“Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord, “Who take counsel, but not of Me, And who devise plans, but not of My Spirit, That they may add sin to sin;
Parallel translations
- WEB “Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
- KJV Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
- BSB “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.
- NASB “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord, “Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin;
- NLT “What sorrow awaits my rebellious children,” says the Lord. “You make plans that are contrary to mine. You make alliances not directed by my Spirit, thus piling up your sins.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God pronounces woe on rebellious people who make plans and alliances apart from Him, heaping sin upon sin. It matters because seeking security without God only multiplies guilt.
Overview
Isaiah confronts Judah's leaders for negotiating an alliance with Egypt against Assyria without consulting the LORD or His Spirit. Their self-reliant scheming is rebellion that adds sin to sin. The passage warns against trusting human strategy over God, a theme answered finally in Christ, in whom alone true refuge and security are found.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 32
- Isa 65:2I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;
- Isa 1:2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
- Isa 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
- Hos 7:13Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
- Isa 29:15Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”
- Hos 4:10–12They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to Yahweh.
- Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- 2 Tim 3:13But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
- Acts 7:51–52“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Isa 30:9For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law;
- Ps 61:4I will dwell in your tent forever. I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.
- Ezek 3:9I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”
- 1 Chr 10:13–14So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of Yahweh’s word, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire,
- Ezek 2:3He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.
- Ezek 12:2–3“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house.
- Jer 5:23“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone.
- Deut 29:19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.”
- Ps 91:1–4He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
- Deut 9:24You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.
- Isa 8:12“Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.
- Isa 1:5Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
- Isa 4:5Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.
- Ezek 3:26–27I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, that you will be mute, and will not be to them a reprover; for they are a rebellious house.
- Jer 4:17As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’” says Yahweh.
- Isa 32:2A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a large rock in a weary land.
- Hos 13:2Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’
- Isa 5:18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
- Deut 9:7Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.
- Isa 28:15“Because you have said, ‘We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won’t come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.’”
- Isa 28:20For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.
- Isa 8:19When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
- Num 32:14“Behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, an increase of sinful men, to increase the fierce anger of Yahweh toward Israel.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 30:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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