Isaiah 30:3

Isa 30:3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt [your] confusion.

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame.] They that consult not with God "consult shame to their own houses"; {Heb 2:10} and because they despise him, they shall be lightly esteemed. {1Sa 2:30} When any came to Bacon and Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth’s gravest counsellors, with a project or design of raising her revenue, or promoting her interest, they would ask him how much reputation would redound unto her by it. Moses, who was faithful in all God’s house, had the like care of God’s glory, {Exo 32:10; Exo 32:12} and is therefore renowned to all posterity. But these apostates in the text, for carnal policy and contempt of God, are justly branded and threatened with disgrace and disappointment.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

shame--disappointment. Egypt, weakened by its internal dissensions, can give no solid help.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3. strength … trust] refuge … hiding; as Isa_30:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame,.... They should be disappointed of the help and assistance they expected from him, and so be ashamed of their ally, and of confidence in him:

and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion; they should be confounded, when they should find themselves unsupported by the Egyptians, in whom they put their confidence; so all such that trust in the creature, or in an arm of flesh, sooner or later are ashamed and confounded; but those that trust in the Lord never are, neither in this world, nor in that to come.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame - (see the note at Isa 20:5).

Your confusion - Hebrew, ‘For reproach.’ It would either occur that the Egyptians “would” not enter into an alliance; or that if they did, they “could” not defend them, and in either case it would be the source of deep regret and shame.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Shame. Egypt had been defeated before Sennacherib’s approach.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As being not only unprofitable, but mischievous to you.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God. Judah relied on Pharaoh, as on a sort of God, which indeed he was considered in his own country ("Records of the Past," vol. 6. p. 145, I 320; p. 148, 1.418, etc.). Isaiah asserts the contrary in the strongest way: the Egyptians, one and all, are men mere men; and "there is no help in them". (Psa_146:3) Their horses flesh, and not spirit. The horses, on which so much reliance was placed, were mere animals, subject to all the weakness of the animal nature, not spirit-horses, with a life and vigor of their own, by which they could be a real tower of strength to those on whose side they ranged themselves. They all shall fail together ; i.e. the helpers and the helped (compare the concluding clauses of ver. 2).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

“And the strength of Egypt shall be to you for shame and the trust in the shadow of Egypt for confusion. For his chiefs are in Zoan, and his ambassadors arrive at Hanes.” As to the site and political importance of Zoan or Tanis, see the note on Isa 19:11.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

trust (See Scofield "Psa 2:12").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues speaking to the people of Judah.

Therefore Pharaoh's protection will be your shame, and the refuge in Egypt's shade, your humiliation

This can be reworded so that the abstract nouns "protection," "shame," and "humiliation" are expressed as adjectives or verbs. AT: "Therefore you will be ashamed because you relied on Pharaoh to protect you; you will be humiliated because you relied on the Egyptians to keep you safe" (See: Abstract Nouns)

the refuge in Egypt's shade

Egypt's protection from enemy armies is spoken of as if it were a shadow that protects someone from the burning heat of the sun. (See: Metaphor)

their princes

Here "princes" mean an official or ambassador, not necessarily sons of the king.

their ... They ... them

These words refer to the people of Judah.

Zoan ... Hanes

These were cities in the northern part of Egypt. (See: How to Translate Names)

have come to Hanes

Here "come" can be stated as "gone." (See: Go and Come)

because of a people

"because of the people of Egypt"

translationWords

Pharaoh

shame

refuge

Egypt

prince

messenger

people group

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

והחסות And the trust. A noun; it is the contracted form of חסיות; comp. עבדות slavery (Ezr. 9:8)

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.