Isaiah

Chapter 33

1 WOE to you that plunder, but you shall not plunder, and let no one deal treacherously among you; for when you seek to plunder, they will plunder you; and when you seek to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.

2 O LORD, be gracious to us; for in thee is our trust; be thou our helper every morning, our salvation also in the time of distress.

3 At the noise of thy tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.

4 Henceforth your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as a swarm of locusts when it is gathered together.

5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 And faith shall be the stability of your times, and your salvation in a place of refuge; wisdom and knowledge and the reverence of the LORD is his treasure.

7 If he should be seen by them they shall howl violently; the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases, and the covenant is broken; the cities are despised, and there is no regard for man.

9 The earth mourns and languishes; Lebanon is ashamed and confounded; Sharon has become like a desert plain; and Bashan and Carmel are desolate.

10 Now I will arise, says the LORD; now I will be exalted; now I will lift up myself.

11 You shall conceive thorns, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

12 And the peoples shall be as the burning of lime; as thorns that are gathered together shall they be burned in the fire.

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

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the heathen. Who among us shall dwell with devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

15 He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly; he who despises treachery and oppression, who refuses to accept a bribe, who stops his ears that he may not hear of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes that he may not see evil.

16 He shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the precipice of rocks; his bread shall be given him; his water shall be sure.

17 Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty; they shall behold the lands that are far off.

18 Your heart shall learn reverence. Where is the scribe? Where is the weigher? Where is he who counted towers for a mighty people?

19 You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech, of a stammering tongue, so that he cannot be understood.

20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; your eyes shall see Jerusalem a rich habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be shaken to and fro; whose pegs shall never be removed, neither shall any of its cords be broken.

21 For there the name of the LORD is glorious to us; he will be for us a place of light, an enlightenment, and an open space made by the hand; wherein the authority of a prince shall not reign, neither shall the mighty one be able to invade it.

22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; and he is our Saviour.

23 Your riggings are loosed; they could not well hold straight their mast, they could not spread the sail; until they have divided the prey, a multitude of lame shall take it.

24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick; the people who dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.