Isaiah — Chapter 31
Ha!Those who go down to Egypt for helpAnd rely upon horses!They have put their trust in abundance of chariots,In vast numbers of riders,And they have not turned to the Holy One of Israel,They have not sought GOD.
But [God] too is wise—Bringing on misfortuneAnd not canceling prior pronouncements.[God] shall rise against the house of evildoers,And the alliesaallies Lit. “help.” of the workers of iniquity.
For the Egyptians are human, not God,And their horses are flesh, not spirit;And when GOD stretches out an arm,The helper shall tripAnd the helped one shall fall,And both shall perish together.
For thus GOD has said to me:As a lion—a great beast—Growls over its preyAnd, when the shepherds gatherIn force against it,Is not dismayed by their criesNor cowed by their noise—So GOD of Hosts will descend to make warAgainst the mount and the hill of Zion.
Like the birds that fly, even so will GOD of Hosts shield Jerusalem, shielding and saving, protecting and rescuing.
Return, O children of Israel,bReturn, O children of Israel Emendation yields “Then the children of Israel shall return.” to the One to whom they have been so shamefully false;
for in that day everyone will reject their idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have made for your guilt.
Then Assyria shall fall,Not by the sword of mortals;A sword not of humans shall devour him.He shall shrivelcshrivel From root nss; cf. 10.18; in contrast to others “flee.” before the sword,And his young men pine away.dpine away From root mss; cf. 10.18; in contrast to others “become tributary.”
His rock shall melt with terror,And his officers shall collapse from weaknessecollapse from weakness Cf. first note at v. 8; meaning of Heb. uncertain.—Declares GOD, who has a fire in Zion,Who has an oven in Jerusalem.fJerusalem Cf. 30.33.
✦ Connected Across Traditions
Divine Compassion & Mercy
Quran 1:1
“In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.”
Luke 6:36
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Snp 1.8
“As a mother would risk her life to protect her child, her only child, even so should one cultivate a limitless heart with regard to all beings.”
Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1
“One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred.”
Impermanence & Letting Go
Dhammapada 20:277
“All conditioned things are impermanent. When one sees this with wisdom, one turns away from suffering.”
Tao Te Ching 76
“A man is born gentle and weak. At his death he is hard and stiff. The soft and yielding is the disciple of life.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Bhagavad Gita 2:22
“As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.”
Good vs Evil / Light vs Darkness
Yasna 30:3
“Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action.”
John 1:5
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Dhammapada 1:1-2
“Mind is the forerunner of all actions. If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, happiness follows like a shadow.”
Bhagavad Gita 16:21
“There are three gates to self-destructive hell: lust, anger, and greed. Therefore, one must learn to give these up.”