Isaiah 33

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

Isaiah pronounces woe upon an unpunished destroyer and traitor, while the people pray to the Lord for grace, strength, and salvation. The Lord rises, scatters the nations, fills Zion with justice, and becomes a sure foundation, though the land currently mourns, highways are deserted, and messengers weep over broken treaties. The Lord declares He will arise and consume the peoples like chaff and thorns, causing fear among the sinners in Zion. The text describes the righteous person who will dwell securely on the heights, see the King in His beauty, and no longer face foreign oppressors or terrifying calculators. Finally, the chapter depicts Jerusalem as a secure, peaceful tent and fortress where the Lord acts as judge, lawgiver, and king, ensuring that abandoned enemy ships are plundered, no resident complains of sickness, and iniquity is forgiven.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹Woe 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. ²O LORD, be gracious to us! We wait for You. Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble. ³The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice; the nations scatter when You rise. ⁴Your spoil, O nations, is gathered as by locusts; like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it. ⁵The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. ⁶He will be the sure foundation for your times, a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure. ⁷Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly. ⁸The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. The treaty has been broken, the witnesses are despised, and human life is disregarded. ⁹The 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. ¹¹You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will consume you. ¹²The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and set ablaze. ¹³You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge My might.” ¹⁴The 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?” ¹⁵He 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— ¹⁶he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured. ¹⁷Your eyes will see the King in His beauty and behold a land that stretches afar. ¹⁸Your mind will ponder the former terror: “Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers?” ¹⁹You will no longer see the insolent, a people whose speech is unintelligible, who stammer in a language you cannot understand. ²⁰Look 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. ²¹But 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. ²²For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us. ²³Your 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. ²⁴And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell there will be forgiven of iniquity.

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.