The Hebrew Prophets

Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?

In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?

On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—

those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale.

For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

“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.

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.

But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and the refuge of Egypt’s shade your disgrace.

For though their princes are at Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,

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.”

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.

Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.

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.

These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

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.

Get out of the way; turn off the road. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel!”

Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,