Isaiah
Chapter 33
1 How terrible for you who destroy others when you have not been destroyed yourself, who betray others when no one has betrayed you! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, betrayal will come to you.
2 God, be kind to us; we have waited for you. Be their strength every morning, and our rescue when trouble comes.
3 When the loud noise came, people ran away; when you showed your power, countries split apart.
4 Your loot will be collected as caterpillars do, and like swarms of locusts moving back and forth, it will be taken away.
5 God is lifted up; for he lives on high: he has filled Zion with fairness and goodness.
6 Wisdom and knowledge will make your times stable, and will be the strength of your safety; respecting God is his treasure.
7 Look, their brave people will cry loudly outside; the peacemakers will cry sadly.
8 The roads are empty, no one travels on them; he has broken the promise, he has no respect for the cities, he cares about no one.
9 The earth is sad and weak: Lebanon is embarrassed and cut down: Sharon is like a desert; and Bashan and Carmel lose their fruit.
10 Now I will get up, says God; now I will be lifted high; now I will raise myself up.
11 You will get pregnant with useless stuff, you will give birth to waste: your own breath, like fire, will consume you.
12 The people will be like lime burning up; like cut thorns, they will be burned in the fire.
13 Listen, those who are far away, see what I have done; and those who are close, recognize my power.
14 The wrongdoers in Zion are scared; sudden fear has shocked the fakers. Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with eternal flames?
15 The person who lives right and speaks fairly, who hates unfair gain, who refuses bribes, who does not listen to plots of murder, and who does not look at evil things.
16 He will live in a high place; his fortress will be strong cliffs: He will have bread and a steady water supply.
17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty; they will look at a land that is far away.
18 Your heart will think about fear. Where is the writer? Where is the collector? Where is the one who counted the towers?
19 You will not see a fierce people, people whose speech is too complex for you to understand; people who speak with a stutter that you cannot comprehend.
20 Look at Zion, the city of our celebrations: you will see Jerusalem as a peaceful home, a tent that won’t be destroyed; none of its pegs will ever be taken out, and none of its ropes will break.
21 In that place, God will be like a land with wide rivers and streams, where no rowboats or great ships will sail.
22 God is our judge, God makes our laws, God is our king; he will save us.
23 Your ropes are untied; they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail. Then the great treasures are shared; even the disabled get a share.
24 No one living there will say, “I am sick.” The people there will be forgiven for the wrong things they have done.