Isaiah 31

Trouble is coming to those who go down to Egypt for help. They lean on horses and put their trust in chariots because there are so many of them, and in horsemen because they are so strong. But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and they do not turn to the LORD.

1Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

Note"Go down to Egypt" means seeking a military alliance. In Isaiah's time the small kingdom of Judah was threatened by the Assyrian empire, and one faction at the royal court wanted to buy Egyptian protection; "down" is literal geography, since Egypt lies south of and lower than the Judean hills. Chariots and cavalry were the heavy weaponry of the age, and Egypt was the region's main supplier of both, Judah's own hill country bred very few horses. In the King James wording "stay on" means lean on or depend on, not remain. "The Holy One of Israel" is Isaiah's characteristic title for God, used more in this book than in all the rest of the Hebrew scriptures. Where the King James prints LORD in small capitals it stands for the personal name of God, which Jewish tradition does not pronounce aloud.

2Yet God is wise too, and he will bring disaster. He does not take back what he has said. He will rise up against the household of those who do evil, and against the people who help those who do wrong.

2Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.

NoteIn 1611 English "evil" covered harm, calamity and disaster of any kind, not only moral wickedness; here it means the ruin God brings, not wrongdoing on his part. "Will not call back his words" means he does not withdraw or cancel what he has announced. "The help of them that work iniquity" means the allies or helpers of wrongdoers: that is, Egypt.

3The Egyptians are only human beings, not God. Their horses are only flesh and blood, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, the one giving help will stumble and the one being helped will fall. All of them will be finished together.

3Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

Note"Holpen" is the old past participle of help: helped. The contrast of "flesh" with "spirit" is not body versus soul; in Hebrew usage "flesh" marks what is mortal, physical and breakable, and "spirit" marks what is not, so the line says Egypt's cavalry is made of the same perishable stuff as anything else.

4This is what the LORD said to me: "A lion, a strong young lion, growls over the animal it has caught. When a whole crowd of shepherds is called out against it, it is not frightened by their shouting or backed down by their noise. In the same way, the LORD of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill."

4For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

Note"The LORD of hosts" means the LORD of armies, a military title. The image is deliberately open: a lion standing over a kill that a band of shepherds cannot shout away is undeterrable, but the picture does not say whether the LORD comes down on Zion's side or against it, and Hebrew readers have taken it both ways. "Abase himself" means be cowed or made to back down. Mount Zion was the ridge in Jerusalem on which the city's fortress and temple stood, so "Zion" often stands for Jerusalem itself.

5"Like birds circling overhead, the LORD of Armies will protect Jerusalem. He will shield it and rescue it. He will pass over it and keep it safe."

5As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.

NoteThe picture is of birds hovering and beating their wings over a nest rather than birds in flight. "Passing over" translates a Hebrew verb used of what God did to the Israelite houses in Egypt at the first Passover: it means to skip over and spare rather than merely to travel past.

6People of Israel, turn back to the one you have rebelled against so deeply.

6Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

Note"Children of Israel" means the people of Israel as a nation, not children in the literal sense. The King James "deeply revolted" reflects a strong Hebrew idiom, roughly "you have gone deep in rebellion", rebellion carried far, not just committed once.

7On that day every one of you will throw away your idols of silver and your idols of gold, which your own hands made for you, and making them was a sin.

7For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.

NoteThese were small figures either cast in precious metal or carved in wood and overlaid with silver or gold foil, kept in homes and shrines as well as temples. "Which your own hands have made unto you for a sin" is ambiguous in the Hebrew: it can mean the idols were made sinfully, or that the making of them was itself the offense.

8Then Assyria will fall by a sword, but not the sword of a strong warrior, and not the sword of a weak one either. A sword that belongs to no human being will eat him up. He will run away from that sword, and his young men will be put to forced labor.

8Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.

Note"The Assyrian" means the king of Assyria and his army, the imperial power that overran the region in Isaiah's lifetime and besieged Jerusalem in 701 BC. In 1611 English "mean" meant lowly or common, a man of no rank, not cruel; so the two lines together say the sword that destroys Assyria belongs to no human being of any station. "Discomfited" translates a Hebrew word whose sense is disputed: it can mean pressed into forced labor, or melted away in panic.

9His rock will pass away in terror, and his commanders will panic at the sight of the battle flag. This is what the LORD says, the one whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

9And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

Note"His strong hold" renders a Hebrew word that means a rock or crag and, by extension, a rock fortress; some read it as Assyria's stronghold, others as its king or its rock-like confidence. An "ensign" was the standard or banner raised on a pole for troops to rally to and to see from a distance, so panicking at the sight of one means breaking before the battle is joined. Fire kept burning in Zion suggests both the hearth fire on the temple altar and a furnace, a kiln or smelting forge, and the Hebrew leaves both pictures standing.