Isaiah 33
33
The Ground Under Our Feet Mourns
1Doom to you, Destroyer,
not yet destroyed;
And doom to you, Betrayer,
not yet betrayed.
When you finish destroying,
your turn will come—destroyed!
When you quit betraying,
your turn will come—betrayed!
2-4 God, treat us kindly. You’re our only hope.
First thing in the morning, be there for us!
When things go bad, help us out!
You spoke in thunder and everyone ran.
You showed up and nations scattered.
Your people, for a change, got in on the loot,
picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.
5-6 God is supremely esteemed. His center holds.
Zion brims over with all that is just and right.
God keeps your days stable and secure—
salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus,
and best of all, Zion’s treasure, Fear-of-God.
7-9But look! Listen!
Tough men weep openly.
Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.
The roads are empty—
not a soul out on the streets.
The peace treaty is broken,
its conditions violated,
its signers reviled.
The very ground under our feet mourns,
the Lebanon mountains hang their heads,
Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully,
and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.
10-12“Now I’m stepping in,” God says.
“From now on, I’m taking over.
The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am.
There’s nothing to you.
Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies;
full of hot air, you self-destruct.
You’re good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel.
Earth to earth—and the sooner the better.
13-14“If you’re far away,
get the reports on what I’ve done,
And if you’re in the neighborhood,
pay attention to my record.
The sinners in Zion are rightly terrified;
the godless are at their wit’s end:
‘Who among us can survive this firestorm?
Who of us can get out of this purge with our lives?’”
15-16The answer’s simple:
Live right,
speak the truth,
despise exploitation,
refuse bribes,
reject violence,
avoid evil amusements.
This is how you raise your standard of living!
A safe and stable way to live.
A nourishing, satisfying way to live.
God Makes All the Decisions Here
17-19Oh, you’ll see the king—a beautiful sight!
And you’ll take in the wide vistas of land.
In your mind you’ll go over the old terrors:
“What happened to that Assyrian inspector who condemned and confiscated?
And the one who gouged us of taxes?
And that cheating moneychanger?”
Gone! Out of sight forever! Their insolence
nothing now but a fading stain on the carpet!
No more putting up with a language you can’t understand,
no more sounds of gibberish in your ears.
20-22Just take a look at Zion, will you?
Centering our worship in festival feasts!
Feast your eyes on Jerusalem,
a quiet and permanent place to live.
No more pulling up stakes and moving on,
no more patched-together lean-tos.
Instead, God! God majestic, God himself the place
in a country of broad rivers and streams,
But rivers blocked to invading ships,
off-limits to predatory pirates.
For God makes all the decisions here. God is our king.
God runs this place and he’ll keep us safe.
23Ha! Your sails are in shreds,
your mast wobbling,
your hold leaking.
The plunder is free for the taking, free for all—
for weak and strong, insiders and outsiders.
24No one in Zion will say, “I’m sick.”
Best of all, they’ll all live guilt-free.
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Isaiah 33: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Isaiah 33
33
XXXIII
1Wo unto thee that spoilest, and thou hast not been spoiled;
And that plunderest, and they have not plundered thee:
When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled;
And when thou shalt make an end to plunder, they shall plunder thee.
2O Jehovah, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee:
Be thou their arm every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of distress.
3At the noise of the tumult the people fled;
When thou didst raise thyself up, the nations were scattered.
4But your spoil shall be gathered, as the caterpillar gathereth;
As the locusts run to and fro, so shall men run upon it.
5 Jehovah is exalted, for he dwelleth on high:
He hath filled Zion with judgment and justice.
6And there shall be stability of thy times,
For wisdom and knowledge shall be the riches of salvation;
The fear of Jehovah, this shall be his treasure.
7Behold their valiant men! they raise a cry without; The messengers of peace! they weep bitterly.
8The highways are desolate,
The wayfaring man ceaseth:
He hath broken the covenant; he hath despised the cities;
He regardeth not man.
9The land mourneth, it languished!;
Lebanon is put to shame, it withereth:
Sharon is become like a desert,
And Bashan and Carmel shake off their foliage.
10Now will I arise, saith Jehovah;
Now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
11Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble;
Your anger, it is a fire that shall consume you.
12And the people shall be as stones burnt into lime,
As thorns that are cut off are consumed in the fire.
13Hear, ye that are afar off, my doings;
And ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
14The sinners in Zion are struck with dread,
Trembling hath seized the wicked:
Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?
15He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly;
He that despiseth the gain of oppression,
That shaketh his hands from holding of bribes,
That stoppeth his ears from hearing of bloodshed,
And shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
16He shall dwell on high:
The strong holds of the rocks shall be his fortress,
His bread shall be given him; his waters shall not fail.
17Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty:
They shall see the land far extended.
18Thine heart shall reflect on the terror:
Where is now the notary? where is the weigher of tribute?
Where is he that noted down the towers?
19That fierce people shalt thou see no more;
A people of a deep speech, which thou couldst not understand;
Of a barbarous language, which thou couldst not comprehend.
20Look upon Zion, the city of our solemn feasts:
Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation,
A tabernacle that shall not be removed;
Not one of the stakes thereof shall be plucked up for ever,
Neither shall any of the cords thereof be snapped asunder.
21But there shall the Mighty One, Jehovah, be unto us
Instead of rivers, and branching streams;
There shall not go therein a ship with oars,
Neither shall a mighty vessel pass over it.
22For Jehovah is our judge; Jehovah is our lawgiver;
Jehovah is our king: he shall save us.
23Thy ropes are loosed, O thou enemy!
So that they cannot strengthen the basis of their mast;
They have not spread the sail.
Then shall be divided the prey of a great spoil;
The lame shall seize the prey.
24Neither shall the inhabitant say, I am sick:
The people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
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Translated by Rev John Jones (Ioan Tegid).Published at Oxford in 1830, second edition 1842.