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Isaiah 30 · a question people ask

"I have called her Rahab who sits still" (30:7). Who is Rahab here?

In the text

In the WEB the name follows Egypt: "For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still" (30:7). The verse doesn't name the one who says I. It isn't Rahab of Jericho, "a prostitute whose name was Rahab" (Joshua 2:1): her name is spelled with a different Hebrew letter. The spelling here is the one in "I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me" (Psalm 87:4), and the chapter on Psalm 87 studies the name and the numbers Strong's gives it. Isaiah names Rahab once more: "Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?" (Isaiah 51:9). The chapter doesn't explain the name, and these notes don't either. What it sets beside the name is "who sits still", after "Egypt helps in vain" (30:7).

The verses

“For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still.”
Isaiah 30:7 · World English Bible
“Joshua the son of Nun secretly sent two men out of Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, including Jericho.” They went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and slept there.”
Joshua 2:1 · World English Bible
“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me. Behold, Philistia, Tyre, and also Ethiopia: “This one was born there.””
Psalm 87:4 · World English Bible
“Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?”
Isaiah 51:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 30

Isaiah 30: This is the way

The people told the seers "Don’t see!", said "Get out of the way", and would not hear the LORD's law (30:9-11). The promise answers in the same Hebrew words: "your eyes will see your teachers", "your ears will hear", "This is the way. Walk in it" (30:20-21). And the first one who waits in 30:18 is the LORD.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions