Isaiah

33 Alas! thou plunderer when thou hadst not been plundered, And thou traito, when they had not betrayed thee: When thou hast ceased plundering thou shalt be plundered, When thou hast left off betraying they shall betray thee.

2 O Yahweh! shew us favour,—For thee have we waited,—Be thou their arm every morning, Yea our salvation in the time of distress.

3 At the noise of a tumult the peoples retreated,—When thou didst lift thyself up nations were scattered.

4 Then shall your spoil be gathered as the gathering of the caterpillar,—As the swift running of locusts is he about to run upon them.

5 Exalted is Yahweh, for he inhabiteth a height,—He hath filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 So shall a wealth of deliverances, wisdom and knowledge become the stability of thy times,—The reverence of Yahweh the same is his treasure.

7 Lo! their heroes have cried out openly,—The messengers of peace in bitterness continue weeping [they say]:

8 The highways are deserted, The passer-by on the path hath ceased,—He hath broken covenant, He hath despised cities, He hath made no account of men.

9 The land mourneth, languisheth, Lebanon displayeth shame, is withered,—Sharon hath become as the waste plain, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.

10 Now will I arise, Saith Yahweh, Now will I lift myself up, Now will I be exalted!

11 Ye shall conceive chaff, Ye shall bring forth stubble,—Your own breath like fire shall devour you.

12 So shall peoples become as the burnings of lime,—As thorns lopped off with fire shall they be burned.

13 Hear—ye that are far off what I have done, And know—ye that are near, my might:

14 Terror-stricken in Zion—are sinners, Shuddering hath seized the impious,—Who among us can sojourn with a fire that devoureth? Who among us can sojourn with burnings age-abiding?

15 He that walketh righteously, And speaketh uprightly,—He that refuseth the gain of exactions, That shaketh his hands free from holding a bribe, That stoppeth his ear from hearkening to deeds of blood, And shutteth his eyes from giving countenance to wrong

16 He the heights shall inhabit, A stronghold of crags shall be his refuge,—His bread hath been delivered, His waters have been made sure.

17 Of a king in his beauty shall thine eyes have vision: They shall see a land that stretcheth afar.

18 Thy heart may murmur in terror,—Where is the scribe? Where—the receiver? Where—he that maketh a list of the towers?

19 The fierce people shalt thou not see,—The people of too deep a lip to be understood, of too barbarous a tongue for thee to comprehend.

20 Look thou on Zion, the city of our appointed feast,—Thine own eyes shall see Jerusalem—A home of comfort, A tent which shall not be packed up—Whose pins shall not be pulled out for ever, And none of whose cords shall be broken.

21 But there shall Yahweh be our majestic one, A place of rivers—streams broad on both hands, Wherein shall go no galley with oars, Neither shall majestic ship traverse it;

22 For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver,—Yahweh is our king, He will save us!

23 Loosed are thy ropes,—They cannot strengthen the socket of their mast, They have not unfurled a sail, Now can be apportioned spoil in abundance, The lame have captured prey!

24 Neither shall the inhabitant say, I am sick,—The people who dwell therein have been forgiven iniquity.