Isaiah 33

1 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.

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 Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time 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 At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.

At the loud noise the peoples have gone in flight; at your coming up the nations have gone in all directions.

4 Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.

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 Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

The Lord is lifted up; his place is on high: he has made Zion full of righteousness and true religion.

6 There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.

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 Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.

See, the men of war are sorrowing outside the town: those who came looking for peace are weeping bitterly.

8 The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man.

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 The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

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 “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh. “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.

Now will I come forward, says the Lord; now will I be lifted up; now will my power be seen.

11 You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you.

Your designs will be without profit, and their effect will be nothing: you will be burned up by the fire of my breath.

12 The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.

And the peoples will be like the burning of chalk: as thorns cut down, which are burned in the fire.

13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”

Give ear, you who are far off, to what I have done: see my power, you who are near.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with 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 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—

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 he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.

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 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land.

Your eyes will see the king in his glory: they will be looking on a far-stretching land.

18 Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted 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 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.

Never again will you see the cruel people, a people whose tongue has no sense for you; whose language is strange to you.

20 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.

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 But there Yahweh 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.

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 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 law-giver, the Lord is our king; he will be our saviour.

23 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.

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 The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.

And the men of Zion will not say, I am ill: for its people will have forgiveness for their sin.