Text -- Isaiah 33:1-17 (NET)

The Lord Will Restore Zion

33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead, the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you! 33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you. Give us strength each morning! Deliver us when distress comes. 33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise; the nations scatter when you spring into action! 33:4 Your plunder disappears as if locusts were eating it; they swarm over it like locusts! 33:5 The Lord is exalted, indeed, he lives in heaven; he fills Zion with justice and fairness. 33:6 He is your constant source of stability; he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; he gives all this to those who fear him. 33:7 Look, ambassadors cry out in the streets; messengers sent to make peace weep bitterly. 33:8 Highways are empty, there are no travelers. Treaties are broken, witnesses are despised, human life is treated with disrespect. 33:9 The land dries up and withers away; the forest of Lebanon shrivels up and decays. Sharon is like the desert; Bashan and Carmel are parched. 33:10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord. “Now I will exalt myself; now I will magnify myself. 33:11 You conceive straw, you give birth to chaff; your breath is a fire that destroys you. 33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire. 33:13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done! You who are close by, recognize my strength!” 33:14 Sinners are afraid in Zion; panic grips the godless. They say, ‘Who among us can coexist with destructive fire? Who among us can coexist with unquenchable fire?’ 33:15 The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others– 33:16 This is the person who will live in a secure place; he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; he will have food and a constant supply of water. 33:17 You will see a king in his splendor; you will see a wide land.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Isa 33:1

¹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”

sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.

² tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.

³ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:2

¹ tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.

² tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:3

¹ tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”

² tn Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:4

¹ tn The pronoun is plural; the statement is addressed to the nations who have stockpiled plunder from their conquests of others.

² tn Heb “and your plunder is gathered, the gathering of the locust.”

³ tn Heb “like a swarm of locusts swarming on it.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:5

¹ tn Or “elevated”; NCV, NLT “is very great.”

² tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NIV).

³ tn Heb “on high” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “in the heavens.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:6

¹ tn Heb “and he is the stability of your times.”

² tn Heb “a rich store of deliverance, wisdom, and knowledge.”

³ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord, it is his treasure.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:7

¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown. Proposals include “heroes” (cf. KJV, ASV “valiant ones”; NASB, NIV “brave men”); “priests,” “residents [of Jerusalem].” The present translation assumes that the term is synonymous with “messengers of peace,” with which it corresponds in the parallel structure of the verse.

² tn Heb “messengers of peace,” apparently those responsible for negotiating the agreements that have been broken (see v. 8).

NET Notes: Isa 33:8

¹ tn Or “desolate” (NAB, NASB); NIV, NRSV, NLT “deserted.”

² tn Heb “the one passing by on the road ceases.”

³ tn Heb “one breaks a treaty”; NAB “Covenants are broken.”

⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “he despises cities.” The term עָרִים (’arim, “cities”) is probably a corruption of an original עֵדִים (’edim, “[legal] witnesses”), a reading that is preserved in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a. Confusion of dalet (ד) and resh (ר) is a well-attested scribal error.

⁵ tn Heb “he does not regard human beings.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:9

¹ tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”

² tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.

³ tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.

⁴ sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.

⁵ tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.

⁶ sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.

⁷ tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:10

¹ tn Or “lift myself up” (KJV); NLT “show my power and might.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:11

¹ tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.

² sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.

NET Notes: Isa 33:12

¹ tn Heb “will be a burning to lime.” See Amos 2:1.

NET Notes: Isa 33:14

¹ tn Or “trembling” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “shake with fear.”

² tn Or “the defiled”; TEV “The sinful people of Zion”; NLT “The sinners in Jerusalem.”

³ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ tn Or “perpetual”; or “everlasting” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

NET Notes: Isa 33:15

¹ tn Heb “walks” (so NASB, NIV).

² tn Or, possibly, “justly”; NAB “who practices virtue.”

³ tn Heb “[who] shakes off his hands from grabbing hold of a bribe.”

⁴ tn Heb “[who] shuts his ear from listening to bloodshed.”

⁵ tn Heb “[who] closes his eyes from seeing evil.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:16

¹ tn Heb “he [in the] exalted places will live.”

² tn Heb “mountain strongholds, cliffs [will be] his elevated place.”

NET Notes: Isa 33:17

¹ tn Heb “your eyes will see a king in his beauty”; NIV, NRSV “the king.”

² tn Heb “a land of distances,” i.e., an extensive land.