Isaiah 33
1 Woe to you who destroy, but you were not 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.
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.
2 LORD, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
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.
3 At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
When you roar, the peoples run away; when you prepare for action, the nations scatter!
4 Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
You plunder defeated enemy armies like caterpillars eating up plants; like an attack of swarming locusts.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
The Lord is praised for he lives in highest heaven; he has filled Zion with justice and right.
6 There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is your treasure.
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.
7 Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
But look! Even your bravest soldiers are crying loudly in the street; the messengers you sent to ask for peace are weeping bitterly.
8 The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He does not respect man.
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.
9 The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
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.
10 “Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.
“But now I'm going to intervene!” says the Lord. “I'm prepared to act! I will show myself to be above all others!
11 You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you.
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.
12 The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.
You people will be burned to ashes like thorns that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
Those of you who are far away, recognize what I have accomplished; those of you who are nearby, recognize how powerful I am.”
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 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?”
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—
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.
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.
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.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land.
You will see the king in his wonderful appearance, and you will view a land that stretches into the distance.
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?
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?”
19 You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you cannot comprehend, with a strange language that you cannot understand.
You won't see these offensive people anymore with their barbaric language that sounds like someone stammering and is impossible to understand.
20 Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.
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.
21 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.
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.
22 For the LORD is our judge. The LORD is our lawgiver. The LORD is our king. He will save us.
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king. He is the one who will save us.
23 Your rigging is untied. They could not strengthen the foot of their mast. They could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder was divided. The lame took the prey.
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.
24 The inhabitant will not say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
Nobody in Israel will say, “I'm sick,” and those who live there will have their guilt removed.
