ISAIAH 33 – 35
Who of us can live with unquenchable flames? —The one who walks in continual righteousness.
ISAIAH:
Woe to you, you destroyer who has not been destroyed; You betrayer who has not been betrayed! When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed. When you finish betraying, you will be betrayed.
O Jehovah, show us favor. Our hope is in you. Become our arm every morning, Yes, our salvation in the time of distress.
At the sound of turmoil peoples flee. When you rise up, nations scatter.
As the voracious locusts gather, so your spoil will be gathered; People will rush on it like swarms of locusts.
Jehovah will be exalted, For he resides in the heights above. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
He is the stability of your times; An abundance of salvation, wisdom, knowledge, and the fear of Jehovah —This is his treasure.
Look! Their heroes cry out in the street; The messengers of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are deserted; There is no one traveling on the pathways. He has broken the covenant; He has rejected the cities; He shows no regard for mortal man.
The land mourns and withers away. Lebanon is ashamed; it has decayed. Sharon has become like the desert, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
JEHOVAH:
“Now I will rise up, Now I will exalt myself; Now I will magnify myself.
You conceive dried grass and give birth to stubble. Your own spirit will consume you like a fire.
And peoples will become as the burnings of lime. As thorns cut down, they will be set ablaze with fire.
You who are far away, listen to what I will do! And you who are nearby, acknowledge my might!”
ISAIAH:
The sinners in Zion are in dread; Trembling has seized the apostates: ‘Who of us can live where there is a consuming fire? Who of us can live with unquenchable flames?’
The one who walks in continual righteousness, Who speaks what is upright, Who rejects dishonest, fraudulent gain, Whose hands refuse a bribe rather than grabbing it, Who closes his ear to talk of bloodshed, And who shuts his eyes to avoid seeing what is bad
—He will reside in the heights; His secure refuge will be in rocky strongholds, His bread will be provided, And his water supply will never fail.
Your eyes will behold a king in his splendor; They will see a land far away.
In your heart you will recall the terror: “Where is the secretary? Where is the one who weighed out the tribute? Where is the one who counted the towers?”
You will no more see the insolent people, A people whose language is too obscure to comprehend, Whose stammering tongue you cannot understand.
Behold Zion, the city of our festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a tranquil dwelling place, A tent that will not be moved. Never will its tent pins be pulled out, And none of its ropes will be torn apart.
But there the Majestic One, Jehovah, Will be for us a region of rivers, of wide canals, Where no galley fleet will go And no majestic ships will pass by.
For Jehovah is our Judge, Jehovah is our Lawgiver, Jehovah is our King; He is the One who will save us.
Your ropes will hang loose; They cannot hold up the mast nor spread the sail. At that time an abundance of spoil will be divided up; Even the lame will take much plunder.
And no resident will say: “I am sick.” The people dwelling in the land will be pardoned for their error.
ISAIAH 34
ISAIAH:
Come close to hear, you nations, And pay attention, you peoples. Let the earth and that which fills it listen, The land and all its produce.
For Jehovah’s indignation is against all the nations, And his wrath is against all their army. He will devote them to destruction; He will give them to the slaughter.
Their slain will be thrown out, And the stench of their carcasses will ascend; The mountains will melt because of their blood.
All the army of the heavens will rot away, And the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll. All their army will wither away, As a withered leaf falls from the vine And a shriveled fig from the fig tree.
JEHOVAH:
“For in the heavens my sword will be drenched. It will descend on Edom in judgment, On the people whom I devoted to destruction.
Jehovah has a sword; it will be covered with blood. It will be covered with the fat, With the blood of young rams and goats, With the kidney fat of rams. For Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, A great slaughter in the land of Edom.
The wild bulls will go down with them, The young bulls with the powerful ones. Their land will be drenched in blood, And their dust will be soaked with fat.”
ISAIAH:
For Jehovah has a day of vengeance, A year of retribution for the legal case over Zion.
Her streams will be changed into pitch, And her dust into sulfur, And her land will become like burning pitch.
By night or by day it will not be extinguished; Its smoke will keep ascending forever. From generation to generation she will remain devastated; No one will pass through her forever and ever.
The pelican and the porcupine will possess her, And long-eared owls and ravens will reside in her. He will stretch out over her the measuring line of emptiness And the plumb line of desolation.
None of her nobles will be called to the kingship, And all her princes will come to nothing.
Thorns will grow in her fortified towers, Nettles and thorny weeds in her fortresses. She will become a lair of jackals, An enclosure for ostriches.
Desert creatures will meet up with howling animals, And the wild goat will call to its companion. Yes, there the nightjar will settle and find a place of rest.
There the arrow snake will make its nest and lay eggs, And it will hatch them and gather them in its shadow. Yes, there the kites will gather, each one with her mate.
Search in the book of Jehovah and read it out loud: Not one of them will be missing; None of them will be lacking a mate, For it is the mouth of Jehovah that has given the order, And it is his spirit that has gathered them together.
He is the One who has cast the lot for them, And his own hand has measured out their assigned place. They will possess it for all time; They will reside in it throughout all generations.
ISAIAH 35
ISAIAH:
The wilderness and the parched land will exult, And the desert plain will be joyful and blossom as the saffron.
Without fail it will blossom; It will rejoice and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, The splendor of Carmel and of Sharon. They will see the glory of Jehovah, the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the knees that are shaking.
Say to those who are anxious at heart: “Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your own God will come with vengeance, God will come with retribution. He will come and save you.”
At that time the eyes of the blind will be opened, And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
At that time the lame will leap like the deer, And the tongue of the speechless will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert plain.
The heat-parched ground will become a reedy pool, And the thirsty ground springs of water. In the lairs where jackals rested, There will be green grass and reeds and papyrus.
And a highway will be there, Yes, a way called the Way of Holiness. The unclean one will not travel on it. It is reserved for the one walking on the way; No one foolish will stray onto it.
No lion will be there, And no vicious wild beasts will come on it. They will not be found there; Only the repurchased ones will walk there.
Those redeemed by Jehovah will return and come to Zion with a joyful cry. Unending joy will crown their heads. Exultation and rejoicing will be theirs, And grief and sighing will flee away.