Isaiah 33

Yahweh’s Judgment and Help

1 Ah, destroyer, and yourself not destroyed! And treacherous one, and no one has dealt treacherously with him! When you {cease} destroying, you will be destroyed. When you stop dealing treacherously, one will deal treacherously with you.

2 Yahweh, be gracious to us, we wait for you. Be our arm in the mornings, indeed our salvation in [the] time of trouble.

3 At [the] sound of tumult, peoples fled; because of your exaltation, nations scattered.

4 And your spoil is gathered, [as] the gathering of the locust, as a swarm of locusts storming on it.

5 Yahweh [is] exalted, for [he] dwells [on] high; he filled Zion [with] justice and righteousness,

6 and he will be the security of your times, an abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh [is] his treasure.

7 Look! Their heroes cry out [in the] street; [the] messengers of peace weep bitterly.

8 Highways are deserted; [the] traveler [on the] road ceases. One breaks a treaty, he rejects [the] cities, he does not hold man in high regard.

9 [The] land mourns; it languishes. Lebanon feels abashed; it withers. Sharon is like the desert, and Bashan and Carmel {are losing their leaves}.

10 "Now I will arise," says Yahweh. "Now I will lift myself up proudly; now I will raise myself.

11 You conceive dry grass, you bring forth stubble; your breath [is] a fire; it will consume you.

12 And [the] peoples will be burning [to] lime-- they are burned [like] thorns [that have been] cut down in the fire.

13 [You who are] far away, hear what I have done; and [you who are] near, know my might!"

14 Sinners are afraid in Zion; trembling has seized [the] godless: "Who of us can {live} [with] devouring fire? Who of us can {live} [with] everlasting consuming hearths?"

15 He who walks [in] righteousness and speaks uprightness, who rejects [the] gain of extortion, who {refuses} [a] bribe, who stops up his ears from hearing {bloodshed} and shuts his eyes from seeing evil.

16 That one will live [on the] heights; [the] fortresses of rocks [will be] his refuge. His food [will] be given; his waters [will] endure.

17 Your eyes will see [the] king in his beauty; they will see a {distant land}.

18 Your {mind} will meditate [on the] terror: "Where [is the] one who counted? Where [is the] one who weighed out? Where [is the] one who counted the towers?"

19 You will not see [the] insolent people, [the] people {whose language is too obscure to understand}, [whose] stammering of tongue {cannot be understood}.

20 Look [on] Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, a tent {that is not moved}. No one will ever pull out its tent pegs, and none of its ropes will be torn in two.

21 Rather, there Yahweh [will be] mighty for us, a place of rivers [and] {broad streams}, a galley ship with oars cannot go in it, and a mighty ship cannot pass through it.

22 For Yahweh [is] our judge; Yahweh [is] our lawgiver. Yahweh [is] our king; he [is the one who] will save us.

23 Your riggings hang slack; they do not hold the base of their mast firm, they do not spread out [the] sail. Then [the] prey of spoil [in] abundance will be divided; [the] lame will take plunder.

24 And no inhabitant will say, "I am sick"; the people who live in it, [their] iniquity [will be] taken away.

Isaiah 33 Commentary

Chapter 33

God's judgments against the enemies of his church. (1-14) The happiness of his people. (15-24)

Verses 1-14 Here we have the proud and false destroyer justly reckoned with for all his fraud and violence. The righteous God often pays sinners in their own coin. Those who by faith humbly wait for God, shall find him gracious to them; as the day, so let the strength be. If God leaves us to ourselves any morning, we are undone; we must every morning commit ourselves to him, and go forth in his strength to do the work of the day. When God arises, his enemies are scattered. True wisdom and knowledge lead to strength of salvation, which renders us stedfast in the ways of God; and true piety is the only treasure which can never be plundered or spent. The distress Jerusalem was brought into, is described. God's time to appear for his people, is, when all other helpers fail. Let all who hear what God has done, acknowledge that he can do every thing. Sinners in Zion will have much to answer for, above other sinners. And those that rebel against the commands of the word, cannot take its comforts in time of need. His wrath will burn those everlastingly who make themselves fuel for it. It is a fire that shall never be quenched, nor ever go out of itself; it is the wrath of an ever-living God preying on the conscience of a never-dying soul.

Verses 15-24 The true believer watches against all occasions of sin. The Divine power will keep him safe, and his faith in that power will keep him easy. He shall want nothing needful for him. Every blessing of salvation is freely bestowed on all that ask with humble, believing prayer; and the believer is safe in time and for ever. Those that walk uprightly shall not only have bread given, and their water sure, but they shall, by faith, see the King of kings in his beauty, the beauty of holiness. The remembrance of the terror they were in, shall add to the pleasure of their deliverance. It is desirable to be quiet in our own houses, but much more so to be quiet in God's house; and in every age Christ will have a seed to serve him. Jerusalem had no large river running by it, but the presence and power of God make up all wants. We have all in God, all we need, or can desire. By faith we take Christ for our Prince and Saviour; he reigns over his redeemed people. All that refuse to have Him to reign over them, make shipwreck of their souls. Sickness is taken away in mercy, when the fruit of it is the taking away of sin. If iniquity be taken away, we have little reason to complain of outward affliction. This last verse leads our thoughts, not only to the most glorious state of the gospel church on earth, but to heaven, where no sickness or trouble can enter. He that blotteth out our transgressions, will heal our souls.

Footnotes

• [a]. Many manuscripts suggest "you" rather than "him"
• [b]. Literally "finishing"
• [c]. Hebrew "their"
• [d]. A Dead Sea Scroll reads "witnesses"
• [e]. Literally "shaking off"
• [f]. Literally "dwell as an alien"
• [g]. Literally "dwell as an alien"
• [h]. Literally "shakes his hand from the taking of"
• [i]. Hebrew "ear"
• [j]. Literally "blood"
• [k]. Hebrew "water"
• [l]. Literally "land of distance"
• [m]. Literally "heart"
• [n]. Literally "obscure of lip than to hear"
• [o]. Literally "there is no understanding"
• [p]. Literally "not he is loaded"
• [q]. Literally "streams broad of hands"
• [r]. Or "of"
• [s]. Hebrew "oar"

Chapter Summary

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.