Isaiah 31 KJV
Woe to Those Who Trust Egypt
Isaiah Chapter 31: Woe to Those Who Trust Egypt
The chapter's warning against Egyptian horses and chariots (v.1) inverts the Exodus narrative, where God himself defeats Pharaoh's cavalry, framing alliance with Egypt as a reversal of Israel's foundational deliverance.
1oe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
3 Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
4 For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
6 Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
8 Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
9 And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
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Did You Know?
The chapter's warning against Egyptian horses and chariots (v.1) inverts the Exodus narrative, where God himself defeats Pharaoh's cavalry, framing alliance with Egypt as a reversal of Israel's foundational deliverance.
Isaiah 31:5 employs the rare verb 'pasach' ('passing over') for Yahweh's protection of Jerusalem, deliberately echoing the Passover in Exodus 12 and implying a new exodus-style intervention against Assyria.
The lion metaphor in v.4, where Yahweh refuses to be driven from his prey by 'shepherds,' subverts ancient Near Eastern royal lion-hunt iconography by casting the Assyrian invaders as ineffectual herdsmen.
Verses 6-7 link repentance from idolatry with the future abolition of silver and gold idols, a motif that anticipates the iconoclastic reforms under Hezekiah and later Josiah while tying political trust in Egypt to spiritual apostasy.
The oracle's closing promise that Assyria will fall 'by a sword not of man' (v.8) contrasts human military technology with divine intervention, a theological claim later dramatized in the angelic destruction of Sennacherib's army (Isa 37:36).
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain and stay on horses, and trust in chariots โ In their level and fertile plains horses could easily be used and fed (Ex 14:9; 1Ki 10:28). In hilly Palestine horses were not so easilyโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Isaiah 31 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: The chief strength of the egyptian armies lay in their cavalry.
- 1
- and stay on horses, and trust in chariots โ In their level and fertile plains horses could easily be used and fed (Ex 14:9; 1Ki 10:28). In hilly Palestine horses were not so easily had or available. The Jews were therefore the more eager to get Egyptian chariots as allies against the Assyrian cavalry. In Assyrian sculptures chariots are represented drawn by three horses, and with three men in them (see Isa 36:9; Ps 20:7; Da 9:13).
- 2
- he also is wise โ as well as the Egyptian priests, so famed for wisdom (Ac 7:22), but who are "fools" before Him (Isa 19:11). He not only devises, but executes what He devises without "calling back His words" (Nu 23:19). home โ the whole race. help โ the Egyptian succor sought by the Jews.
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