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The Message Bible

Isaiah Chapter: 33

1: Doom to you, Destroyer, not yet destroyed; And doom to you, Betrayer, not yet betrayed. When you finish destroying, your turn will come--destroyed! When you quit betraying, your turn will come--betrayed!

2: GOD, treat us kindly. You're our only hope. First thing in the morning, be there for us! When things go bad, help us out!

3: You spoke in thunder and everyone ran. You showed up and nations scattered.

4: Your people, for a change, got in on the loot, picking the field clean of the enemy spoils.

5: GOD is supremely esteemed. His center holds. Zion brims over with all that is just and right.

6: GOD keeps your days stable and secure--salvation, wisdom, and knowledge in surplus, and best of all, Zion's treasure, Fear-of-GOD.

7: But look! Listen! Tough men weep openly. Peacemaking diplomats are in bitter tears.

8: The roads are empty--not a soul out on the streets. The peace treaty is broken, its conditions violated, its signers reviled.

9: The very ground under our feet mourns, the Lebanon mountains hang their heads, Flowering Sharon is a weed-choked gully, and the forests of Bashan and Carmel? Bare branches.

10: "Now I'm stepping in," GOD says. "From now on, I'm taking over. The gloves come off. Now see how mighty I am.

11: There's nothing to you. Pregnant with chaff, you produce straw babies; full of hot air, you self-destruct.

12: You're good for nothing but fertilizer and fuel. Earth to earth--and the sooner the better.

13: "If you're far away, get the reports on what I've done, And if you're in the neighborhood, pay attention to my record.

14: The sinners in Zion are rightly terrified; the godless are at their wit's end: "Who among us can survive this firestorm? Who of us can get out of this purge with our lives?'"

15: The answer's simple: Live right, speak the truth, despise exploitation, refuse bribes, reject violence, avoid evil amusements.

16: This is how you raise your standard of living! A safe and stable way to live. A nourishing, satisfying way to live.

17: Oh, you'll see the king--a beautiful sight! And you'll take in the wide vistas of land.

18: In your mind you'll go over the old terrors: "What happened to that Assyrian inspector who condemned and confiscated? And the one who gouged us of taxes? And that cheating moneychanger?"

19: Gone! Out of sight forever! Their insolence nothing now but a fading stain on the carpet! No more putting up with a language you can't understand, no more sounds of gibberish in your ears.

20: Just take a look at Zion, will you? Centering our worship in festival feasts! Feast your eyes on Jerusalem, a quiet and permanent place to live. No more pulling up stakes and moving on, no more patched-together lean-tos.

21: Instead, GOD! GOD majestic, God himself the place in a country of broad rivers and streams, But rivers blocked to invading ships, off--limits to predatory pirates.

22: For GOD makes all the decisions here. GOD is our king. GOD runs this place and he'll keep us safe.

23: Ha! Your sails are in shreds, your mast wobbling, your hold leaking. The plunder is free for the taking, free for all--for weak and strong, insiders and outsiders.

24: No one in Zion will say, "I'm sick." Best of all, they'll all live guilt-free.

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