EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 33:17-24
Perhaps Isaiah is not describing any particular occasion. These verses are to encourage God’s people in any times of trouble. Whatever happens, God does not change. Live rightly. And he will provide all that you need (see Philippians 4:19).
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
woe ~ a very sad cry because there is much pain to come.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, God’s name ‘Lord’ means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.
seize ~ to take a person’s possessions away from that person, either by law, or in a war. Or, to overcome a city or nation in order to rule it. Or, to take a person as a prisoner or a slave.
messenger ~ someone who delivers a message.
Babylonian ~ a person from the country called Babylon; or anything that has a relationship with the country called Babylon.'thorn-bush ~ a bush with sharp points.
altar ~ special stone where priests burned animals as gifts to God.
worship ~ to praise God and to pray to him; or, to praise and to pray to a false god.
Assyrian ~ a person from the country called Assyria; or anything that has a relationship with the country called Assyria.
glory ~ the splendid beauty and wonderful light of God’s most holy character.
Zion ~ the mountain in Jerusalem where God’s holy Temple was.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah.
Temple ~ special building in Jerusalem where Jews praised God and offered him prayers and gifts.
Jews ~ people who belong to the countries called Judah and Israel; people who belong to the 12 tribes (large families) of Israel.
Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth
The Sad People
Isaiah Chapter s 28 to 33
Gordon Churchyard
This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.Words in boxes are from the Bible.
Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.
The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.
Chapter 33
v1 [There will be] a very sad [day] for you [people in this country] that destroy [other countries]! But nobody [from another country] has destroyed you, yet. [Also, there will be a very sad day for] you [people in this country] that *deceive [people in other countries]. But no [other country] has *deceived you yet. When you stop destroying [other countries, this will happen]. [The army of one country among them] will destroy you. When you stop *deceiving [people in other countries], they will *deceive you.
v2 *LORD, be kind to us. We are waiting for your help. Be our strength every day. Rescue us when trouble comes.
v3 [When people (nations) hear] the sound of a voice, [those] people run away. When you rise up, nations scatter.
v4 People gather together goods [after a war], as a grasshopper (insect that jumps) gathers [food]. As locusts (insects that destroy plants) rush [to their food], so people rush [to take the goods].
v5 The *LORD is more important [than anyone else]. He lives high above [the Earth]. He will fill Zion (Jerusalem) with fair decisions. And [everybody will do] what is right.
v6 [The *LORD] will give safety to your lives. He always protects his people. He gives very valuable things [to you]. [Those things] are wisdom, knowledge, and fear toward the *LORD.
Notes
Here Isaiah describes a crisis. It is probably the one that the writer describes in 2 Kings 18:13-37. An enemy will *deceive Judah’s people and the enemy’s army will attack Judah (verse 1). Then the people in Judah pray to the *LORD (verse 2). As a result, the enemy scatters (verse 3). After the battle, people gather goods. It is not certain whether those people are the enemy or the *Jews (verse 4). After the war, the *LORD will give safety to his people (verses 5-6).Verse 1 Isaiah uses the *Hebrew word ‘hoy’ to warn people about danger. There is an explanation of that word in the note about Isaiah 29:1. It is like the phrase ‘Look out!’ in English. The *LORD, by means of Isaiah, is speaking to either Assyria’s or Babylon’s people. Or perhaps he is speaking to them both. ‘Deceive’ means when someone pretends to be good and honest. But that person is not good and honest. He makes other people believe something that is not true. Read the note about verse 7. Isaiah does not name the other countries.
Verse 2 The people are waiting for God to help them. Here in English we read ‘be our strength every day’. The *Hebrew words for that actually mean ‘be our arm every morning’. In difficult circumstances, we need God’s help every morning. And we need it through every day. We could translate ‘be our strength’ like this. ‘Be the arm [of the *LORD] to us.’
