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.
Woe to you, destroyer who has not been destroyed! Woe to the betrayer whom they have not betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed. When you stop betraying, they will betray you.
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.
Yahweh, be gracious to us; we wait for you; be our arm every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 When you roar, the peoples run away; when you prepare for action, the nations scatter!
At the loud noise the peoples flee; when you arise, the nations are scattered.
4 You plunder defeated enemy armies like caterpillars eating up plants; like an attack of swarming locusts.
Your spoil is gathered as the locusts gather; as locusts leap, men leap on it.
5 The Lord is praised for he lives in highest heaven; he has filled Zion with justice and right.
Yahweh is exalted. He lives in a high place. He will fill 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.
He will be the stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of Yahweh 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.
Look, their envoys cry in the streets; the diplomats hoping for peace weep bitterly.
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; there are no more travelers. Covenants are broken, witnesses are despised, and mankind is not respected.
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 mourns and withers away; Lebanon is ashamed and withers away; Sharon is like a desert plain; and Bashan and Carmel shake 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,” says Yahweh; “now I will be lifted up; now I will be elevated.
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.
You conceive chaff, and you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 You people will be burned to ashes like thorns that are cut down and thrown into the fire.
The peoples will be burned to lime, as thornbushes are cut down and are 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.”
You who are far away, hear what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge 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?”
The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can sojourn with a raging fire? Who among us can sojourn with everlasting burnings?
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 who walks righteously and speaks honestly; who despises the gain of oppression, who shakes his hand so that it will not accept a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed, and who shuts his eyes from looking on evil—
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.
this is the man who will dwell on the heights, his place of defense will be the fortress among the cliffs, his food will be given, and his water will be in steady supply.
17 You will see the king in his wonderful appearance, and you will view a land that stretches into the distance.
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will see a land off in the distance.
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?”
Your heart will recall the terror; where is the scribe, where is he who weighed the money? Where is he who counted 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.
You will no longer see the defiant people, a people of a strange language that you do not understand.
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 at Zion, the city of our feasts; your eyes will see Jerusalem as a quiet habitation, a tent that will not be removed, whose stakes will never be pulled up nor will any of its cords 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.
Instead, Yahweh in majesty will be with us, in a place of broad rivers and streams. No warship with oars will travel it, and no large ships will sail by.
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.
Your riggings are slack; they cannot hold the mast in place; they cannot spread the sail; when the great spoil is divided, even the lame will drag off the spoil.
24 Nobody in Israel will say, “I'm sick,” and those who live there will have their guilt removed.
The inhabitants will not say, “I am sick;” the people who live there will be forgiven for their iniquity.
