Isaiah — Chapter 33

Ha, you ravager who are not ravaged,You betrayer who have not been betrayed!When you have done ravaging, you shall be ravaged;When you have finished betraying, you shall be betrayed.

O ETERNAL One, be gracious to us!It is to You we have looked;Be their armaBe their arm Emendation yields “You have been our help.” every morning,Also our deliverance in time of stress.

At [Your] roaring, peoples have fled,Before Your majesty nations have scattered;

And spoilbspoil Heb. “your spoil.” was gathered as locusts are gathered,ItcIt Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Emendation yields “booty”; cf. v. 23. was amasseddamassed Taking sh-q-q as a cognate of q-sh-sh. as grasshoppers are amassed.eas grasshoppers are amassed Apparently for food; cf. Lev. 11.22.

GOD is exalted,Dwelling on high—[Of old] filling ZionWith justice and righteousness.

Faithfulness to Your chargefYour charge Meaning of Heb. uncertain. was [her] wealth,Wisdom and devotion [her] triumph,Reverence for GOD—that was hergher Heb. “his.” treasure.

Hark! The ArieliteshArielites So a few manuscripts; cf. 29.1. cry aloud;Shalom’siShalom’s I.e., Jerusalem’s; cf. Salem (Heb. Shalem), Ps. 76.3. messengers weep bitterly.

Highways are desolate,Wayfarers have ceased.A covenant has been renounced,CitiesjCities 1QIsᵃ reads “A pact.” rejectedMortalskMortals Emendation yields “an obligation.” despised.

The land is wilted and withered;Lebanon disgraced and moldering,Sharon is become like a desert,And Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

“Now I will arise,” says GOD,“Now I will exalt Myself, now raise Myself high.

You shall conceive hay,Give birth to straw;MylMy Heb. “your.” breath will devour you like fire.

Peoples shall be burnings of lime,mlime Emendation yields “brambles”; cf. 32.13. Thorns cut down that are set on fire.

Hear, you who are far, what I have done;You who are near, note My might.”

Sinners in Zion are frightened,The godless are seized with trembling:“Who of us can dwell with the devouring fire:Who of us can dwell with the never-dying blaze?”

Whoever walks in righteousness,Speaks uprightly,Spurns profit from fraudulent dealings,Waves away a bribe instead of grasping it,Stops their ears against listening to infamy,Shuts their eyes against looking at evil—

Such a one shall dwell in lofty security,With inaccessible cliffs for a stronghold,With food suppliedAnd drink assured.

When your eyes behold a king in his beauty,na king in his beauty Emendation yields “perfection of beauty”; cf. Ps. 50.2. When they contemplate the land round about,

Your throatothroat As in 59.13 and elsewhere; lit. “heart.” shall murmur in awe,“Where is one who could count? Where is one who could weigh?Where is one who could count [all these] towers?”

No more shall you see the barbarian folk,The people of speech too obscure to comprehend,So stammering of tongue that they are not understood.

When you gaze upon Zion, our city of assembly,Your eyes shall behold JerusalemAs a secure homestead,A tent not to be transported,Whose pegs shall never be pulled up,And none of whose ropes shall break.

For there GOD in divine greatness shall be for usLike a region of rivers, of broad streams,Where no floating vessels can sailAnd no mighty craft can travel—TheirpTheir Heb. “your.” ropes are slack,They cannot steady the sockets of their masts,They cannot spread a sail.qTheir ropes … spread a sail Moved up from v. 23 for clarity. The passage means that GOD will render Jerusalem as inaccessible to enemies as if it were surrounded by an impassable sea.

For GOD shall be our ruler, GOD shall be our monarch, GOD shall be our sovereignAnd shall deliver us.

Then shall indeed much spoil be divided,rshall indeed much spoil be divided Meaning of Heb. uncertain; emendation yields “even a blind man shall divide much spoil.” Even the lame shall seize booty.

And no one who lives there shall say, “I am sick”;It shall be inhabited by folk whose sin has been forgiven.