Verse 3 Notice the parallel ideas in this verse, which is typical *Hebrew poetry:
| sound of a voice | people run away |
| you rise up | nations scatter |
‘People’ here is another word for ‘nations’. There are two different words for it here in *Hebrew, too. ‘Rise up’ means that God will do something. It means that he will act powerfully. In a pair of sentences like this one, both sentences mean the same in *Hebrew poetry. Therefore the voice is God’s voice. Near the beginning of the verse, some translations have this. They have ‘sound of your thunder’. ‘Thunder’ is the noise in the sky that follows lightning. Many people thought that it was the voice of God. There is an example of that in John 12:28-29. And Psalms 29 is all about ‘the *LORD’s voice’ in a storm.
Verse 4 After wars, people took anything that they could find. They took money and slaves. And they took anything that they wanted. A ‘grasshopper’ is an insect. It jumps round in the grass. It is 2-3 centimetres long. A locust is a kind of big grasshopper. It eats all the green parts of plants that it can find. This verse is an ‘inclusio’. That means that the first and fourth phrases are similar to each other. And the second and third phrases are similar to each other. That again is an example of *Hebrew poetry:
| Phrase 1 | people gather together goods | |
| Phrase 2 | | as a grasshopper (insect that jumps) gathers [food] |
| Phrase 3 | | as locusts (insects that destroy plants) rush [to their food] |
| Phrase 4 | people rush [to the goods] | |
That helps us to translate what the verse means. The words in square brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. In Joel 2:1-11, the writer describes an attack by an enemy. He describes it as if it was an attack by locusts (insects that destroy plants).
Verse 5 ‘High above’ means in heaven, the home of God. It is usual to describe heaven as if it is above the sky. Zion is another name for Jerusalem. Actually, Zion is a hill inside Jerusalem city.
Verse 6 The very valuable things here are not silver and gold, but they are wisdom and other valuable qualities like that. This verse is very difficult to translate from *Hebrew into English. The meaning is not certain. Some Bible students translate it like this:
‘He will give safety to your lives.
Your wealth will be safe, [as will your] wisdom and knowledge.
The fear of the *LORD is the very valuable thing [that he gives to you].
In the *Hebrew Bible:
‘lives’ means the time when people are alive.
- a ‘safe’ place is ‘a good place on which to build’. Isaiah writes about people that are building a house on a strong base. It is a special description of people who have chosen a strong base for their lives. That base is what God teaches us in the Bible. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 7:24-27.
v7 Look! The brave men [from Jerusalem] weep in the streets. Officials went [to Assyria] to ask for peace. Now they cry bitter tears.
v8 The highways (important roads) are empty and nobody travels on the roads. [The enemy] stopped the agreement. He hates the cities and he respects nobody.
v9 The land itself is very sad and it is becoming dry. Lebanon is ashamed and it is dying. Sharon is like the desert. And Bashan and Carmel are dropping their leaves.
v10 The *LORD says, ‘Now I will rise up. Now I will lift myself up. Now I will raise myself up.
v11 You make dry grass and you produce straw. Your own breath will destroy you as fire [burns up straw].
v12 [It is as if your breath] will burn people’s bones to make lime (a white powder). [Their bones] will start to burn as easily as *thorn bushes [that people have] cut down.’
Notes
These verses continue the description of the crisis in verses 1-6.Verse 7 This verse probably refers to 2 Kings 18:13-37. There, King Hezekiah sent officials to ask King Sennacherib of Assyria for peace. Sennacherib seemed to accept their appeal. But he *deceived the officials, as we read in verse 1. That caused pain to them, so they cried bitter (painful) tears. The ‘brave men’ are the leaders of Judah. The *Hebrew word for ‘brave men’ is similar to ‘Ariel’. ‘Ariel’ is a name for Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1-7). So that sentence may mean ‘Jerusalem’s [people] weep in the streets’.
Verse 8 Because the enemy was in their country, the people did not use the roads. There was no agreement with the enemy. Isaiah does not say here who the enemy was. He just writes ‘he stopped the agreement’. Many Bible students think that the word ‘cities’ should be ‘witnesses’. Those two words are very similar in *Hebrew. Also, the Dead Sea *Scroll that contains Isaiah’s book does have ‘witnesses’. That Dead Sea *Scroll is probably the earliest copy of Isaiah’s book that Bible students have in *Hebrew. But it is probably best to keep the word ‘cities’.
