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.
Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t 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 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.
LORD, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
3 When you roar, the peoples run away; when you prepare for action, the nations scatter!
At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
4 You plunder defeated enemy armies like caterpillars eating up plants; like an attack of swarming locusts.
Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
5 The Lord is praised for he lives in highest heaven; he has filled Zion with justice and right.
The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
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.
There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is your treasure.
7 But look! Even your bravest soldiers are crying loudly in the street; the messengers you sent to ask for peace are weeping bitterly.
Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep 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 desolate. The travelling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect 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 land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
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 I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.
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.
You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you.
12 You people will be burned to ashes like thorns that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burnt 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.”
Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
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 afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who amongst us can live with the devouring fire? Who amongst us can live with everlasting burning?
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 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 hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from looking at 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 dwell on high. His place of defence will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
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 beauty. They will see a distant 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 meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers?
19 You won't see these offensive people anymore with their barbaric language that sounds like someone stammering and is impossible to understand.
You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend, with a strange language that you can’t understand.
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.
Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, 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 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 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 is the one who will save us.
For the LORD is our judge. The LORD is our lawgiver. The LORD is our king. He will save us.
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 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 Nobody in Israel will say, “I'm sick,” and those who live there will have their guilt removed.
The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
