O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

Isaiah 33

1 l Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us; m we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
 3 n At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
 4 and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
o as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

5 p The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
 6 q and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the Lord is Zion's 1 treasure.

7 Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
r the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
 8 s The highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
t Covenants are broken;
cities 2 are despised;
there is no regard for man.
 9 u The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10 v "Now I will arise," says the Lord,
"now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
 11 w You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is x a fire that will consume you.
 12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
x like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire."

13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
y "Who among us can dwell z with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?"
 15 a He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
b and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
 16 he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
c his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

17 d Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
e they will see a land that stretches afar.
 18 f Your heart will muse on the terror:
"Where is he who counted, where is g he who weighed the tribute?
Where is h he who counted the towers?"
 19 i You will see no more the insolent people,
the people j of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
 20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
k Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an l immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
 21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
a place of m broad rivers and streams,
n where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
 22 For the Lord is our o judge; the Lord is our p lawgiver;
the Lord is our q king; he will save us.

23 Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
r Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even s the lame will take the prey.
 24 And no inhabitant will say, t "I am sick";
u the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

  1. Cross References
    Isaiah 21:2
    A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam; lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she has caused I bring to an end.
    Isaiah 17:14
    At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.
  2. Cross References
    Isaiah 25:9
    It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord ; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
    Isaiah 26:8
    In the path of your judgments, O Lord, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul.
  3. Cross References
    Isaiah 17:13
    The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.
    2 Kings 19:7
    Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.'
  4. Cross References
    Joel 2:4 - 5
    Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run.
  5. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:17
    And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
    Isaiah 5:15 - 16
    Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.
  6. Cross References
    Isaiah 39:8
    Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, "The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good." For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my days.
  7. Cross References
    Isaiah 36:22
    Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
    2 Kings 18:37
    Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
  8. Cross References
    Judges 5:6
    In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned, and travelers kept to the byways.
  9. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:1
    Ah, you destroyer, who yourself have not been destroyed, you traitor, whom none has betrayed! When you have ceased to destroy, you will be destroyed; and when you have finished betraying, they will betray you.
    2 Kings 18:14 - 17
    And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
  10. Cross References
    Isaiah 24:4
    The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
    Nahum 1:4
    He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers.
  11. Cross References
    Psalms 12:5
    "Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will now arise," says the Lord ; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."
    Psalms 68:1
    God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!
    Isaiah 10:26
    And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
  12. Cross References
    Isaiah 59:4
    No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
    Psalms 7:14
    Behold, the wicked man conceives evil and is pregnant with mischief and gives birth to lies.
  13. Cross References
    Isaiah 10:16 - 17
    Therefore the Lord God of hosts will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors, and under his glory a burning will be kindled, like the burning of fire.
    Psalms 80:16
    They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
  14. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:11
    You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble; your breath is a fire that will consume you.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 15:1
    O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
    Psalms 24:3
    Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord ? And who shall stand in his holy place?
  16. Cross References
    Isaiah 66:15
    For behold, the Lord will come in fire, and his chariots like the whirlwind, to render his anger in fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
    Hebrews 12:29
    For our God is a consuming fire.
  17. Cross References
    Psalms 15:2
    He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
    Psalms 24:4
    He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.
  18. Cross References
    Psalms 119:37
    Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 30:23
    And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures.
    Isaiah 30:25
    And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
  20. Cross References
    Isaiah 6:5
    And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!
    Zechariah 9:9
    Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  21. Cross References
    Isaiah 54:2 - 3
    Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
  22. Cross References
    Psalms 37:10
    In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
  23. Cross References
    2 Kings 18:14
    And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, "I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear." And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
  24. Cross References
    Psalms 48:12
    Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers.
  25. Cross References
    2 Kings 19:32 - 33
    Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it.
  26. Cross References
    Isaiah 28:11
    For by people of strange lips and with a foreign tongue the Lord will speak to this people.
    Deuteronomy 28:49 - 50
    The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 32:18
    My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
  28. Cross References
    Isaiah 33:6
    And he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.
  29. Cross References
    Psalms 46:4 - 5
    There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
  30. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:16
    Against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft.
    Psalms 48:7
    By the east wind you shattered the ships of Tarshish.
  31. Cross References
    Judges 2:16
    Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
  32. Cross References
    James 4:12
    There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
  33. Cross References
    1 Samuel 12:13
    And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you.
  34. Cross References
    Genesis 49:27
    "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil."
  35. Cross References
    Psalms 68:12
    The kings of the armies - they flee, they flee!" The women at home divide the spoil -
  36. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:5 - 6
    Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
  37. Cross References
    Isaiah 1:25 - 26
    I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.
    Jeremiah 50:20
    In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, iniquity shall be sought in Israel, and there shall be none, and sin in Judah, and none shall be found, for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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