Bible Strands
Isaiah 30:5
everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them. They bring neither help nor benefit, but only shame and disgrace.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaiah addresses Judah’s leadership as their envoys arrive in Hanes and princes gather at Zoan. The prophecy marks the moment their diplomatic mission to Egypt and Cush reaches its destination.
The words — The Hebrew הֹבִ֔ישׁ (hiv'ish) literally means "he will be put to shame," while יוֹעִ֣ילוּ (yo'ilu) translates as "they will confer profit." These terms establish the alliance’s outcome as both worthless and humiliating.
The thread — The text’s warning against foreign reliance appears in Jeremiah 2:36 and Isaiah 20:5, where hope in Egypt and Cush ends in disappointment and dismay. Isaiah 30:7 immediately follows by declaring Egypt’s help empty and labeling her Rahab Who Sits Still.
Why it lands — The verse states that political alliances deliver neither aid nor advantage, only disgrace. It requires a reader to abandon reliance on human power and recognize that only divine provision yields actual benefit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:36 How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
- Isaiah 30:7 Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.
- Isaiah 20:5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
- Isaiah 30:16 “No,” you say, “we will flee on horses.” Therefore you will flee! “We will ride swift horses,” but your pursuers will be faster.
- Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.