Isaiah 33
1 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.
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.
2 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.
O Yahweh! shew us favour, —For thee, have we waited, —Be thou their arm every morning, Yea our salvation in the time of distress.
3 When you roar, the peoples run away; when you prepare for action, the nations scatter!
At the noise of a tumult, the peoples retreated, —When thou didst lift thyself up, nations were scattered.
4 You plunder defeated enemy armies like caterpillars eating up plants; like an attack of swarming locusts.
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.
5 The Lord is praised for he lives in highest heaven; he has filled Zion with justice and right.
Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height, —He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 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.
So shall a wealth of deliverances, wisdom and knowledge, become the stability of thy times, —the reverence of Yahweh, the same is his treasure.
7 But look! Even your bravest soldiers are crying loudly in the street; the messengers you sent to ask for peace are weeping bitterly.
Lo! their heroes, have cried out openly, —the messengers of peace, in bitterness, continue weeping [they say]:
8 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.
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.
9 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.
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.
10 “But now I'm going to intervene!” says the Lord. “I'm prepared to act! I will show myself to be above all others!
Now, will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now, will I lift myself up, Now, will I be exalted!
11 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.
Ye shall conceive chaff Ye shall bring forth stubble, —Your own breath, like fire, shall devour you.
12 You people will be burned to ashes like thorns that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
So shall peoples, become, as the burnings of lime, —As thorns lopped off, with fire, shall they be burned.
13 Those of you who are far away, recognize what I have accomplished; those of you who are nearby, recognize how powerful I am.”
Hear—ye that are far off. what I have done, And know—ye that are near my might:
14 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?”
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?
15 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.
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,
16 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.
He, the heights, shall inhabit, A stronghold of crags, shall be his refuge, —His bread, hath been delivered, His waters, have been made sure,
17 You will see the king in his wonderful appearance, and you will view a land that stretches into the distance.
Of a king, in his beauty, shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.
18 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?”
Thy heart, may murmur in terror, —Where is the scribe? Where—the receiver? Where—he that maketh a list of the towers?
19 You won't see these offensive people anymore with their barbaric language that sounds like someone stammering and is impossible to understand.
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.
20 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.
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.
21 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.
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;
22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king. He is the one who will save us.
For, Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh, is our lawgiver, —Yahweh, is our king, He will save us!
23 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.
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!
24 Nobody in Israel will say, “I'm sick,” and those who live there will have their guilt removed.
Neither shall the inhabitant say. I am sick, —the people who dwell therein, have been forgiven iniquity.
