< 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.
Woe to you who plunder! Will you yourselves not also be plundered? And woe to you who despise! Will you yourselves not also be despised? When you will have completed your plundering, you will be plundered. When, out of fatigue, you will have ceased acting with contempt, you will be treated with contempt.
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, take pity on us. For we have waited for you. Be our arm in the morning and our salvation in the time of tribulation.
3 The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise.
From the voice of the Angel, the people fled. And from your exultation, the nations were scattered.
4 Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
And your spoils will be gathered together, just as the locusts are collected when the ditches have become filled with them.
5 The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
The Lord has been magnified, because he has lived on high. He has filled Zion with judgment and justice.
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 there will be faith in your times: the riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. For the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
7 Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
Behold, outside, those who see will cry out. The Angels of peace will weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.
The roads have become desolate. Travelers have ceased along the paths. The covenant has been nullified. He has tossed aside cities. He has disregarded men.
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 has mourned and languished. Lebanon has been confounded and desecrated. And Sharon has become like a desert. And Bashan and Carmel have been struck together.
10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.
“Now, I will rise up!” says the Lord. “Now I will be exalted! Now I will lift myself up!”
11 You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.
You will conceive heat. You will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will devour you like fire.
12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.
And the people will be like the ashes from a fire. They will be consumed by fire like a bundle of thorns.
13 You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.”
“You who are far away, listen to what I have done! And you who are near, acknowledge my strength!”
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 terrified; trembling has taken hold of the hypocrites. Who among you is able to live with a devouring fire? Who among you will live with an everlasting flame?
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—
The one who walks in justice and speaks the truth, who casts out avarice with oppression and shakes all bribes from his hands, who blocks his ears so that he may not listen to blood, and closes his eyes so that he may not see evil.
16 he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
Such a one will live on high; the fortification of rocks will be his lofty place. Bread has been given to him; his waters are reliable.
17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
His eyes will see the king in his elegance; they will discern the land from far away.
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 meditate on fear. Where are the learned? Where are those who ponder the words of the law? Where are the teachers of little ones?
19 You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.
You will not look upon a shameless people, a people of exalted words. For you are not able to understand the dissertation of a tongue in which there is no wisdom.
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.
Look with favor upon Zion, the city of our solemnity. Your eyes will behold Jerusalem: an opulent habitation, a tabernacle that can never be taken away. Its stakes will not be taken away forever, nor will any of its cords 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.
For only in that place has our Lord been magnified. It is a place of rivers, very broad and open. No ship with oars will cross through it, nor will the great Greek ship pass through it.
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 lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He himself will save us.
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 ropes have become loose, and they will not prevail. Your mast will be such that you will not be able to unfurl a flag. Then the spoils of much plunder will be divided. The lame will seize the spoils.
24 And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.
He who is nearby will not say: “I am too weak.” The people who live in it will have their iniquity taken away from them.