Isaiah 33
1 Woe to you, destroyer, though you have not been destroyed; you traitor, though no one has betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; when you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
2 LORD, have compassion on us; we wait for you. Be their strength every morning, and our salvation in time of trouble.
3 At the sound of the uproar, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.
4 Your spoil will be gathered as locusts gather it; like swarms of locusts, they will leap upon it.
5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be the security of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
7 Look: their mighty men cry out in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways lie deserted; no one travels the road. He has broken the covenant, despised the cities, and paid no regard to anyone.
9 The land mourns and withers; Lebanon is ashamed and wastes away. Sharon has become a wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped of leaves.
10 “Now I will rise up,” says the LORD; “now I will lift myself up; now I will be exalted.”
11 You conceive straw and give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 The peoples will be burned to lime, like cut thorns set ablaze.
13 Hear what I have done, you who are far away; acknowledge my might, you who are near.
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the ungodly: “Who among us can live with devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”
15 Whoever walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects the gain of oppression and shakes his hands free of bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and closes his eyes to keep from seeing evil—
16 that one will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be rocky strongholds. His bread will be given to him, and his water will be sure.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will behold a land stretching far and wide.
18 Your heart will remember the terror: “Where is the scribe? Where is the one who weighed the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?”
19 You will no longer see that brazen people, a people whose obscure speech is impossible to understand, whose stammering tongue no one can comprehend.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful dwelling, a tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will never be pulled up, and none of its cords will be broken.
21 There the LORD will be mighty for us—a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars will sail and no great ship will pass.
22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
23 Your ropes hang loose; they cannot hold the mast firm or spread the sail. Then abundant spoil will be divided; even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 No one who lives there will say, “I am sick.” The guilt of the people who dwell there will be forgiven.
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