Isaiah 33:1-24

  • Judgment and hope for the righteous (1-24)

    • Jehovah is Judge, Lawgiver, and King (22)

    • No one will say: “I am sick” (24)

33  Woe to you, you destroyer who has not been destroyed;+You betrayer who has not been betrayed! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed.+ When you finish betraying, you will be betrayed.  2  O Jehovah, show us favor.+ Our hope is in you. Become our arm*+ every morning,Yes, our salvation in the time of distress.+  3  At the sound of turmoil peoples flee. When you rise up, nations scatter.+  4  As the voracious locusts gather, so your spoil will be gathered;People will rush on it like swarms of locusts.  5  Jehovah will be exalted,For he resides in the heights above. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.  6  He is the stability of your times;An abundance of salvation,+ wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah+—This is his treasure.  7  Look! Their heroes cry out in the street;The messengers of peace weep bitterly.  8  The highways are deserted;There is no one traveling on the pathways. He* has broken the covenant;He has rejected the cities;He shows no regard for mortal man.+  9  The land mourns* and withers away. Lebʹa·non is ashamed;+ it has decayed. Sharʹon has become like the desert,And Baʹshan and Carʹmel shake off their leaves.+ 10  “Now I will rise up,” says Jehovah,“Now I will exalt myself;+Now I will magnify myself. 11  You conceive dried grass and give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will consume you like a fire.+ 12  And peoples will become as the burnings of lime. As thorns cut down, they will be set ablaze with fire.+ 13  You who are far away, listen to what I will do! And you who are nearby, acknowledge my might! 14  The sinners in Zion are in dread;+Trembling has seized the apostates: ‘Who of us can live where there is a consuming fire?+ Who of us can live with unquenchable flames?’ 15  The one who walks in continual righteousness,+Who speaks what is upright,+Who rejects dishonest, fraudulent gain,Whose hands refuse a bribe rather than grabbing it,+Who closes his ear to talk of bloodshed,And who shuts his eyes to avoid seeing what is bad 16  —He will reside in the heights;His secure refuge* will be in rocky strongholds,His bread will be provided,And his water supply will never fail.”+ 17  Your eyes will behold a king in his splendor;They will see a land far away. 18  In your heart you will recall* the terror: “Where is the secretary? Where is the one who weighed out the tribute?+ Where is the one who counted the towers?” 19  You will no more see the insolent people,A people whose language is too obscure* to comprehend,Whose stammering tongue you cannot understand.+ 20  Behold Zion, the city of our festivals!+ Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a tranquil dwelling place,A tent that will not be moved.+ Never will its tent pins be pulled out,And none of its ropes will be torn apart. 21  But there the Majestic One, Jehovah,Will be for us a region of rivers, of wide canals,Where no galley fleet will goAnd no majestic ships will pass by. 22  For Jehovah is our Judge,+Jehovah is our Lawgiver,+Jehovah is our King;+He is the One who will save us.+ 23  Your ropes will hang loose;They cannot hold up the mast nor spread the sail. At that time an abundance of spoil will be divided up;Even the lame will take much plunder.+ 24  And no resident* will say: “I am sick.”+ The people dwelling in the land will be pardoned for their error.+

Footnotes

Or “strength.”
Referring to the enemy.
Or possibly, “dries up.”
Or “secure height.”
Or “meditate on.”
Lit., “deep.”
Or “inhabitant.”