Isaiah 33

1 Terrible things will happen to you [people of Assyria]! You have destroyed [others], [but] you have not been destroyed [yet]. You have betrayed/deceived [others], [but] you have not been betrayed/deceived [yet]. When you stop destroying [others], others will destroy you. When you stop betraying/deceiving others, [others] betray you.

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 kind to us, because we have patiently waited for you [to help us]. Enable us to be strong every day, and rescue us when we have troubles.

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 Our enemies run away when they hear your voice. When you stand up and show that you are powerful [IDM], the people of all nations flee.

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

4 [And after our enemies have been defeated], we, your people, will take away all our enemies’ possessions like [SIM] caterpillars and locusts strip off all the leaves of plants.

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 greater than anyone else, and he lives in heaven, and he will rule justly and righteously in Jerusalem.

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

6 [When that happens], he will enable you to live securely/safely; he will fully protect your possessions, he will enable you to be wise and to know [all that you need to know]; and revering Yahweh will be [like] [MET] a valuable treasure for you.

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 [But now], look, our brave men are crying out in the streets; our ambassadors [have gone to other countries to make peace treaties], [but they will] cry bitterly [because they will not succeed].

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

8 No one travels on our roads [DOU]. [The leaders of Assyria] have broken/disregarded their peace treaty [with us]; they despise the people who made those treaties, and they do not respect anyone.

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 [of Judah] is dry and barren. The [cedar trees in] Lebanon are drying up and decaying. The Sharon [Plain along the coast] is now a desert. There are no more leaves on the trees in the Bashan and Carmel [areas].

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 Yahweh says, “Now I will begin to show that I am very powerful [DOU].

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

11 You [people of Assyria] make plans that are [as useless as] [MET] chaff and straw. Your breath will become a fire that will burn you up.

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

12 [Your] people will be burned until only ashes remain [MET] like [SIM] thornbushes are cut down and burned up in a fire.

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

13 You people who live far away and you people who live nearby, pay attention to what I have done and realize that I am [very] powerful.”

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

14 The sinners in Jerusalem will tremble because of being very afraid; godless people will be terrified. [They say], “None of us can [RHQ] remain alive because this fire is burning everything; it is like the fire on Yahweh’s altar that will burn forever!”

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 Those who act honestly and say what is right, those who do not try to become rich by (extortion/forcing people to give them money), those who do not try to get bribes, those who refuse to listen to people who are planning to murder someone, those who do not join others who urge them to do what is wrong,

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 they are the people who will live safely [MTY]; they will find places to be safe in the caves in the mountains. They will have plenty of food and water.

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 You [SYN] [people of Judah] will see the king wearing all his beautiful [robes], and you will see that he rules a land that extends far away.

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

18 When you see that, you will think about when you were previously terrified, [and you will say], “[The officers of Assyria] who counted the tax money that we were forced to pay to them [have disappeared] [RHQ]! Those men who counted our towers [are gone] [RHQ]!

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 Those arrogant people who spoke a language that we could not understand are no longer here!”

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

20 [At that time], you will see Zion Hill, the place where we celebrate our festivals; you will see that Jerusalem has become a place that is calm and safe. It will be [secure], [like] [SIM] a tent [that cannot be moved because] its ropes are tight and its stakes are firmly in the ground.

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 Yahweh will be our mighty God; he will be [like] [SIM] a mighty river that will protect us because [our enemies] will not be able to cross it; no one will be able to row across it and no ships will be able to sail across it.

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 Yahweh is our judge; he is the one who gives us laws, and he is our king. He will rescue us.

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

23 The ropes on our enemies’ boats will hang loose, their masts will not be fastened firmly, and their sails will not be spread out. The treasures that they have seized will be divided [among us, God’s people], and even lame [people among us] will get some.

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 And the people in Jerusalem will no [longer] say, “We are sick,” [because Yahweh] will forgive the sins that have been committed by the people who live there.

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