Isaiah 33
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh’s Judgment and Help
33 Ah, destroyer, and yourself not destroyed!
And treacherous one, and no one has dealt treacherously with him![a]
When you cease[b] destroying, you will be destroyed.
When you stop dealing treacherously, one will deal treacherously with you.
2 Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you.
Be our[c] arm in the mornings,
indeed our salvation in the time of trouble.
3 At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;
because of your exaltation, nations scattered.
4 And your spoil is gathered,
as the gathering of the locust,
as a swarm of locusts storming on it.
5 Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he filled Zion with justice and righteousness,
6 and he will be the security of your times,
an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.
7 Look! Their heroes cry out in the street;
the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8 Highways are deserted;
the traveler on the road ceases.
One breaks a treaty,
he rejects the cities,[d]
he does not hold man in high regard.
9 The land mourns; it languishes.
Lebanon feels abashed; it withers.
Sharon is like the desert,
and Bashan and Carmel are losing their leaves.[e]
10 “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh.
“Now I will lift myself up proudly;
now I will raise myself.
11 You conceive dry grass, you bring forth stubble;
your breath is a fire; it will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be burning to lime—
they are burned like thorns that have been cut down in the fire.
13 You who are far away, hear what I have done;
and you who are near, know my might!”
14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who of us can live[f] with devouring fire?
Who of us can live[g] with everlasting consuming hearths?”
15 He who walks in righteousness
and speaks uprightness,
who rejects the gain of extortion,
who refuses[h] a bribe,
who stops up his ears[i] from hearing bloodshed[j]
and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.
16 That one will live on the heights;
the fortresses of rocks will be his refuge.
His food will be given;
his waters[k] will endure.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
they will see a distant land.[l]
18 Your mind[m] will meditate on the terror:
“Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed out?
Where is the one who counted the towers?”
19 You will not see the insolent people,
the people whose language is too obscure to understand,[n]
whose stammering of tongue cannot be understood.[o]
20 Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed settlement,
a tent that is not moved.[p]
No one will ever pull out its tent pegs,
and none of its ropes will be torn in two.
21 Rather, there Yahweh will be mighty for us,
a place of rivers and broad streams,[q]
a galley ship with[r] oars[s] cannot go in it,
and a mighty ship cannot pass through it.
22 For Yahweh is our judge; Yahweh is our lawgiver.
Yahweh is our king; he is the one who will save us.
23 Your riggings hang slack;
they do not hold the base of their mast firm,
they do not spread out the sail.
Then the prey of spoil in abundance will be divided;
the lame will take plunder.
24 And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who live in it, their iniquity will be taken away.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 33:1 Many manuscripts suggest “you” rather than “him”
- Isaiah 33:1 Literally “finishing”
- Isaiah 33:2 Hebrew “their”
- Isaiah 33:8 A Dead Sea Scroll reads “witnesses”
- Isaiah 33:9 Literally “shaking off”
- Isaiah 33:14 Literally “dwell as an alien”
- Isaiah 33:14 Literally “dwell as an alien”
- Isaiah 33:15 Literally “shakes his hand from the taking of”
- Isaiah 33:15 Hebrew “ear”
- Isaiah 33:15 Literally “blood”
- Isaiah 33:16 Hebrew “water”
- Isaiah 33:17 Literally “land of distance”
- Isaiah 33:18 Literally “heart”
- Isaiah 33:19 Literally “obscure of lip than to hear”
- Isaiah 33:19 Literally “there is no understanding”
- Isaiah 33:20 Literally “not he is loaded”
- Isaiah 33:21 Literally “streams broad of hands”
- Isaiah 33:21 Or “of”
- Isaiah 33:21 Hebrew “oar”
Isaiah 33
International Standard Version
God’s Judgment
33 “How terrible it will be for you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed yourself!
And how terrible it will be for you, traitor,
one whom[a] people have not betrayed!
When you have sunk so low in[b] destroying others,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.”
A Prayer for Grace
2 “Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you;
and[c] be our strength[d] every morning,
our salvation in times of trouble.
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee;
at your silence,[e] the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder is gathered as when grasshoppers gather;
just like[f] locusts pounce, people have pounced[g] on it.
5 “The Lord is exalted, for he lives on high;
he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be a sure foundation for your times,
abundance and salvation,[h] wisdom and knowledge —
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.”
Israel’s Unenviable Plight
7 “Listen! Their brave men cry out in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted;
travelers have quit the road.
The enemy[i] has broken treaties;
he despises their witnesses,[j]
and respects no one.
9 The land mourns and wastes away;
Lebanon feels ashamed and withers.
Sharon is like a desert;
Bashan[k] and Carmel shake off their leaves.”
God is Exalted
10 “Now I’ll rise up,” the Lord has said,[l]
“now I’ll exalt myself;
now I’ll be lifted up.
11 You conceive dried grass, you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be burned as if to ashes;
like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.
13 “Those who are far away have heard[m] what I’ve done;
and those that are near have acknowledged[n] my power.
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”
15 The one who walks righteously and has spoken[o] sincere words,
who rejects gain from extortion
and waves his hand,
rejecting bribes,
who blocks his ears from hearing plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against seeing evil—
16 this is the one who will live on the heights;
his refuge will be a mountain fortress.
His food will be supplied,
and his water will be guaranteed.
17 “Your eyes will see the king in his elegance,
and will view a land that stretches afar.
18 Your mind will ponder at that time of terror:
‘Where is the king’s accountant?
Where is the one who weighed the revenue?
Where is the officer who supervises[p] the towers?’
19 No longer will you[q] see those arrogant people,
those people with their obscure speech you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language you cannot understand.
20 “Look at Zion, city of our festivals![r]
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed abode, an immovable tent;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor will any of its ropes be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
our source[s] of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
where no stately ship can sail.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
and the Lord is our lawgiver;
and the Lord is our king,
and it is he who will save us.
23 “Your rigging hangs loose;
it cannot reliably[t] hold the mast in its place,
and the sail cannot spread out.[u]
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided —
even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 And no one living there will say, ‘I am ill.’
The people living there will have their sins forgiven.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 33:1 So 1QIsaa MT; MTmss read you whom
- Isaiah 33:1 So 1QIsaa; MT reads stopped
- Isaiah 33:2 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks and
- Isaiah 33:2 Lit. arm
- Isaiah 33:3 So 1QIsaa; MT reads when you rise up; LXX reads from fear of you
- Isaiah 33:4 So 1QIsaa; the Heb. lacks just like
- Isaiah 33:4 So 1QIsaa; MT reads people pounce
- Isaiah 33:6 So 1QIsaa; MT reads of salvation
- Isaiah 33:8 Lit. He
- Isaiah 33:8 So 1QIsaa; MT reads cities
- Isaiah 33:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads and Bashan
- Isaiah 33:10 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read says the Lord
- Isaiah 33:13 So 1QIsaa; cf. LXX; MT reads You who are far away, hear
- Isaiah 33:13 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT reads you that are near, acknowledge
- Isaiah 33:15 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read and who speaks
- Isaiah 33:18 Lit. counts
- Isaiah 33:19 So 1QIsaa (pl.); MT (sing.)
- Isaiah 33:20 So 1QIsaa MTmss; MT reads our festival
- Isaiah 33:21 Lit. us a place
- Isaiah 33:23 So 1QIsaa; MT reads firmly
- Isaiah 33:23 So 1QIsaa; MT reads they cannot spread the sail
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