Isaiah 33

1 Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.

Ho! you who make waste those who did not make you waste; acting falsely to those who were not false to you. When you have come to an end of wasting, you will be made waste, and after your false acts, they will do the same to you.

2 O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.

O Lord, have mercy on us; for we have been waiting for your help: be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of trouble.

3 The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise.

At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.

4 Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

And the goods taken in war will be got together like the massing of young locusts; men will be rushing on them like the rushing of locusts.

5 The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.

6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

And she will have no more fear of change, being full of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is her wealth.

7 Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.

8 The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.

The highways are waste, no man is journeying there: the agreement is broken, he has made sport of the towns, he has no thought for man.

9 The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

The earth is sorrowing and wasting away; Lebanon is put to shame and has become waste; Sharon is like the Arabah; and in Bashan and Carmel the leaves are falling.

10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.

11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.

Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.

12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.

13 You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

The sinners in Zion are full of fear; the haters of God are shaking with wonder. Who among us may keep his place before the burning fire? who among us may see the eternal burnings?

15 He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

He whose ways are true, and whose words are upright; he who gives no thought to the profits of false acts, whose hands have not taken rewards, who will have no part in putting men to death, and whose eyes are shut against evil;

16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.

He will have a place on high: he will be safely shut in by the high rocks: his bread will be given to him; his waters will be certain.

17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.

Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.

18 Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”

Your heart will give thought to the cause of your fear: where is the scribe, where is he who made a record of the payments, where is he by whom the towers were numbered?

19 You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken.

Let your eyes be resting on Zion, the town of our holy feasts: you will see Jerusalem, a quiet resting-place, a tent which will not be moved, whose tent-pins will never be pulled up, and whose cords will never be broken.

21 But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass.

But there the Lord will be with us in his glory, ... wide rivers and streams; where no boat will go with blades, and no fair ship will be sailing.

22 For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.

23 Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.

Your cords have become loose; they were not able to make strong the support of their sails, the sail was not stretched out: then the blind will take much property, the feeble-footed will make division of the goods of war.

24 And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.

And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.