CHAPTER 33 Jun. 9 
The Destruction of the Assyrians Prophesied
Woe to you who destroy, but you weren’t destroyed; and who betray, but nobody betrayed you. When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed; and when you have made an end of betrayal, you will be betrayed. 2Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have waited for You. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. 3At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When You lift Yourself up, the nations are scattered. 4Your spoil will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap. 5Yahweh is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. 6There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure. 7Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. 8The highways are desolate, the travelling man ceases. The covenant is broken; He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man. 9The land mourns and languishes, Lebanon is confounded and withers away, Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare. 10Now I will arise, says Yahweh; Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted. 11You will conceive chaff, you will bring forth stubble, your breath is a fire that will devour you. 12The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. 13Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge My might. 14The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the godless ones. Who among us can live with the devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning? 15He who walks righteously, and speaks blamelessly; he who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands, refusing to take a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking at evil— 16he will dwell on high. His place of defence will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied, his waters will be sure. 17Your eyes will see the king in His beauty, they will see the land that is distant. 18Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers? 19You will no longer see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that you can’t comprehend, with a strange language that you can’t understand. 20Look toward Zion, the city of our appointed festivals! Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed; her stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of her cords be broken. 21But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there. 22For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh is our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king; He will save us. 23Your rigging is untied; they couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast, they failed to spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided, the lame took the prey. 24The inhabitant won’t say, I am sick because the people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.

Commentary

33:11 Your breath is a fire that will devour you- This is a common theme, that the rejected are those who condemn and destroy themselves, often by their own words (“breath”).
33:15 Shuts his eyes from looking at evil- Very relevant to us in the age when all manner of evil can be viewed without others knowing. This verse teaches that our hands, eyes and ears really can come under our control. There is the impression given that human behaviour is somehow automatic; and yet we clearly can take control of our senses and responses to them.
33:18 This refers to the Assyrian military personnel outside Jerusalem, wisely analyzing the situation as they besieged the city. But Paul alludes to the LXX of this verse in 1 Cor. 1:20, where he says that we too are surrounded by the wise and powerful of this world, but ‘Where are they...?’ compared to the power of the Gospel of Christ, which declares their wisdom and human strength as nothing. Paul therefore understands each of us as being as it were in essence in the same position as the Jews of Isaiah’s time, tempted to rely upon Egypt rather than God, and likely to be awed by the human strength of those things which are against us. And yet we are to see them in the perspective of faith as nothing, as foolish and weak.
33:24 There is a connection between sin and sickness, as made also by Jesus (Mt. 9:5). It doesn’t mean that sickness always comes as a result of sin, but rather that because of our fallen state as a result of sin we are generally prone to sickness and death. The ultimate answer to sickness, therefore, is the complete removal of our sin, being counted righteous by God, and therefore being related (by His grace) to eternal life. In our age this is possible through baptism into Christ.