Psalm of hope
1 Woe to you, O ravager
who never have been ravaged,
you O treacherous one
who have not been betrayed!
When your ravaging is over,
you yourself will be ravaged;
when your treacherous deals are ended,
you yourself will be betrayed.
2 O Yahweh, have mercy on us
who put all our hope in you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation when trouble comes.
3 Peoples flee when you thunder and threaten,
nations scatter when you rise majestically.
4 Your spoil, O nations, will be gathered
like grasshoppers or locusts
leaping and pouncing at grain in the fields.
5 Great is Yahweh who dwells in the height
who fills Zion with justice and right,
6 at any time he makes you secure.
Wisdom and knowledge are the helpful riches,
the fear of Yahweh will be your treasure.
The intervention of Yahweh
7 The people of Ariel lament in the street,
their envoys of peace bitterly weep.
8 The highways lie waste with no traveler in sight.
For the covenants were broken,
the promises trampled down;
no one has been respected.
9 The earth mourns and languishes,
Lebanon withers away with shame,
Sharon has become a wilderness,
and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.
10 Yahweh says: now I will rise up,
now I will be exalted,
now I will lift myself up.
11 You conceived chaff,
you will deliver stubble,
my breath like fire will devour you.
12 The nations will be burned to lime,
like thorns cut down and burned in the fire.
13 You who are afar,
hear what I have done;
and you who are near,
acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners of Zion shake,
trembling in fear are the hypocrites.
“Who among us will dwell with flames?
Who can subsist in the midst of fire?
15 He who walks uprightly
and speaks righteously,
spurns profit from oppression,
shakes his fists at graft and corruption,
stops his ears against suggestions of bloodshed
and averts his eyes from evil plans.
16 This is the one
who will dwell on the heights,
his stronghold a fortress of rocks;
bread is given to him,
his water will not fail.
After the oppression
17 Your eyes will behold a king in his splendor and a land that stretches afar.
18 Yet your mind may still dwell on its old fears: Where is the oppressor who counted and weighed the taxes and enrolled our sons?
19 But you will see no more of those fierce people with obscure speech you cannot comprehend, with stammering tongue you cannot understand.
20 Look to Zion, the city of our festivals; see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tabernacle never to be destroyed. Not one of its stakes will ever be removed nor any of its ropes severed.
21 But there is Yahweh mighty for our sake, in place of broad rivers and streams. Here you see no galley with oars; no stately sailing ship.
22 But Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our king: he will save us.
The oppressor pillaged
23 Your rigging hangs loose: it cannot hold the mast firm, it cannot keep the sail spread out.
Such have been the prey and spoil that even the lame pounced on it.
24 On that day no one apologized, “I am sickly.” The people who dwell there have been forgiven their sins.
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Comments Isaiah, Chapter 33
• 33.17 This poem, inserted in the book of Isaiah later, emphasizes the hope for a peaceful time when oppression will only be a memory.
Zion, Jerusalem, is the tent which will never be moved. It enjoys Yahweh’s secret protection, already mentioned in 8:1 in the image of the wa ters of Shiloah. A silent presence, yet more powerful than the presence of the great nations. These na tions are on the shores of large rivers (Babylon, Egypt and also Tyre, on the seacoast) and are proud of their large boats. In Zion, the city without power or riches, but under the Law of God, believers feel secure in the face of events.
Look to Zion, the city of our festivals; see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode. This is the way the believer looks at the Church where Christ is found. Staying on the fringe, without commitment, one can easily criticize. If a person really comes in and shares his or her life in depth, he or she discovers that only the Church can communicate strength, peace and God’s presence to every one.