Isaiah 33

Another sad song

1It will be very sad for you, the country that destroys other countries. No other country has destroyed you, yet. It will be sad for you, the country that is not honest with other countries. No other country has not been honest with you yet. But when you stop destroying other countries, one country will destroy you. And when you stop not being honest with other countries, they will not be honest with you.

2 LORD, be kind to us. We look to you for help. Make us strong every day. Save us when trouble happens.

3At the sound of a voice, people run away. When you go to war, the people in other countries run away.

4People get things together after a war, as a locust gets food. As locusts rush to their food, so people rush to those things.

5The LORD is more important than anyone else. He lives high above the earth. He will fill Zion with fair answers to questions. And everybody will do what is right.

6He will make your lives safe and you will keep your money. Here are the valuable things that he gives to you:

· You will have the right answers for questions.

· You will know everything that you need to know.

· You will be properly afraid of the LORD.

7Look! The brave men from Jerusalem weep in the streets. Officers went (to Assyria). They asked for the war to stop. Now they cry very sad tears.

8The important roads are empty and nobody travels on the smaller roads. The enemy stopped the covenant. He does not like the cities and he does not love anyone.

9The land itself is very sad and it is becoming dry. Lebanon is ashamed and it is dying. Sharon is like a sandy place and the leaves in Bashan and Carmel are dying.

10The LORD says, ‘Now will I stand up. Now I will lift myself up. Now I will raise myself up.

11You make dry grass and you call it straw. Your own breath will destroy you as fire burns up that dry grass.

12It will burn the bones of people to make lime. They will burn as easily as bushes with thorns, when people cut them down.

13You people who are a long way from here, listen. Listen to what I have done! And you people who are near, understand. Understand that I am very powerful.’

14The sinners who live in Zion are afraid. The people who are not holy are afraid. They ask this. ‘Which of us can live with a fire that burns everything? Which of us can live with a fire that will never stop burning?’

15The answer is the person who is like this:

· He is very good. And he speaks what is right.

· He is never cruel to people to get money from them.

· His hands will not accept money to do wrong things.

· He closes his ears against ideas to kill people.

· And he shuts his eyes, so that he does not think about bad things.

16That person will be the person who lives on high places. That person’s safe place will be in the rocks. People like that will always have food and their drink will not stop.

17Your eyes will see that the king is beautiful. Your eyes will see a country that reaches to places a long way from here.

18Your mind will think about when you were afraid. You will say, ‘The enemy-officer who counted things has gone! The man who weighed everything has gone! The man who counted high buildings has gone!’

19You will never see those cruel people again. They speak words that you cannot understand. Their language is strange and you cannot understand it.

20Look at Zion. It is the city where we have our feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem. It is a place where there is no war. It is like a tent that people will never remove. They will never pull up its pegs. They will never break any of its ropes.

21It is there (in Jerusalem) that the LORD will be our powerful God. It will be like a place with wide rivers and streams. No boat that men have to move will go on them. No big ship will sail on them.

22The LORD is our judge. The LORD gives our rules to us. The LORD is our king. It is the LORD who will make us safe.

23The ropes on your ship hang down. The wood that they hang from is not safe. The sailors have not put the sail up. Then people will have the many things that they took from their enemies. And even people who cannot walk well will carry away something!

24Nobody who lives in Zion will say, ‘I am ill.’ And God will again forgive the people who live there.