Isaiah 33
1 Alas! thou plunderer when, thou, hadst not been plundered, And thou traitor when they had not betrayed thee: When thou hast ceased plundering, thou shalt be plundered, When thou hast left off betraying, they shall betray thee.
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
2 O Yahweh! shew us favour, —For thee, have we waited, —Be thou their arm every morning, Yea our salvation in the time of distress.
O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.
3 At the noise of a tumult, the peoples retreated, —When thou didst lift thyself up, nations were scattered.
The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise.
4 Then shall your spoil be gathered as the gathering of the caterpillar, —As the swift running of locusts, is he about to run upon them.
Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.
5 Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height, —He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 So shall a wealth of deliverances, wisdom and knowledge, become the stability of thy times, —the reverence of Yahweh, the same is his treasure.
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
7 Lo! their heroes, have cried out openly, —the messengers of peace, in bitterness, continue weeping [they say]:
Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted, The passer-by on the path, hath ceased, —He hath broken covenant, He hath despised cities, He hath made no account of men.
The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded.
9 The land mourneth, languisheth, Lebanon, displayeth shame, is withered, —Sharon, hath become, as the waste plain, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.
The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 Now, will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now, will I lift myself up, Now, will I be exalted!
“Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.
11 Ye shall conceive chaff Ye shall bring forth stubble, —Your own breath, like fire, shall devour you.
You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 So shall peoples, become, as the burnings of lime, —As thorns lopped off, with fire, shall they be burned.
The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze.
13 Hear—ye that are far off. what I have done, And know—ye that are near my might:
You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.”
14 Terror-stricken in Zion, —are sinners, Shuddering hath seized the impious, —Who among us can sojourn with a fire that devoureth? Who among us can sojourn with burnings age-abiding?
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”
15 He that walketh righteously, And speaketh uprightly, —He that refuseth the gain of exactions That shaketh his hands free from holding a bribe, That stoppeth his ear from hearkening to deeds of blood, And shutteth his eyes from giving countenance to wrong,
He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—
16 He, the heights, shall inhabit, A stronghold of crags, shall be his refuge, —His bread, hath been delivered, His waters, have been made sure,
he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.
17 Of a king, in his beauty, shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar.
18 Thy heart, may murmur in terror, —Where is the scribe? Where—the receiver? Where—he that maketh a list of the towers?
Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?”
19 The fierce people, shalt thou not see, —The people of too deep a lip to be understood, of too barbarous a tongue for thee to comprehend.
You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand.
20 Look thou on Zion, the city of our appointed feast, —Thine own eyes, shall see Jerusalem—A home of comfort A tent which shall not be packed up—Whose pins shall not be pulled out, for ever, And none of, whose cords, shall be broken.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But, there shall Yahweh be our majestic one, A place of rivers—streams broad on both hands, Wherein shall go no galley with oars, Neither shall majestic ship traverse it;
But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass.
22 For, Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh, is our lawgiver, —Yahweh, is our king, He will save us!
For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.
23 Loosed are thy ropes, —They cannot strengthen the socket of their mast They have not unfurled a sail Now, can be apportioned spoil, in abundance, The lame, have captured prey!
Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 Neither shall the inhabitant say. I am sick, —the people who dwell therein, have been forgiven iniquity.
And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.