Verse 9 Isaiah imagines that not only the people are sad (verses 7-8). The land itself seems to be sad. It dries up so that nothing can grow on it. ‘Lebanon’ here actually means the cedar trees (large, beautiful trees) that grow in the country called Lebanon. They are dying. Sharon was a place where great trees grew. Now it is like a desert. Nothing will grow there! Sharon is a plain, which is south from Carmel. Carmel is a hill in the north-west of Israel. The area called Bashan was east from the Jordan river. There was good grass there for cows and sheep. But now the leaves are dropping off the trees in both places. Again, that is probably because there is no water. These are only descriptions of Lebanon, Sharon, Carmel and Bashan. But Isaiah uses the descriptions to tell a story. They show that the enemy, an army from Assyria, was there. Isaiah imagines that even the plants are in an unhappy state. Even as the people are unhappy, so are the plants.
Verse 10 Here the *LORD says the same thing in three different ways. That emphasises the importance of what he says. He definitely intends to get up, because he intends to do something. And he intends to do it NOW!
Verse 11 These words are probably what the *LORD said. The *Hebrew word here for ‘make’ means ‘conceive’. That means the act by which a man and woman start a baby. The *Hebrew word for ‘produce’ describes the birth of a baby. Again, as in verse 9, those are only descriptions to show what happens. So is ‘breath’. Sometimes when people start to make a fire, they blow with their breath. They blow on something so that it will start to burn. Here, the fire makes people burn.
Verse 12 Lime is a white powder. Chemists can make it in these ways. They can burn a substance called calcium in oxygen. Or they can heat chalk or bones. *Thorn bushes burn very easily.
v13 ‘You people [that are] a long distance away, listen to [this]! [Listen to] what I have done! And you people [that are] near, realise [this]. [Realise] that I am very powerful.
v14 The sinners (people that do wrong things) are afraid. [That means the sinners that live] in Zion (Jerusalem). The people that are not clean [because of their evil deeds] tremble. [They ask this. “There is] a fire that burns everything. Who among us can live with [such a fire]? [There is] a fire that will never stop burning. Who among us can live with [such a fire]?”
v15 [The answer is] the person that [is like this].
He is very good. And he speaks what is right.
[That person] gains nothing from cruelty.
He does not accept a *bribe in his hands, which are shaking.
[That person] closes his ears against plans to murder [people].
And he shuts his eyes so that he does not think about evil [things].
v16 [That person] will be the person that lives on high places. That person’s defence will be safe places in the rocks. Such people will always have food and they will not run out of water.
v17 Your eyes will see the beauty of the king. [Your eyes] will see a country that reaches a long distance away.
v18 Your mind will think about [past] terror. [You will wonder] where [these people] are [now]:
the [enemy’s] official that counted [things]
[the one that] weighed [everything]
[the one that] counted high buildings.
v19 You will never see those cruel people again. They speak mysterious words. Their language is strange. It is hard to understand it.
v20 Look at Zion (Jerusalem). It is the city where we have our festivals (special occasions with big public parties). Your eyes will see Jerusalem. It is a peaceful place. It is [like] a tent that people will never remove. They will never pull up its *pegs. They will never break its ropes (very thick strings).
v21 It is there [in Jerusalem] that the *LORD will be our powerful [God]. [Jerusalem] will be [like] a place with wide rivers and streams. No boat that oars push along will go on them. No great ship will sail on them.
v22 [This will happen] because the *LORD is our judge. The *LORD gives our laws to us. The *LORD is our king. It is [the *LORD] that will make us safe.
v23 The ropes (very thick strings) on your ship hang loose. The pole that they hang from is not firm. [People] have not spread the sail. Then people will divide the many things [that they took from their enemies]. And even people that cannot walk easily will carry away something!
v24 Nobody that lives in [Zion (Jerusalem)] will say this. “I am ill.” And [God] will forgive the *sins of the people that live there.’
