Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:

ISAIAH 30:1KJV
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Isaiah 30:1 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 30:1 mean?

Isaiah 30:1 presents the LORD’s warning to the people of Judah over their plans for protection. They are seeking safety through their own arrangements rather than following his direction, and their actions are adding further wrongdoing to what they have already done.

The LORD calls them “children,” a picture of a people related to him who are refusing his direction. The phrase “cover with a covering” pictures a protective arrangement; the following verse identifies Egypt as the place where they seek refuge.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 30:1

  • “Woe” — הוֹי (hoy): This is a cry of warning or distress. It gives the opening words the force of an alarm, rather than a simple complaint.
  • “rebellious” — סָרַר (sarar): This word carries the sense of being stubborn or refusing to turn. It describes the children’s resistance as a settled attitude.
  • “cover with a covering” — נָסַךְ (nasakh): The verb behind “cover” can carry the sense of pouring or making an arrangement. Here the phrase is often understood as referring to making an agreement for protection, rather than putting on a literal covering.

Why Isaiah 30:1 matters

  • The warning concerns a particular political decision. Verse 2 names Egypt, showing that the protective arrangement in view is connected with Judah’s search for help there.
  • The problem includes whose direction shapes the plan. The phrases “not of me” and “not of my spirit” set the people’s counsel against the LORD’s own direction.
  • “Add sin to sin” presents the new plan as part of a continuing pattern. The verse treats the proposed arrangement as another wrong added to earlier wrongs.

Where else these words appear

“rebellious” Hebrew H5637 · used in 16 verses

  • Deuteronomy 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:
  • Psalms 68:18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.
  • Jeremiah 5:23 But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

“add” Hebrew H5595 · used in 20 verses

  • Genesis 18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
  • Deuteronomy 29:19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
  • Psalms 40:14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

“cover” Hebrew H5258 · used in 24 verses

  • Genesis 35:14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
  • 1 Chronicles 11:18 And the three brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: but David would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD,
  • Jeremiah 19:13 And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

“covering” Hebrew H4541 · used in 28 verses

  • Exodus 32:4 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
  • Judges 17:4 Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image: and they were in the house of Micah.
  • Nehemiah 9:18 Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;