Isaiah 33:17-24
Christian Standard Bible
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)
Isaiah 33:17-24
New English Translation
17 You will see a king in his splendor;[a]
you will see a wide land.[b]
18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,[c]
and you will ask yourselves,[d] “Where is the scribe?
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?”[e]
19 You will no longer see a defiant[f] people
whose language you do not comprehend,[g]
whose derisive speech you do not understand.[h]
20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!
You[i] will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful settlement,
a tent that stays put;[j]
its stakes will never be pulled up;
none of its ropes will snap in two.
21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.[k]
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;[l]
no war galley will enter;[m]
no large ships will sail through.[n]
22 For the Lord, our ruler,
the Lord, our commander,
the Lord, our king—
he will deliver us.
23 Though at this time your ropes are slack,[o]
the mast is not secured,[p]
and the sail[q] is not unfurled,
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;[r]
even the lame will drag off plunder.[s]
24 No resident of Zion[t] will say, “I am ill”;
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 33:17 tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”
- Isaiah 33:17 tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.
- Isaiah 33:18 tn Heb “your heart will meditate on terror.”
- Isaiah 33:18 tn The words “and you will ask yourselves” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic reasons.
- Isaiah 33:18 sn The people refer to various Assyrian officials who were responsible for determining the amount of taxation or tribute Judah must pay to the Assyrian king.
- Isaiah 33:19 tn The Hebrew form נוֹעָז (noʿaz) is a Niphal participle derived from יָעַז (yaʿaz, an otherwise unattested verb) or from עָזָז (ʿazaz, “be strong,” unattested elsewhere in the Niphal). Some prefer to emend the form to לוֹעֵז (loʿez) which occurs in Ps 114:1 with the meaning “speak a foreign language.” See HALOT 809 s.v. עזז, 533 s.v. לעז. In this case, one might translate “people who speak a foreign language.”
- Isaiah 33:19 tn Heb “a people too deep of lip to hear.” The phrase “deep of lip” must be an idiom meaning “lips that speak words that are unfathomable [i.e., incomprehensible].”
- Isaiah 33:19 tn Heb “derision of tongue there is no understanding.” The Niphal of לָעַג (laʿag) occurs only here. In the Qal and Hiphil the verb means “to deride, mock.” A related noun is used in 28:11.
- Isaiah 33:20 tn Heb “your eyes” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Isaiah 33:20 tn Or “that does not travel”; NASB “which shall not be folded.”
- Isaiah 33:21 tn Heb “But there [as] a mighty one [will be] the Lord for us.”
- Isaiah 33:21 tn Heb “a place of rivers, streams wide of hands [i.e., on both sides].”
- Isaiah 33:21 tn Heb “a ship of rowing will not go into it.”
- Isaiah 33:21 tn Heb “and a mighty ship will not pass through it.”
- Isaiah 33:23 tn The words “though at this time” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The first half of the verse is addressed to Judah and contrasts the nation’s present weakness with its future prosperity. Judah is compared to a ship that is incapable of sailing.
- Isaiah 33:23 tn Heb “they do not fasten the base of their mast.” On כֵּן (ken, “base”) see BDB 487 s.v. III כֵּן and HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן.
- Isaiah 33:23 tn Or perhaps, “flag.”
- Isaiah 33:23 tn Heb “then there will be divided up loot of plunder [in] abundance.”
- Isaiah 33:23 sn Judah’s victory over its enemies will be so thorough there will be more than enough plunder for everyone, even slow-moving lame men who would normally get left out in the rush to gather the loot.
- Isaiah 33:24 tn The words “of Zion” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
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