Isaiah 33

1 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.

Woe to thee that wastest, while thou wast not wasted; and traitor, while men dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt have made an end of wasting, thou shalt be wasted, and when thou shalt have finished to deal treacherously, men shall deal treacherously with thee.

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

O Lord, be gracious; we have waited for thee: be thou their support every morning, also our salvation in the time of trouble.

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

At the noise of [thy] thunder people fled; when thou liftedst thyself up nations were scattered.

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

And your spoil shall be gathered as the cricket gathereth: as locusts run about, so shall people hasten after it.

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

The Lord is exalted; for he dwelleth on high; he hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

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

And the stability of thy times and the strength of thy happiness shall be wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

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

Behold, their valiant ones cry without: the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

8 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.

The highways lie waste, ceased hath the wayfaring traveler: he hath broken the covenant, he despiseth cities, he regardeth not man.

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

It mourneth, it languisheth—the land: Lebanon is ashamed, it is withered away; Sharon is become like a wilderness; and bereft of their fruits are Bashan and Carmel.

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

Now will I arise, saith the Lord; now will I raise myself; now will I lift myself up.

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

Ye shall be pregnant with hay, [and] ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath is a fire, which shall devour you.

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

And the people shall be burnt as lime: as cut-off thorns shall they blaze up in fire.

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

Hear, ye distant ones, what I have done; and acknowledge ye that are near my might.

14 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?

In Zion sinners are in dread; trembling hath seized on hypocrites. “Who among us shall abide with the devouring fire? who among us shall abide with everlasting burnings?”

15 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,

He that walketh in righteousness, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands against taking hold of bribes, that stoppeth his ears against hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes against looking on evil;

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

He shall dwell on high; rocky strongholds shall be his refuge: his bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure.

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

The king in his beauty shall thy eyes behold: they shall see a far-off land.

18 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?

Thy heart shall meditate [on past] terror. “Where is who wrote down? where is he that weighed? where is he that counted the towers?”

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

The barbarous people shalt thou not see any more, the people of a speech too obscure to be understood, of a stammering tongue, without meaning.

20 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.

Look on Zion, the town of our solemn assemblies; thy eyes shall see Jerusalem as an undisturbed residence, a tent that shall not be struck for removal; not one of the stakes of which shall ever be moved, and all the cords of which shall never be torn loose.

21 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.

But there will the Lord [show himself] mighty unto us, [in] a place of rivers and streams of ample breadth; wherein no oared galley shall go, and a gallant ship shall not pass thereby.

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

For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.

23 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.

Loose hang thy tacklings; they cannot well uphold strongly their mast, they cannot spread the sail. Then are divided booty and spoil in abundance, [even] the lame take the booty.

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

And no inhabitant shall say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be one whose iniquity is forgiven.