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.   O Jehovah, show us favor.+ Our hope is in you. Become our arm*+ every morning,Yes, our salvation in the time of distress.+   At the sound of turmoil peoples flee. When you rise up, nations scatter.+   As the voracious locusts gather, so your spoil will be gathered;People will rush on it like swarms of locusts.   Jehovah will be exalted,For he resides in the heights above. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.   He is the stability of your times;An abundance of salvation,+ wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah+—This is his treasure.   Look! Their heroes cry out in the street;The messengers of peace weep bitterly.   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.+   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.”