Isaiah 33
1 Tragedy is coming to you, you destroyer who has not experienced destruction yourself, you deceiver who has not experienced deception yourself! When you have finished with your destroying, you will be destroyed yourself. Then you are finished with your deceiving, you will be deceived yourselves.
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 Lord, please be kind to us; we put our confidence in you. Be the strength we rely on every morning; be our salvation in times 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 When you roar, the peoples run away; when you prepare for action, the nations scatter!
At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.
4 You plunder defeated enemy armies like caterpillars eating up plants; like an attack of swarming locusts.
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 praised for he lives in highest heaven; he has filled Zion with justice and right.
The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.
6 He will be your constant support throughout your lives an abundant source of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. Reverence for the Lord is what makes Zion rich.
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 But look! Even your bravest soldiers are crying loudly in the street; the messengers you sent to ask for peace are weeping bitterly.
See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.
8 Your highways are deserted; nobody's traveling on your roads anymore. He breaks the treaty; he despises the witnesses; he doesn't care about anybody.
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 Israel is in mourning and fades away; Lebanon withers in shame; the fields of Sharon have become a desert; the forests of Bashan and Carmel have shed 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 “But now I'm going to intervene!” says the Lord. “I'm prepared to act! I will show myself to be above all others!
Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.
11 All you give birth to is only dry grass, all you deliver is just stubble. Your breath is a fire that will burn you up.
Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.
12 You people will be burned to ashes like thorns that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.
13 Those of you who are far away, recognize what I have accomplished; those of you who are nearby, recognize how powerful I am.”
Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.
14 The sinners who live in Zion tremble with fear; those who are irreligious are overcome with terror. They ask, “Who can live with this fire that consumes everything? Who can live among such everlasting burning?”
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 Those who live right and speak the truth, those who refuse to profit from extortion and refuse to take bribes, who don't listen to plots to kill people, who close their eyes rather than look at 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 They will live on high; they will be protected by the mountain fortresses; they will always be provided with food and will always have water.
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 You will see the king in his wonderful appearance, and you will view a land that stretches into the distance.
Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.
18 In your mind you will think about the terrifying things that were expected, and then ask yourself, “Where are the enemy officials—the scribes who were to record events, the treasurers who were to weigh the looted money, the surveyors who were to count and destroy 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 won't see these offensive people anymore with their barbaric language that sounds like someone stammering and is impossible to 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 On the contrary, you'll see Zion as a festival city. You will view Jerusalem as a quiet and peaceful place. It will be like a tent that's never taken down, whose tent-pegs are never pulled up, whose guy ropes never snap.
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 Right here our majestic Lord will be like a place of broad rivers and waters that no enemy ship with oars can cross—no great ship can 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. He is the one 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 The rigging on your ship hangs loose so the mast isn't secure and the sail can't be spread. Then all the looted treasure you're carrying will be divided among the victors—even those who are lame will have their share.
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 Nobody in Israel will say, “I'm sick,” and those who live there will have their guilt removed.
And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.
