Isaiah 33:1-11

1 Doom to you, Destroyer, not yet destroyed; And doom to you, Betrayer, not yet betrayed. When you finish destroying, your turn will come - destroyed! When you quit betraying, your turn will come - betrayed!

2 God, treat us kindly. You're our only hope. First thing in the morning, be there for us! When things go bad, help us out!

3 You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered.

4 Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.

5 God is supremely esteemed. His center holds. Zion brims over with all that is just and right.

6 God keeps your days stable and secure - salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus, and best of all, Zion's treasure, Fear-of-God.

7 But look! Listen! Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.

8 The roads are empty - not a soul out on the streets. The peace treaty is broken, its conditions violated, its signers reviled.

9 The very ground under our feet mourns, the Lebanon mountains hang their heads, Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully, and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.

10 "Now I'm stepping in," God says. "From now on, I'm taking over. The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am.

11 There's nothing to you. Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies; full of hot air, you self-destruct.

Isaiah 33:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 33

This chapter contains an account of God's judgments upon the enemies of his people, and of the peaceable, comfortable, and happy state of the church in the latter day. The judgment denounced, Isa 33:1 a prayer of the church for safety and protection, which it promises itself from what God had heretofore done, Isa 33:2,3 an answer to it, declaring the spoil of the enemy, and the happy times the people of God should enjoy through his appearance for them, Isa 33:4-6 though previous thereunto there would be very distressing ones, Isa 33:7-9 when the Lord resolves to arise and exert his power in the destruction of the people, who should be burnt up like stubble, thorns, and lime, Isa 33:10-12 persons far and near are called upon to take notice of this, Isa 33:13 which would issue in a different manner, in the surprise and terror of hypocrites, and in the safety and plenty of provisions for good men, who are described, Isa 33:14-16 and then follow promises to them, of seeing the King in his beauty, and beholding a distant country of reflecting on past terror with pleasure, being freed from it, and in no danger of a foreign enemy, Isa 33:17-19 and the chapter is concluded with a famous prophecy of the peace, prosperity, and safety of the church, and of the healthfulness of its inhabitants, under the protection of Christ, its King and Lawgiver, its enemies being also an easy prey to it, Isa 33:20-24.