Isaiah 33
33
Jerusalem will be safe
1You defeated my people.
Now you're in for trouble!
You've never been destroyed,
but you will be destroyed;
you've never been betrayed,
but you will be betrayed.
When you have finished
destroying and betraying,
you will be destroyed
and betrayed in return.
2Please, LORD, be kind to us!
We depend on you.
Make us strong each morning,
and come to save us
when we are in trouble.
3Nations scatter when you roar
and show your greatness.#33.3 greatness: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 3.
4We attack our enemies
like swarms of locusts;#33.4 locusts: Insects like grasshoppers that travel in swarms and cause great damage to crops.
we take everything
that belongs to them.#33.4 them: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 4.
5You, LORD, are above all others,
and you live in the heavens.
You have brought justice
and fairness to Jerusalem;
6you are the foundation
on which we stand today.
You always save us and give
true wisdom and knowledge.
Nothing means more to us#33.6 Nothing…us: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
than obeying you.
The LORD will do something
7Listen! Our bravest soldiers
are running through the streets,
screaming for help.#33.7 Listen…help: Or “The LORD heard our shouts and will come to help us.”
Our messengers hoped for peace,
but came home crying.
8No one travels any more;
every road is empty.
Treaties are broken,
and no respect is shown
to any who keep promises.#33.8 to any…promises: The Dead Sea Scrolls; the Standard Hebrew Text “to those in the cities”.
9Fields are dry and barren;
Mount Lebanon wilts
with shame.
Sharon Valley is a desert;
the forests of Bashan and Carmel
have lost their leaves.
10But the LORD says,
“Now I will do something
and be greatly praised.
11Your deeds are straw
that will be set on fire
by your very own breath.
12You will be burnt to ashes
like thorns in a fire.
13Everyone, both far and near,
come, look at what I have done.
See my mighty power!”
Punishment and rewards
14Those terrible sinners
on Mount Zion tremble
as they ask in fear,
“How can we possibly live
where a raging fire
never stops burning?”
15But there will be rewards
for those who live right
and tell the truth,
for those who refuse
to take money by force
or accept bribes,
for all who hate murder
and violent crimes.
16They will live in a fortress
high on a rocky cliff,
where they will have food
and plenty of water.
The LORD is our King
17With your own eyes
you will see the glorious King;
you will see his kingdom
reaching far and wide.
18Then you will ask yourself,
“Where are those officials
who terrified us and forced us
to pay such heavy taxes?”
19You will never again have to see
the proud people who spoke
a strange and foreign language
you could not understand.
20Look to Mount Zion
where we celebrate
our religious festivals.
You will see Jerusalem,
secure as a tent with pegs
that cannot be pulled up
and fastened with ropes
that can never be broken.
21Our wonderful LORD
will be with us!
There will be deep rivers
and wide streams
safe from enemy ships.#33.21 safe…ships: This probably means that Jerusalem will have a lot of water, without the danger of attacks from enemy ships.
The LORD is our judge
22The LORD is our judge
and our ruler;
the LORD is our king
and will keep us safe.
23But your nation#33.23 your nation: Possibly Judah or Assyria. is a ship
with its rigging loose,
its mast shaky,
and its sail not spread.
Some day even you who are lame
will take everything you want
from your enemies.
24The LORD will forgive your sins,
and none of you will say,
“I feel ill.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 33
33
1Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed,
and who betray, but nobody betrayed you!
When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed.
2Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation also in the time of trouble.
3At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled.
When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered.
4Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers.
Men will leap on it as locusts leap.
5Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high.
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of Yahweh is your treasure.
7Behold, their valiant ones cry outside;
the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
8The highways are desolate.
The traveling man ceases.
The covenant is broken.
He has despised the cities.
He doesn’t respect man.
9The land mourns and languishes.
Lebanon is confounded and withers away.
Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
10“Now I will arise,” says Yahweh.
“Now I will lift myself up.
Now I will be exalted.
11You will conceive chaff.
You will give birth to stubble.
Your breath is a fire that will devour you.
12The peoples will be like the burning of lime,
like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire.
13Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.”
14The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Trembling has seized the godless ones.
Who among us can live with the devouring fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
15He who walks righteously
and speaks blamelessly,
he who despises the gain of oppressions,
who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
and shuts his eyes from looking at evil—
16he will dwell on high.
His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks.
His bread will be supplied.
His waters will be sure.
17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty.
They will see a distant land.
18Your heart will meditate on the terror.
Where is he who counted?
Where is he who weighed?
Where is he who counted the towers?
19You will no longer see the fierce people,
a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend,
with a strange language that you can’t understand.
20Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation,
a tent that won’t be removed.
Its stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
21But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty,
a place of wide rivers and streams,
in which no galley with oars will go,
neither will any gallant ship pass by there.
22For Yahweh is our judge.
Yahweh is our lawgiver.
Yahweh is our king.
He will save us.
23Your rigging is untied.
They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast.
They couldn’t spread the sail.
Then the prey of a great plunder was divided.
The lame took the prey.
24The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.
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