Notes
Verse 13 Isaiah continues the *LORD’s words from verses 11-12. God appeals to the whole world. He does not just appeal to Judah. Isaiah makes that clear in Isaiah 2:2-4 and Isaiah chapter 34.Verse 14 People that do evil things are not clean. That is, God does not consider them as clean. The reason why God considers them unclean is their *sin. The evil things that they have done disgust him. ‘A fire that burns’ means this. It is one that burns for a short time. So the first question probably means fire before people die. And the second one means fire after people die. The answer to both questions seems to be ‘nobody’. But then verse 15 describes the people that will live through the fire! There we read a list of the qualities that they will have.
Verse 15
| EE translation | What the *Hebrew words mean | What it means |
| He is very good. | He walks in very good ways. (‘Very good’ is plural.) | He lives in such a manner that he obeys all God’s laws. |
| He speaks what is right. | He speaks straight. (It may mean no bad language.) | He speaks honestly. |
| He gains nothing from cruelty. | He hates to gain something from cruelties. (‘Cruelties’ is plural again.) | He is not someone who likes to be cruel to people in order to gain something. |
| He does not accept a *bribe in his hands, which are shaking. | He shakes his hands so they cannot hold a *bribe. | People may try to give him money in order to persuade him to do something wrong. But he waves his hands to show that he refuses. |
| He closes his ears against plans to murder [people]. | He closes his ears so that he does not hear about bloods. (‘Bloods’ is the plural of ‘blood’.) | He will not listen to plans to murder someone. |
| He shuts his eyes so that he does not think about evil [things]. | He shuts his eyes so that they do not look on evil [things]. | He will not help someone to do anything that is evil. |
Verse 16 In verse 5, Isaiah tells us that the *LORD lives ‘high above [the Earth]’. And the people that verse 15 describes will also live ‘on high places’. Here, ‘on high places’ probably means ‘with God’. Those people obey God’s laws. They are righteous people. The word ‘righteous’ means ‘very good’, but ‘very good’ is rather difficult to explain exactly. Only God is really very, very good. But God calls the people that trust in him very good also. They try to do everything that is in verse 15. The words ‘the rocks’ probably mean the rocks on the hill called Zion. That hill was where King Solomon built the temple (God’s house in Jerusalem).
Verse 17 Bible students are not sure whom the words ‘the king’ refer to. The words may mean:
the king of Judah in Jerusalem, or
- the *LORD himself.
‘The king’ may actually mean both of those. That is because the king in Jerusalem ruled on behalf of the *LORD. Read verses 21-22. The words ‘a country that reaches a long distance away’ probably mean this. When the army from Assyria has gone, the whole country called Judah will belong to the *Jews again. So then Judah will reach as far as its own proper borders again.
Verse 18 The *Hebrew Bible has these questions that people will ask themselves. ‘Where is the [enemy’s] official that counted [things]? [Where is the one that] weighed [everything]? And [where is the one that] counted high buildings? The writer does not say what the first official was counting. And he does not say what the second official was weighing. Both were probably collecting money to pay taxes. We do not know. And we do not know the meaning of the words ‘counted high buildings’. However, the verse means this. People will think about the enemy officials that used to cause them terror. But now those officials have gone! A writer called Alec Motyer thinks that probably 2 Kings chapter 24 explains this verse. In his book called ‘The *Prophecy of Isaiah’, he says this.
| EE translation | Motyer’s opinion |
| counted (things) | counted the people that Assyria’s leaders would send into *exile |
| weighed (everything) | weighed the goods that Assyria’s soldiers would take away to Assyria |
| counted high buildings | counted the buildings that the army from Assyria would destroy |
‘Exile’ means this. People are away from their own home or country, because an enemy has taken them away.
Verse 19 The enemy (verse 18) has gone. Isaiah says, ‘You will never see those cruel people again.’ We read that they are ‘cruel’. But the *Hebrew word that Isaiah uses here may mean ‘barbaric’. Originally, the word ‘barbaric’ described people that spoke a strange language. But nowadays it describes people that do very bad things. And they do very cruel things.
