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 to you who destroy, but you were not destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
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.
Adonai, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our yishu'ah ·salvation· also in the time of trouble.
3 From the voice of the Angel, the people fled. And from your exultation, the nations were scattered.
At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
4 And your spoils will be gathered together, just as the locusts are collected when the ditches have become filled with them.
Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
5 The Lord has been magnified, because he has lived on high. He has filled Zion with judgment and justice.
Adonai is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking] with mishpat ·justice· 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.
There will be stability in your times, abundance of yishu'ah ·salvation·, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Adonai is your treasure.
7 Behold, outside, those who see will cry out. The Angels of peace will weep bitterly.
Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors 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.
The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He does not respect 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 mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
10 “Now, I will rise up!” says the Lord. “Now I will be exalted! Now I will lift myself up!”
“Now I will arise,” says Adonai; “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.
11 You will conceive heat. You will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will devour you like fire.
You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you.
12 And the people will be like the ashes from a fire. They will be consumed by fire like a bundle of thorns.
The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.
13 “You who are far away, listen to what I have done! And you who are near, acknowledge my strength!”
Sh'ma ·Hear obey·, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge 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?
The people who sin ·intentionally miss the mark goal· in Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking] are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
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.
He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from sh'ma ·hearing obeying· plots of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at 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 will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
17 His eyes will see the king in his elegance; they will discern the land from far away.
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant 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 will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted 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 will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can’t sh'ma ·hear understand obey·, with a strange language that you can’t understand.
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.
Look at Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking], the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem [City of peace], a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be 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 there Adonai will be with us in majesty, a place of wide rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there.
22 For the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our king. He himself will save us.
For Adonai is our judge. Adonai is our Torah-giver. Adonai is our king. He will save 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 rigging is untied. They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn’t spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder was divided. The lame took the prey.
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.
The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their depravity (moral evil).
