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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.
Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you.
    Be our[c] arm in the mornings,
    indeed our salvation in the time of trouble.
At the sound of tumult, peoples fled;
    because of your exaltation, nations scattered.
And your spoil is gathered,
    as the gathering of the locust,
        as a swarm of locusts storming on it.
Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he filled Zion with justice and righteousness,
and he will be the security of your times,
    an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.

The fear of Yahweh is his treasure.

Look! Their heroes cry out in the street;
    the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
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.
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

  1. Isaiah 33:1 Many manuscripts suggest “you” rather than “him”
  2. Isaiah 33:1 Literally “finishing”
  3. Isaiah 33:2 Hebrew “their”
  4. Isaiah 33:8 A Dead Sea Scroll reads “witnesses”
  5. Isaiah 33:9 Literally “shaking off”
  6. Isaiah 33:14 Literally “dwell as an alien”
  7. Isaiah 33:14 Literally “dwell as an alien”
  8. Isaiah 33:15 Literally “shakes his hand from the taking of”
  9. Isaiah 33:15 Hebrew “ear”
  10. Isaiah 33:15 Literally “blood”
  11. Isaiah 33:16 Hebrew “water”
  12. Isaiah 33:17 Literally “land of distance”
  13. Isaiah 33:18 Literally “heart”
  14. Isaiah 33:19 Literally “obscure of lip than to hear”
  15. Isaiah 33:19 Literally “there is no understanding”
  16. Isaiah 33:20 Literally “not he is loaded”
  17. Isaiah 33:21 Literally “streams broad of hands”
  18. Isaiah 33:21 Or “of”
  19. Isaiah 33:21 Hebrew “oar”

A Prayer in Deep Distress

33 Woe to you (A)who plunder, though you have not been plundered;
And you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you!
(B)When you cease plundering,
You will be (C)plundered;
When you make an end of dealing treacherously,
They will deal treacherously with you.

O Lord, be gracious to us;
(D)We have waited for You.
Be [a]their arm every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of trouble.
At the noise of the tumult the people (E)shall flee;
When You lift Yourself up, the nations shall be scattered;
And Your plunder shall be gathered
Like the gathering of the caterpillar;
As the running to and fro of locusts,
He shall run upon them.

(F)The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times,
And the strength of salvation;
The fear of the Lord is His treasure.

Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside,
(G)The ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
(H)The highways lie waste,
The traveling man ceases.
(I)He has broken the covenant,
[b]He has despised the [c]cities,
He regards no man.
(J)The earth mourns and languishes,
Lebanon is shamed and shriveled;
Sharon is like a wilderness,
And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

Impending Judgment on Zion

10 “Now(K) I will rise,” says the Lord;
“Now I will be exalted,
Now I will lift Myself up.
11 (L)You shall conceive chaff,
You shall bring forth stubble;
Your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
12 And the people shall be like the burnings of lime;
(M)Like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire.
13 Hear, (N)you who are afar off, what I have done;
And you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites:
“Who among us shall dwell with the devouring (O)fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 He who (P)walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
He who despises the gain of oppressions,
Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes,
Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And (Q)shuts his eyes from seeing evil:
16 He will dwell on [d]high;
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks;
Bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.

The Land of the Majestic King

17 Your eyes will see the King in His (R)beauty;
They will see the land that is very far off.
18 Your heart will meditate on terror:
(S)“Where is the scribe?
Where is he who weighs?
Where is he who counts the towers?”
19 (T)You will not see a fierce people,
(U)A people of obscure speech, beyond perception,
Of a [e]stammering tongue that you cannot understand.

20 (V)Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see (W)Jerusalem, a quiet home,
A tabernacle that will not be taken down;
(X)Not one of (Y)its stakes will ever be removed,
Nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the majestic Lord will be for us
A place of broad rivers and streams,
In which no [f]galley with oars will sail,
Nor majestic ships pass by
22 (For the Lord is our (Z)Judge,
The Lord is our (AA)Lawgiver,
(AB)The Lord is our King;
He will save us);
23 Your tackle is loosed,
They could not strengthen their mast,
They could not spread the sail.

Then the prey of great plunder is divided;
The lame take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant will not say, “I am sick”;
(AC)The people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 33:2 LXX omits their; Syr., Tg., Vg. our
  2. Isaiah 33:8 Tg. They have been removed from their cities
  3. Isaiah 33:8 So with MT, Vg.; DSS witnesses; LXX omits cities
  4. Isaiah 33:16 Lit. heights
  5. Isaiah 33:19 Unintelligible speech
  6. Isaiah 33:21 ship