Isaiah 33

¹Ah , you destroyer , who yourself have not been destroyed , you traitor , whom none has betrayed ! When you have ceased to destroy , you will be destroyed ; and when you have finished betraying , they will betray you.

²O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be our arm every morning , our salvation in the time of trouble .

³At the tumultuous noise peoples flee ; when you lift yourself up , nations are scattered ,

⁴and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers ; as locusts leap , it is leapt upon.

⁵The Lord is exalted , for he dwells on high ; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness ,

⁶and he will be the stability of your times , abundance of salvation , wisdom , and knowledge ; the fear of the Lord is treasure .

⁷Behold , their heroes cry in the streets ; the envoys of peace weep bitterly .

⁸The highways lie waste ; the traveler ceases . Covenants are broken ; cities are despised ; there is no regard for man .

⁹The land mourns and languishes ; Lebanon is confounded and withers away ; Sharon is like a desert , and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰Now 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.

¹²And the peoples will be as if burned to lime , like thorns cut down , that are burned in the fire .

¹³Hear , you who are far off , what I have done ; and you who are near , acknowledge my might .

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid ; trembling has seized the godless : Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire ? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings ?

¹⁵He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly , who despises the gain of oppressions , who shakes his hands , lest they hold a bribe , who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil ,

¹⁶he will dwell on the heights ; his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks ; his bread will be given him; his water will be sure .

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

¹⁸Your heart will muse on the terror : Where is he who counted , where is he who weighed the tribute ? Where is he who counted the towers ?

¹⁹You will see no more the insolent people , the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend , stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand .

²⁰Behold Zion , the city of our appointed feasts ! Your eyes will see Jerusalem , an untroubled habitation , an immovable tent , whose stakes will never be plucked up , nor will any of its cords be broken .

²¹But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams , where no galley with oars can go , nor majestic ship can pass .

²²For the Lord is our judge ; the Lord is our lawgiver ; the Lord is our king ; he will save us.

²³Your cords hang loose ; they cannot hold the mast firm in its place or keep the sail spread out . Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided ; even the lame will take the prey .

²⁴And no inhabitant will say , I am sick ; the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity .