Isaiah 33:1-17

Distress and Help 1Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying, you will be betrayed.

2LORD, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.

3At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee; when you rise up, the nations scatter.

4Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts; like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

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

6He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. Or is a treasure from him

7Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets; the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

8The highways are deserted, no travelers are on the roads. The treaty is broken, its witnesses Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text / the cities are despised, no one is respected.

9The land dries up and wastes away, Lebanon is ashamed and withers; Sharon is like the Arabah, and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

10“Now will I arise,” says the LORD . “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up.

11You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you.

12The peoples will be burned to ashes; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”

13You who are far away, hear what I have done; you who are near, acknowledge my power!

14The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”

15Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—

16they are the ones who will dwell on the heights, whose refuge will be the mountain fortress. Their bread will be supplied, and water will not fail them.

17Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.