Isaiah 33

¹ Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed. ² O 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 the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise. ⁴ Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it. ⁵ The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. ⁶ He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. ⁷ Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. ⁸ The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded. ⁹ The land mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. ¹⁰ “Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted. ¹¹ You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you. ¹² The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze. ¹³ You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.” ¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” ¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil— ¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured. ¹⁷ Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar. ¹⁸ Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?” ¹⁹ You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand. ²⁰ Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. 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 broken. ²¹ But there the Majestic One, our LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass. ²² For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us. ²³ Your ropes are slack; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then an abundance of spoils will be divided, and even the lame will carry off plunder. ²⁴ And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.