Discovery BoxIsaiah 30:12-14 
Context30:12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You have rejected this message; 1
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick, 2
and rely on that kind of behavior. 3
30:13 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. 4
30:14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged. 5
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough 6
to scoop a hot coal from a fire 7
or to skim off water from a cistern.” 8
1 tn The sentence actually begins with the word “because.” In the Hebrew text vv. 12-13 are one long sentence.
2 tn Heb “and you trust in oppression and cunning.”
3 tn Heb “and you lean on it”; NAB “and depend on it.”
4 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 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 tn The words “large enough” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
7 tn Heb “to remove fire from the place of kindling.”
8 tn On the meaning of גֶבֶא (geveh, “cistern”) see HALOT 170 s.v.
