Isaiah 33

Isaiah 33:1

Woe to thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled; and dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee! when thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled; &c.

Woe to thee, O thou cruel Assyrian, that spoilest God’s people causelessly and unprovoked; and dealest treacherously with those, that have offered no such measure unto thee; for God will be sure to meet with thee in thine own way: when thou hast done spoiling the Jews, the Chaldees shall begin to spoil thee, &c.

Isaiah 33:2

O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.

O Lord, be gracious to us, thy chosen people: we have ever hitherto depended upon thee: thou hast been the refuge of our forefathers; as thou hast been their God of old, so renew thy favour and protection to us, every day; and be thou our salvation in the time of trouble.

Isaiah 33:3

At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of thyself the nations were scattered.

Upon the noise of the tumultuous onset of the Jews, the multitudes of the Assyrian army fled: when thou, O God, didst but seem to rouse up thyself, all those nations were suddenly dispersed.

Isaiah 33:4

And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar.

As when the country is annoyed with caterpillars, all sorts of people run forth, even women and children, to destroy them at once, and even the weakest can kill them with ease; so shall all the people run forth, to gather this spoil of the Assyrians.

Isaiah 33:6

And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

The main strength and stability, which thy times shall have, shall consist in the true spiritual wisdom, and in the knowledge of God; and the greatest treasure of thy good king Hezekiah, shall be the fear of the Lord.

Isaiah 33:7

Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

Behold, for the time, Jerusalem shall be put to great distress: their captains and soldiers shall be discouraged; and their ambassadors, that went to treat for peace, shall return discontented and sorrowful.

Isaiah 33:9

The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down; Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

The whole country mourneth and languisheth, even those parts which are remotest; and every province thereof beareth his own proper share in this misery: the cedars of Lebanon are cut down; the corn of Sharon and the fruitful pastures of Bashan and Carmel are wasted.

Isaiah 33:10

Now will I rise, saith the LORD.

Now, when things are come to an extremity, will I rise, saith the Lord.

Isaiah 33:11

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

Ye have conceived great hopes of victory and triumph, but you shall go away with a shameful foil; yea, ye shall perish by your own plots: the fire, which your own breath hath kindled, shall devour you.

Isaiah 33:14

The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? &c.

ISALAH, CHAP. XXXIII. Those, that are profane and godless in Jerusalem, are, not without cause, much terrified; and those hypocrites, which would not believe the predictions of these evils, are now overwhelmed with fearfulness, and now they are ready to say, Alas, how shall we be able to endure this wrath of God, which is gone out against us? &c.

Isaiah 33:16

He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

He shall dwell in a safe place, inaccessible to all enemies, and utterly impregnable; and shall have all things cast in his way, which are necessary for his sustentation.

Isaiah 33:17

Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

Whosoever thou art that walkest thus uprightly; thou shalt see the court of Jerusalem restored to his full glory: though Hezekiah be under hatches for the time, yet thou shalt see him in his wonted port and magnificence; and thou shalt see him subduing other remote kingdoms, and ruling over them.

Isaiah 33:18

Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?

Thy heart shall think upon the terror thou wert in, when thou distractedly askedst for thy officers; Where is the clerk of the band? Where is the receiver? Where is the surveyor of the works? As if these could have availed thee.

Isaiah 33:19

Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

Thou shalt not be forced to see and endure the tyranny of those fierce and cruel Assyrians; to live under the servitude of a nation, whose barbarous and harsh language thou understandest not.

Isaiah 33:21

But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, &c.

But there, even in Jerusalem, will the Lord be unto us instead of all the rivers, and ditches, and bulwarks of defence, which other cities boast themselves of; yea, he shall give Jerusalem protection without danger: in other cities and countries where they have the commodity of large rivers and inlets from the sea, there may be perhaps some peril of advantage to an enemy, and opportunity of invasion; but here shall be no such matter: no galley shall go here with oars, &c.

Isaiah 33:23

Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

But for thee, O Assyrian, howsoever thou camest like a well rigged ship to this siege, yet thy tacklings do not hold, thy mast VOL. III. H B totters; yea, so shall God ply thee with storms, that thou shalt not so much as spread a sail, but shalt be wrecked and spilt, and every one, though lame and impotent, shall share in the spoil of thee.

Isaiah 33:24

And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

But my people shall, in the meantime, be kept in safety and health; forasmuch as the very cause of their suffering, which is their iniquity, shall be removed and forgiven.