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12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:

“You have rejected this message;[a]
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick,[b]
and rely on that kind of behavior.[c]
13 So this sin will become your downfall.
You will be like a high wall
that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;
it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.[d]
14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged.[e]
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough[f]
to scoop a hot coal from a fire[g]
or to skim off water from a cistern.”[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 30:12 tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
  2. Isaiah 30:12 tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”
  3. Isaiah 30:12 tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”
  4. Isaiah 30:13 tn The verse reads literally, “So this sin will become for you like a breach ready to fall, bulging on a high wall, the breaking of which comes suddenly, in a flash.” Their sin produces guilt and will result in judgment. Like a wall that collapses their fall will be swift and sudden.
  5. Isaiah 30:14 tn Heb “Its shattering is like the shattering of a jug of [i.e., “made by”] potters, [so] shattered one cannot save [any of it].”
  6. Isaiah 30:14 tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  7. Isaiah 30:14 tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”
  8. Isaiah 30:14 tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.