Isaiah 33:1-21 ▼

1 Woe, you destroyer never destroyed, you traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you.

2 LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for you. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.

3 The peoples flee at the thunderous noise; the nations scatter when you rise in your majesty.

4 Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 There will be times of security for you — a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

7 Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

8 The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. An agreement has been broken, cities despised, and human life disregarded.

9 The land mourns and withers; Lebanon is ashamed and wilted. 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 exalted.

11 You will conceive chaff; you will give birth to stubble. Your breath is fire that will consume you.

12 The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.

13 You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, know my strength.”

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly: “Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames? ”

15 The one who lives righteously and speaks rightly, who refuses profit from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots and shuts his eyes against evil schemes —

16 he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the rocky fortresses, his food provided, his water assured.

17 Your eyes will see the King in his beauty; you will see a vast land.

18 Your mind will meditate on the past terror: “Where is the accountant? Where is the tribute collector? Where is the one who spied out our defenses? ”

19 You will no longer see the barbarians, a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend — who stammer in a language that is not understood.

20 Look at Zion, the city of our festival times. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up nor will any of its cords be loosened.

21 For the majestic one, our LORD, will be there, a place of rivers and broad streams where ships that are rowed will not go, and majestic vessels will not pass.