Isaiah 31-32 constitute a single passage, a single “woe” pronounced against those in Judah who rely on Egypt for help. The passage is structured in a simple chiasm:

A. Weak flesh of Egypt v. strength of Spirit, 31:1-3

B. Yahweh defends Zion and turns away Assyrians, 31:4-9

C. Yahweh establishes a just king and princes in Zion, 32:1-8

B’. Women of the city are captured and stripped as slaves, 32:9-14

A’. The Spirit poured out to renew the land, 32:15-20

A couple of additional notes.

First, the connection of A and A’ is the repetition of “Spirit” ( ruach ), in both cases references to the Spirit of Yahweh (31:3; 32:15). The contrast is important to the passage: People in Judah are relying on Egypt to secure their prosperity and deliverance, but Yahweh warns them that the Egyptians are flesh, while He is Spirit. At the end of the passage, He describes what the Spirit can do, namely, to turn the wilderness to a field, field to forest, to establish justice and peace, to bring security. Security doesn’t come from flesh, but from the Spirit poured from on high.

Isaiah uses ruach a third time in 32:2, though there it is translated as “wind.” In context, the “wind” from which the princes protect Judah is the wind of the Assyrian invasion, perhaps the aroused “spirit” of the Assyrian warriors. Assyria and Egypt have “spirit,” but their spirit is a fleshly one, and no match for the Spirit of God that hovers over the city like a protecting eagle (31:5).

B and B’ both speak of the city under threat. B promises that the Assyrians will be turned back “by a sword not of man” (31:8). At the same time, though, B’ warns that those who are at ease, those who live in luxurious indifference in Zion, will suffer because of the Assyrian invasion. The Assyrians will desolate the land, depopulate the city, and take women into slavery. Jerusalem will be delivered, but Judah will hardly get off scot free. Perhaps the “daughters” of 32:9-14 are to be understood as the “daughter towns” that surround Jerusalem. They will be captured, though the mother city will be spared.

At the center of the passage, the hinge of the text, is the righteous king and his princes. The king is the midpoint in the transition from reliance on flesh to reliance on Spirit. King and Spirit - that is the solution to Judah’s condition of disarray, that is the means for renewing the land.