Isaiah 33
Common English Bible
Judgment and hope for the righteous
33 Doom to the destroyer left undestroyed,
you traitor whom none have betrayed:
when you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;
and when you have stopped betraying, they will betray you.
2 Lord, show us favor;
we hope in you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in times of distress.
3 At the noise, peoples fled;
on account of your roar, nations scattered.
4 They gathered spoil like insects;
they rushed upon it like a swarm of locusts.[a]
5 The Lord is exalted; he lives on high,
filling Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will provide security during a lifetime:[b]
a source of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge—
fear of the Lord will be Zion’s treasure.[c]
7 But then those in Ariel[d] cried out in the streets;
messengers of peace wept bitterly.
8 The highways were deserted;
travelers left the road.
The covenant was broken;
solemn pledges[e] were rejected;
no one cared for humanity.
9 The land mourned; it wasted away;
Lebanon was ashamed; it withered.
Sharon became like the desert,
and Bashan and Carmel were dropping their leaves.
10 Now I will arise, says the Lord.
Now I will exalt myself; now I will stand tall.
11 You conceive straw, give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that devours you.
12 Peoples will be burned to lime,
thorns cut up and set ablaze.
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done;
and you who are near, know my strength!
14 Sinners became terrified in Zion;
trembling seized the godless:
“Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with the everlasting blaze?”
15 The one who walks righteously and speaks truthfully,
who rejects profit from extortion,
who waves away a bribe instead of grabbing it,
who won’t listen to bloody plots,
and who won’t contemplate doing something evil.
16 He will live on the heights;
fortresses in the cliffs will be his refuge.
His food will be provided,
his water guaranteed.
17 When you gaze upon a king in his glamour
and look at the surrounding land,
18 in dismay you will think:
Where is the one who counts?
Where is the one who weighs?
Where is the one who counts towers?
19 You will no longer see the defiant people,
the people of speech too obscure to understand,
who stammer in an incomprehensible language.
20 Gaze upon Zion, our festival town.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a carefree dwelling,
a tent that is not packed up,
whose stakes are never pulled up,
whose ropes won’t snap.
21 The Lord’s majesty will be there for us:
as a place of rivers, broad streams
where no boat will go,
no majestic ship will cross.
22 The Lord is our judge;
the Lord is our leader;
the Lord is our king—
he will deliver us.
23 Your ropes are loosened;
they can’t hold the mast firmly;
they can’t spread the sail.
Then abundant spoil will be divided;
even the lame will seize spoil.
24 And no inhabitant will say, “I’m sick.”
The people living there will be forgiven their sin.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 33:4 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 33:6 Or your times
- Isaiah 33:6 Or his treasure
- Isaiah 33:7 Or the valiant; Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 33:8 Correction; or cities; DSS (1QIsaa) witnesses
Isaiah 33
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Prophecy of Deliverance from Foes
33 Woe to the destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed;
you treacherous one,
with whom no one has dealt treacherously!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have stopped dealing treacherously,
you will be dealt with treacherously.(A)
2 O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.(B)
3 At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;
before your majesty, nations scattered.(C)
4 Spoil was gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, they leaped[a] upon it.
5 The Lord is exalted; he dwells on high;
he filled Zion with justice and righteousness;(D)
6 he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.[b](E)
7 Listen! The people of Ariel[c] cry out in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.(F)
8 The highways are deserted;
travelers have quit the road.
The treaty is broken;
its oaths[d] are despised,
the people are disregarded.
9 The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
10 “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
11 You conceive chaff; you bring forth stubble;
wind like a fire[e] will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down that are burned in the fire.”
13 Hear, you who are far away, what I have done,
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”
15 Those who walk righteously and speak uprightly,
who despise the gain of oppression,
who wave away a bribe instead of accepting it,
who stop their ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shut their eyes from looking on evil,
16 they will live on the heights;
their refuge will be the fortresses of rocks;
their food will be supplied, their water assured.
The Land of the Majestic King
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will behold a land that stretches far away.
18 Your mind will muse on the terror:
“Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed the tribute?
Where is the one who counted the towers?”(G)
19 No longer will you see the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language that you cannot understand.(H)
20 Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a quiet habitation, an immovable tent
whose stakes will never be pulled up
and none of whose ropes will be broken.(I)
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams
where no galley with oars can go
nor stately ship can pass.(J)
22 For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our ruler;
the Lord is our king; he will save us.(K)
23 Your rigging hangs loose;
it cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.