17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;(A)
you will see a vast land.(B)
18 Your mind will meditate on the past terror:
“Where is the accountant?[a]
Where is the tribute collector?[b]
Where is the one who spied out our defenses?”[c]
19 You will no longer see the barbarians,
a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend—
who stammer in a language that is not understood.(C)
20 Look at Zion, the city of our festival times.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful pasture,(D) a tent that does not wander;
its tent pegs will not be pulled up
nor will any of its cords be loosened.(E)
21 For the majestic One, our Lord, will be there,(F)
a place of rivers and broad streams
where ships that are rowed will not go,
and majestic vessels will not pass.(G)
22 For the Lord is our Judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,(H)
the Lord is our King.
He will save us.(I)
23 Your ropes are slack;
they cannot hold the base of the mast
or spread out the flag.
Then abundant spoil will be divided,
the lame will plunder it,
24 and none there will say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell there
will be forgiven(J) their iniquity.(K)

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 33:18 Lit counter
  2. Isaiah 33:18 Lit weigher
  3. Isaiah 33:18 Lit who counts towers

17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
    they will see a distant land.[a]
18 Your mind[b] 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,[c]
        whose stammering of tongue cannot be understood.[d]
20 Look on Zion, the city of our appointed festivals!
    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed settlement,
    a tent that is not moved.[e]
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,[f]
a galley ship with[g] oars[h] 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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 33:17 Literally “land of distance”
  2. Isaiah 33:18 Literally “heart”
  3. Isaiah 33:19 Literally “obscure of lip than to hear”
  4. Isaiah 33:19 Literally “there is no understanding”
  5. Isaiah 33:20 Literally “not he is loaded”
  6. Isaiah 33:21 Literally “streams broad of hands”
  7. Isaiah 33:21 Or “of”
  8. Isaiah 33:21 Hebrew “oar”