Isaiah 30

Isaiah 30
The Great Isaiah Scroll, the best preserved of the biblical scrolls found at Qumran from the second century BC, contains all the verses in this chapter.
Book Book of Isaiah
Bible part Old Testament
Order in the Bible part 23
Category Nevi'im

Isaiah 30 is the thirtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is a part of the Book of the Prophets.[1][2] The Jerusalem Bible groups chapters 28-35 together as a collection of "poems on Israel and Judah".[3] The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges describes this chapter as "a series of Oracles dealing with the Egyptian Alliance and its consequences; the present state and future prospects of Israel, and the destruction of the Assyrians".[4]

Text

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

  • Masoretic Text (10th century)
  • Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC) [5]
    • 1QIsaa: complete
    • 1QIsab: extant: verses 10‑15, 21‑27
    • 4QIsac (4Q57): extant: verses 8‑17
    • 4QIsar (4Q69b): extant: verse 23

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

Structure

The New King James Version organises this chapter as follows:

Futile Confidence in Egypt

In verses 1-7, Isaiah condemns King Hezekiah of Judah's reliance on negotiations with Egypt for support against the Assyrians. 2 Kings 18:17-25 records the Assyrians' delegation to Jerusalem which was also critical of Hezekiah's reliance on Egypt.

Verse 4

For his princes were at Zoan

Zoan was a city of Egypt in the eastern Nile delta.

Verse 6

The burden against the beasts of the South.
Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From which came the lioness and lion,
The viper and fiery flying serpent,
They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people who shall not profit.[6]

Brenton's Septuagint Translation adds a sub-title calling this verse "the vision of the quadrupeds in the desert".[7]

Rebellious People

The Pulpit Commentary calls verses 8-17 "a renewal of threatening".[8]

Verse 8

New King James Version:

Write it before them on a tablet,
and note it on a scroll [9]

This verse may be understood to mean that Isaiah's message (the denunciation of the Egyptian alliance) should be summarised and published in "the briefest possible form" and also have "a full notation of it in a book, or parchment roll". The "tablet" was to be for the admonition of the living generation; the "scroll" or "book" was for future generations.[8]

Judgment on Assyria

Verse 33

New King James Version:

For Tophet was established of old
Yes, for the king it is prepared. (Isaiah 30:33).

This verse begins For a hearth is ordered of old in the JPS 1917 edition of the Masoretic Text. The Contemporary English Version translates as:

Long ago the LORD got a place ready for burning the body of the dead king.

The king concerned is Sennacherib, king of Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE, whose death is related in Isaiah 37:38.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ J. D. Davis. 1960. A Dictionary of The Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House.
  2. ↑ Theodore Hiebert, et al. 1996. The New Interpreter's Bible: Volume VI. Nashville: Abingdon.
  3. ↑ Jerusalem Bible (1966), Isaiah section E: Poems on Israel and Judah
  4. ↑ Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Isaiah 30, accessed 25 April 2018
  5. ↑ Timothy A. J. Jull; Douglas J. Donahue; Magen Broshi; Emanuel Tov (1995). "Radiocarbon Dating of Scrolls and Linen Fragments from the Judean Desert". Radiocarbon. 37 (1): 14. Retrieved 26 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Isaiah 30:6
  7. ↑ Isaiah 30:6 - Brenton's Septuagint Translation
  8. 1 2 Pulpit Commentary of Isaiah 30, accessed 27 April 2018
  9. ↑ Isaiah 30:8

Jewish

Christian

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