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 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.
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, take pity on us. For we have waited for you. Be our arm in the morning and our salvation in the time of tribulation.
3 At the noise of a tumult, the peoples retreated, —When thou didst lift thyself up, nations were scattered.
From the voice of the Angel, the people fled. And from your exultation, the nations were scattered.
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.
And your spoils will be gathered together, just as the locusts are collected when the ditches have become filled with them.
5 Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height, —He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
The Lord has been magnified, because he has lived on high. He has filled Zion with judgment and justice.
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.
And there will be faith in your times: the riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. For the fear of the Lord is his treasure.
7 Lo! their heroes, have cried out openly, —the messengers of peace, in bitterness, continue weeping [they say]:
Behold, outside, those who see will cry out. The Angels of peace will 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 roads have become desolate. Travelers have ceased along the paths. The covenant has been nullified. He has tossed aside cities. He has disregarded men.
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 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.
10 Now, will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now, will I lift myself up, Now, will I be exalted!
“Now, I will rise up!” says the Lord. “Now I will be exalted! Now I will lift myself up!”
11 Ye shall conceive chaff Ye shall bring forth stubble, —Your own breath, like fire, shall devour you.
You will conceive heat. You will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will devour you like fire.
12 So shall peoples, become, as the burnings of lime, —As thorns lopped off, with fire, shall they be burned.
And the people will be like the ashes from a fire. They will be consumed by fire like a bundle of thorns.
13 Hear—ye that are far off. what I have done, And know—ye that are near my might:
“You who are far away, listen to what I have done! And you who are near, acknowledge my strength!”
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 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?
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,
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.
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,
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.
17 Of a king, in his beauty, shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.
His eyes will see the king in his elegance; they will discern the land from far away.
18 Thy heart, may murmur in terror, —Where is the scribe? Where—the receiver? Where—he that maketh a list of the towers?
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?
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 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.
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 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.
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;
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.
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. He himself 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 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.
24 Neither shall the inhabitant say. I am sick, —the people who dwell therein, have been forgiven iniquity.
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.
