The Futility of Reliance on Egypt “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine; and who make a league, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin;
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Woe to the apostate children, saith the Lord: ye have framed counsel, not by me, and covenants not by my Spirit, to add sins to sins:
who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my counsel, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh, and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
even they that proceed to go down into Egypt, but they have not enquired of me, that they might be helped by Pharao, and protected by the Egyptians.
An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and the flying serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of asses, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them.
A Rebellious People And now, go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness for ever.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Now then sit down and write these words on a tablet, and in a book; for these things shall be for many long days, and even for ever.
Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on them;
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Therefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye have refused to obey these words, and have trusted in falsehood; and because thou hast murmured, and been confident in this respect:
and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel which is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a sherd is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern.”
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And the fall thereof shall be as the breaking of an earthen vessel, as small fragments of a pitcher, so that thou shouldest not find among them a sherd, with which thou mightest take up fire, and with which thou shouldest draw a little water.
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” And you would not,
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy Lord of Israel; When thou shalt turn and mourn, then thou shalt be saved; and thou shalt know where thou wast, when thou didst trust in vanities: then your strength became vain, yet ye would not hearken:
but you said, “No! We will speed upon horses,” therefore you shall speed away; and, “We will ride upon swift steeds,” therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
but ye said, We will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will be aided by swift riders; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
A thousand shall flee because of the voice of one, and many shall flee on account of the voice of five; until ye be left as a signal-post upon a mountain, and as one bearing an ensign upon a hill.
God’s Promise to Zion Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And the Lord will again wait, that he may pity you, and will therefore be exalted that he may have mercy upon you: because the Lord your God is a judge: blessed are they that stay themselves upon him.
Yea, O people in Zion who dwell at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
For the holy people shall dwell in Sion: and whereas Jerusalem has wept bitterly, saying, Pity me; he shall pity thee: when he perceived the voice of thy cry, he hearkened to thee.
And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And though the Lord shall give you the bread of affliction and scant water, yet they that cause thee to err shall no more at all draw nigh to thee; for thine eyes shall see those that cause thee to err,
And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
and thine ears shall hear the words of them that went after thee to lead thee astray, who say, This is the way, let us walk in it, whether to the right or to the left.
Then you will defile your silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, “Begone!”
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And thou shalt pollute the plated idols, and thou shalt grind to powder the gilt ones, and shalt scatter them as the water of a removed woman, and thou shalt thrust them forth as dung.
And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in large pastures;
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Then shall there be rain to the seed of thy land; and the bread of the fruit of thy land shall be plenteous and rich: and thy cattle shall feed in that day in a fertile and spacious place.
And upon every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And there shall be upon every lofty mountain and upon every high hill, water running in that day, when many shall perish, and when the towers shall fall.
Moreover the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold in the day when the Lord shall heal the breach of his people, and shall heal the pain of thy wound.
Judgment on Assyria Behold, the name of the Lord comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Behold, the name of the Lord comes after a long time, burning wrath: the word of his lips is with glory, a word full of anger, and the anger of his wrath shall devour as fire.
his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And his breath, as rushing water in a valley, shall reach as far as the neck, and be divided, to confound the nations for their vain error: error also shall pursue them, and overtake them.
You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
Must ye always rejoice, and go into my holy places continually, as they that keep a feast? and must ye go with a pipe, as those that rejoice, into the mountain of the Lord, to the God of Israel?
And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And the Lord shall make his glorious voice to be heard, and the wrath of his arm, to make a display with wrath and anger and devouring flame: he shall lighten terribly, and his wrath shall be as water and violent hail.
And every stroke of the staff of punishment which the Lord lays upon them will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres; battling with brandished arm he will fight with them.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
And it shall happen to him from every side, that they from whom their hope of assistance was, in which he trusted, themselves shall war against him in turn with drums and with harp.
For a burning place has long been prepared; yea, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.
Coptic English (عن القبطية)
For thou shalt be required before thy time: has it been prepared for thee also to reign? nay, God has prepared for thee a deep trench, wood piled, fire and much wood: the wrath of the Lord shall be as a trench kindled with sulphur.