Do you trust in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it? That is what Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is to all who trust in him.
Your princes are rebels and comrades of thieves; Each one of them loves a bribe and looks for gifts. The fatherless they do not defend, the widow’s plea does not reach them.
Ah! Sinful nation, people laden with wickedness, evil offspring, corrupt children! They have forsaken the Lord, spurned the Holy One of Israel, apostatized,
You have declared, “We have made a covenant with death, with Sheol we have made a pact; When the raging flood passes through, it will not reach us; For we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we have found a hiding place,”—
Ah! Those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses; Who put their trust in chariots because of their number, and in horsemen because of their combined power, But look not to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord!
Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain. They will be like streams of water in a dry country, like the shade of a great rock in a parched land.
Then will the Lord create, over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her place of assembly, A smoking cloud by day and a light of flaming fire by night.
And when they say to you, “Inquire of ghosts and soothsayers who chirp and mutter; should not a people inquire of their gods, consulting the dead on behalf of the living,
Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you must say to the king of Judah who sent you to consult me: Listen! Pharaoh’s army, which has set out to help you, will return to Egypt, its own land.
say to me: Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day.
No longer shall they be security for the house of Israel, But a reminder of its iniquity in turning away to follow them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God. Wages for Nebuchadnezzar.
Now they continue to sin, making for themselves molten images, Silver idols according to their skill, all of them the work of artisans. “To these, offer sacrifice,” they say. People kiss calves!
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Ruin to them, for they have rebelled against me! Though I wished to redeem them, they spoke lies against me.
And now here you are, offspring of sinful stock, rising up in your ancestors’ place to add still more to the Lord’s blazing anger against the Israelites.
the Lord will never consent to pardon them. Instead, the Lord’s burning wrath will flare up against them; every curse written in this book will pounce on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under the heavens.
Remember and do not forget how you angered the Lord, your God, in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious toward the Lord.