IsaiahChapter 33
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1How terrible it will be for you, destroyer,
you who have never been destroyed!
How terrible for you, traitor,
you who have never been betrayed!
When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed.
When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed. 2LORD, show us grace!
We wait for you.
Be our strength every morning.
Save us in our time of trouble. 3The peoples run from the thunder of your voice.
The nations scatter when you rise up. 4You nations, what you stole is gathered up
the way locusts gather.
Like a swarm of locusts,
men rush over it. 5The LORD is lifted high,
for he lives up high.
He has filled Zion with justice and what is right. 6He will be the sure foundation for your times.
He will be a rich store of saving help,
wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure. 7Look, their brave men cry out in the streets.
The messengers who came to make peace weep bitter tears. 8The highways are empty.
No one travels anymore.
The peace treaty is broken.
The witnesses are hated.
No one cares about human life. 9The land mourns and grows weak.
Lebanon is ashamed and rots away.
Sharon is like a desert.
Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. 10"Now I will rise up," says the LORD.
"Now I will lift myself up.
Now I will be honored. 11You become pregnant with husks.
You give birth to straw.
Your own breath is a fire that will burn you up. 12The peoples will be burned to ashes,
like thorns cut down and set on fire. 13You who are far away, hear what I have done.
You who are near, see how strong I am." 14The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Shaking grabs hold of the ungodly.
"Who of us can live with a fire that burns everything up?
Who of us can live with flames that never end?" 15It is the one who lives in what is right
and speaks the honest truth.
He will not take money by cheating others.
His hand never takes a bribe.
He covers his ears so he won't hear plans to murder.
He shuts his eyes tight so he won't look at evil. 16That person will live up high.
The mountain fortress will be his safe place.
He will be given food.
He will always have water. 17Your eyes will see the King in his beauty.
You will see a land that stretches far away. 18Your mind will think back to the terror of the past:
"Where is the one who counted?
Where is the one who weighed?
Where is the one who counted the towers?" 19You will not see those proud people anymore.
Their speech was hard to understand.
They stuttered in a language you could not understand. 20Look at Zion, the city of our holy feasts.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful place to live,
a tent that will not be moved.
Its tent pegs will never be pulled up.
None of its ropes will be broken. 21But there the Majestic One, our LORD,
will be for us a place of rivers and wide streams.
No boat with oars will row there.
No great ship will sail there. 22For the LORD is our Judge.
The LORD is the one who gives us laws.
The LORD is our King.
He is the one who will save us. 23Your ropes hang loose.
They cannot hold the mast steady.
They cannot spread the sail.
Then great piles of riches will be divided.
Even people who cannot walk will carry off loot. 24No one who lives in Zion will say, "I am sick."
The sins of the people who live there will be forgiven.