playing pipes go up
to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice
and will make them see his arm coming down
with raging anger and consuming fire,
with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;
with his rod he will strike them down.
32Every stroke the Lord lays on them
with his punishing club
will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33Topheth has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur,
sets it ablaze.