Verse 20 Because the enemy has gone, Jerusalem will be peaceful again. The people will have their festivals. A ‘festival’ is a time when people have special public parties. The religion of the *Jews had many festivals, such as the ones called Passover and Pentecost. During the festivals, they *worshipped God and they had great, splendid meals. During the festivals, they would not have to leave the city. Isaiah used a tent as a description of the people’s home. They would not have to move it again! They would not cut its ropes (very thick strings). And they would not pull out its pegs. ‘Pegs’ were pieces of metal that had a bend at the end. People used the pegs to fix the ropes to the ground, and that held the tent up.
Verse 21 There were no rivers in Jerusalem, and there were no wide rivers anywhere in Judah. So Jerusalem is like a place with wide rivers. Ships that enemies use in war will not go there. There will be peace.
Verse 22 God is powerful (verse 21). But he is also his people’s judge, ruler and king. He will make his people safe.
Verse 23 Bible students are not certain what the first half of this verse means. It may not be about ships. That is because the *Hebrew words for ‘ropes (very thick strings) on your ship’ may mean something else. All these other meanings are also possible:
the pain when a woman is having a baby
- a promise
- a sailor
- what someone destroys.
There are many other possible meanings. The only thing that we can decide is this. The army of the enemy cannot win the battle. Its equipment is not good enough. So the people will carry away goods from the battle. Even people who cannot walk easily will get something. Isaiah does not say exactly who the ‘people’ are here. They are probably the people that live in Jerusalem. But we cannot be sure.
Verse 24 Here we read ‘I am ill’. The *Hebrew word for it can also mean ‘I am sad’. People do not feel ill (or sad) because Jerusalem’s troubles are over. The attack by the soldiers from Assyria has ended. And God has forgiven his people’s *sin.
Something to do
1. Learn to say verse 2 by heart. ‘By heart’ means this. You say the words, but you do not look at them.
2. In the Bible, ‘the arm of the *LORD’ often means ‘Jesus’. And ‘the hand of the *LORD’ often means ‘the Holy Spirit’. Make a list of verses that contain those phrases. And add to the list when you find more examples. Remember that in Isaiah 33:2 we read ‘strength’. But it is ‘arm [of the *LORD]’ in the *Hebrew Bible. You could arrange the information in boxes, like this:
| the arm of the *LORD | the hand of the *LORD |
| | |
3. Read some Psalms that describe *thunder (for example, Psalms 18 and Psalms 29).
4. Find some examples of *Hebrew poetry in Isaiah. They can be in any chapter. Two types are:
when both parts of the verse say the same thing in different words. An example of that is Isaiah 33:3.
when a verse is an ‘inclusio’. It means that the first and last lines (or phrases) mean the same thing. And the middle lines (or phrases) both mean another thing. An example of that is Isaiah 33:4.
5. Look at the list in Isaiah 33:15. Compare it with the lists in Psalms 15:1-5 and Psalms 24:3-4.
This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).
heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean where God lives and the skies above us.Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
deceive ~ to speak what is not true to another person.
lord ~ someone with authority. With a capital L, it is a name for God.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
Jews ~ God’s people that lived in Judah and Israel.
thorn ~ a bush with sharp points on its branches. The sharp points are called thorns.
scroll ~ a very long piece of paper. This was the ancient form of a book.
thorn ~ a bush with sharp points on its branches. The sharp points are called thorns.
bribe ~ a present to persuade someone to do what may be wrong.
peg ~ something that holds things in the right place.
sin ~ not to obey God; or, what you do when you do not obey God.
prophecy ~ a prophet’s message.
prophet ~ a prophet told people what God had said to him. Sometimes the prophet told people what would happen in future times.
exile ~ people that an enemy takes to another country are ‘in exile’. They are away from home. We also call these people ‘exiles’. They have gone ‘into exile’.
worship ~ to tell God (or a false god) that he is wonderful; and also, to tell him that you love him.
thunder ~ noise in the sky during a storm. The sound of thunder follows lightning.