Isaiah 33

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¹Woe to you, destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him. As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed; As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you. ✦ ²Lord, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be their strength every morning, Our salvation also in the time of distress. ✦ ³At the sound of a roar, peoples flee; At the lifting up of Yourself, nations disperse. ✦ ⁴Your plunder is gathered as the caterpillar gathers; Like an infestation of locusts, people storm it. ✦ ⁵The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. ✦ ⁶And He will be the stability of your times, A wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; The fear of the Lord is his treasure. ✦ ⁷Behold, their brave men cry out in the streets, The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. ✦ ⁸The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased, He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, He has no regard for mankind. ✦ ⁹The land mourns and wastes away, Lebanon is shamed and withers; Sharon is like a desert plain, And Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage. ✦ ¹⁰“Now I will arise,” says the Lord, “Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up. ✦ ¹¹“You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble; My breath will consume you like a fire. ✦ ¹²“The peoples will be burned to lime, Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire. ✦ ¹³¶“You who are far away, hear what I have done; And you who are near, acknowledge My might.” ✦ ¹⁴Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. “Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?” ✦ ¹⁵One who walks righteously and speaks with integrity, One who rejects unjust gain And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe; One who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed And shuts his eyes from looking at evil; ✦ ¹⁶He will dwell on the heights, His refuge will be the impregnable rock; His bread will be given him, His water will be sure. ✦ ¹⁷¶Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; They will see a distant land. ✦ ¹⁸Your heart will meditate on terror: “Where is one who counts? Where is one who weighs? Where is one who counts the towers?” ✦ ¹⁹You will no longer see a fierce people, A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, Of a stammering tongue which no one understands. ✦ ²⁰Look at Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed settlement, A tent which will not be folded; Its stakes will never be pulled up, Nor any of its ropes be torn apart. ✦ ²¹But there the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us A place of rivers and wide canals On which no boat with oars will go, And on which no mighty ship will pass— ✦ ²²For the Lord is our judge, The Lord is our lawgiver, The Lord is our king; He will save us— ✦ ²³Your ship’s tackle hangs slack; It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, Nor spread out the sail. Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided; Those who limp will take the plunder. ✦ ²⁴And no resident will say, “I am sick”; The people who live there will be forgiven their wrongdoing. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

Isa 10 ·13 Isa 37 ·10 Ps 46 ·8 2 Kgs 18 ·7 Isa 32 ·6 Isa 30 ·6 Isa 26 ·5 Isa 33 ·5

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Seminary

★ Start hereCommentaryThe Book of Isaiah (NICOT)John N. Oswalt · Paid · evangelical
The standard evangelical commentary on Isaiah — thorough and devotionally warm.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 33YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Isaiah 33David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Isaiah 33Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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