Yesaya 30:29-32

30:29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. ¹ 

30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout ² 

and intervene in power, ³ 

with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, ⁴ 

with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.

30:31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria; ⁵ 

he will beat them with a club.

30:32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel, ⁶ 

with which the Lord will beat them, ⁷ 

will be accompanied by music from the ⁸  tambourine and harp,

and he will attack them with his weapons. ⁹ 

[30:29]  ¹ tn Heb “[you will have] joy of heart, like the one going with a flute to enter the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel.” The image here is not a foundational rock, but a rocky cliff where people could hide for protection (for example, the fortress of Masada).

[30:30]  ² tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”

[30:30]  ³ tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”

[30:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”

[30:31]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed by the voice of the Lord Assyria will be shattered.”

[30:32]  ⁶ tc The Hebrew text has “every blow from a founded [i.e., “appointed”?] cudgel.” The translation above, with support from a few medieval Hebrew mss, assumes an emendation of מוּסָדָה (musadah, “founded”) to מוּסָרֹה (musaroh, “his discipline”).

[30:32]  ⁷ tn Heb “which the Lord lays on him.”

[30:32]  ⁸ tn Heb “will be with” (KJV similar).

[30:32]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “and with battles of brandishing [weapons?] he will fight against him.” Some prefer to emend וּבְמִלְחֲמוֹת (uvÿmilkhamot, “and with battles of”) to וּבִמְחֹלוֹת (uvimkholot, “and with dancing”). Note the immediately preceding references to musical instruments.