Isaiah 33

1Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed; you traitor, whom no one has betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; when you have stopped betraying, they will betray you.

2Yahweh, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be their strength every morning, our salvation in the time of trouble.

3At the sound of the uproar the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.

4Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; as locusts swarm, people swarm over it.

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

6He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of Yahweh is his treasure.

7Look, their brave men cry out in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

8The highways are deserted; no traveler is on the road. He has broken the treaty; he despises the cities; he has no regard for anyone.

9The land mourns and wastes away; Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10Now I will rise up, says Yahweh; now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.

11You conceive dry grass, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that will consume you.

12The peoples will be burned as if to lime, like thorns cut down that are set on fire.

13You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my might.

14The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the godless: “Who of us can live with the devouring fire? Who of us can live with everlasting burning?”

15The one who walks in righteousness and speaks what is right, who rejects profit gained by oppression, who shakes his hands so as not to hold a bribe, who stops his ears so as not to hear of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes so as not to look on evil,

16he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be a fortress of rocks; his bread will be given him, and his water will be sure.

17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will see a land that stretches far away.

18Your mind will recall the terror: “Where is the one who counted? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?”

19You will no longer see that insolent people, a people of speech too obscure to understand, stammering in a tongue that no one can comprehend.

20Look at Zion, the city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet home, a tent that will not be moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, and none of its ropes will be broken.

21There Yahweh in his majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, and no majestic ship can pass.

22For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; he will save us.

23Your ropes hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place, nor can they spread the sail. Then plunder in abundance will be divided; even the lame will carry off spoil.

24No one who lives there will say, “I am sick”; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.