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33. Distress and Help

¹ Woe to you, destroyer,
   you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, betrayer,
   you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
   you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying,
   you will be betrayed.

    ² LORD, be gracious to us;
   we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
   our salvation in time of distress.
³ At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;
   when you rise up, the nations scatter.
⁴ Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;
   like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.

    ⁵ The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
   he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
⁶ He will be the sure foundation for your times,
   a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
   the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure. Or is a treasure from him

    ⁷ Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets;
   the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸ The highways are deserted,
   no travelers are on the roads.
The treaty is broken,
   its witnesses Dead Sea Scrolls; Masoretic Text / the cities are despised,
   no one is respected.
⁹ The land dries up and wastes away,
   Lebanon is ashamed and withers;
Sharon is like the Arabah,
   and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.

    ¹⁰ “Now will I arise,” says the LORD.
   “Now will I be exalted;
   now will I be lifted up.
¹¹ You conceive chaff,
   you give birth to straw;
   your breath is a fire that consumes you.
¹² The peoples will be burned to ashes;
   like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”

    ¹³ You who are far away, hear what I have done;
   you who are near, acknowledge my power!
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are terrified;
   trembling grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
   Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
¹⁵ Those who walk righteously
   and speak what is right,
who reject gain from extortion
   and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
who stop their ears against plots of murder
   and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
¹⁶ they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
   whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
   and water will not fail them.

    ¹⁷ Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
   and view a land that stretches afar.
¹⁸ In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
   “Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
   Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
¹⁹ You will see those arrogant people no more,
   people whose speech is obscure,
   whose language is strange and incomprehensible.

    ²⁰ Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;
   your eyes will see Jerusalem,
   a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
   nor any of its ropes broken.
²¹ There the LORD will be our Mighty One.
   It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
   no mighty ship will sail them.
²² For the LORD is our judge,
   the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
   it is he who will save us.

    ²³ Your rigging hangs loose:
   The mast is not held secure,
   the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
   and even the lame will carry off plunder.
²⁴ No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;
   and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.

9. The earth hath mourned and languished. Here he describes more fully how wretched and desperate the Jews would perceive their condition to be, that their confidence might nevertheless come forth out of a deep gulf. The places are also specified by him, Lebanon, Bashan, and Carmel, which are widely distant from each other, and which form almost the farthest boundaries of the holy land, in order to shew that no part of it; will remain safe or uninjured. He describes this calamity in such a manner as to assign to each place what peculiarly belongs to it. To “Lebanon” he assigns confusion, because it is elsewhere mentioned as beautiful and glorious, in consequence of having been covered with lofty and valuable trees. He declares that “Sharon,” which was a level and fertile district, will be “like a wilderness,” and that “Bashan and Carmel,” which abounded in “fruits,” will be “shaken.” Thus he alludes to the natural character of each place, and describes the misery and distress in such a manner as to magnify and illustrate the kindness of God, by whom they would be delivered, even though they appeared to be utterly ruined; for here we may see the hand of God openly displayed, if it be not thought preferable to view the Prophet as relating a past transaction in order to excite them to thankfulness.