Isaiah 33

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¹Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betrayal, you will be betrayed. ✦ ²Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. ✦ ³At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered. ✦ ⁴Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap. ✦ ⁵Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. ✦ ⁶There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure. ✦ ⁷Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. ✦ ⁸The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man. ✦ ⁹The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare. ✦ ¹⁰“Now I will arise,” says Yahweh; “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. ✦ ¹¹You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. ✦ ¹²The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. ✦ ¹³Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.” ✦ ¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning? ✦ ¹⁵He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil — ✦ ¹⁶he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure. ✦ ¹⁷Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land. ✦ ¹⁸Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers? ✦ ¹⁹You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend, with a strange language that you can’t understand. ✦ ²⁰Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. ✦ ²¹But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of wide rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there. ✦ ²²For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us. ✦ ²³Your rigging is untied. They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn’t spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder was divided. The lame took the prey. ✦ ²⁴The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity. ✦

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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