Isaiah 33

1 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.

Woe, spoiler! And you not spoiled, And treacherous! And they did not deal treacherously with you, When you finish, O spoiler, you are spoiled, When you finish dealing treacherously, They deal treacherously with you.

2 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.

O YHWH, favor us, We have waited for You, Be their arm, in the mornings, Indeed, our salvation in time of adversity.

3 From the voice of the Angel, the people fled. And from your exultation, the nations were scattered.

From the voice of a multitude peoples have fled, From Your exaltation nations have been scattered.

4 And your spoils will be gathered together, just as the locusts are collected when the ditches have become filled with them.

And Your spoil has been gathered, A gathering of the caterpillar, As a running to and fro of locusts He is running on it.

5 The Lord has been magnified, because he has lived on high. He has filled Zion with judgment and justice.

YHWH is set on high, for He is dwelling on high, He filled Zion [with] judgment and righteousness,

6 And there will be faith in your times: the riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. For the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

And has been the steadfastness of your times, The strength of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, Fear of YHWH—it [is] His treasure.

7 Behold, outside, those who see will cry out. The Angels of peace will weep bitterly.

Behold, “Their Ariel,” they have cried outside, Messengers of peace weep bitterly.

8 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.

Highways have been desolated, He who passes along the path has ceased, He has broken covenant, He has despised enemies, He has not esteemed a man.

9 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.

The land has mourned, languished, Lebanon has been confounded, Sharon has been withered as a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking.

10 “Now, I will rise up!” says the Lord. “Now I will be exalted! Now I will lift myself up!”

Now I arise, says YHWH, Now I am exalted, now I am lifted up.

11 You will conceive heat. You will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will devour you like fire.

You conceive chaff, you bear stubble; Your spirit—a fire [that] devours you.

12 And the people will be like the ashes from a fire. They will be consumed by fire like a bundle of thorns.

And peoples have been [as] burnings of lime, Thorns, as sweepings, they burn with fire.

13 “You who are far away, listen to what I have done! And you who are near, acknowledge my strength!”

Hear, you far off, that which I have done, And know, you near ones, My might.

14 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?

Sinners have been afraid in Zion, Trembling has seized the profane: Who dwells for us—consuming fire, Who dwells for us—burnings of the age?

15 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.

Whoever is walking righteously, And is speaking uprightly, Kicking against gain of oppressions, Shaking his hands from taking hold on a bribe, Stopping his ear from hearing of blood, And shutting his eyes from looking on evil,

16 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.

He inhabits high places, Strongholds of rock [are] his high tower, His bread has been given, his waters steadfast.

17 His eyes will see the king in his elegance; they will discern the land from far away.

Your eyes see a king in his beauty, They see a far-off land.

18 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?

Your heart meditates [on] terror, Where [is] he who is counting? Where [is] he who is weighing? Where [is] he who is counting the towers?

19 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.

You do not see the strong people, A people deeper of lip than to be understood, Of a scorned tongue, there is no understanding.

20 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.

See Zion, the city of our meetings, Your eyes see Jerusalem—a quiet habitation, A tent not taken down, its pins are not removed forever, And none of its cords are broken.

21 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.

But YHWH [is] mighty for us there, A place of rivers—streams of broad sides, No ship with oars goes into it, And a mighty ship does not pass over it.

22 For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He himself will save us.

For YHWH, ours who is judging, YHWH our lawgiver, YHWH our King—He saves us.

23 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.

Your ropes have been left, They do not correctly strengthen their mast, They have not spread out a sail, Then a prey of much spoil has been apportioned, The lame have taken spoil.

24 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.

Nor does an inhabitant say, “I was sick”; The people dwelling in it [are] forgiven of [their] iniquity!