Discovery BoxIsaiah 33:1-3 
Context33:1 The destroyer is as good as dead, 1
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead, 2
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish 3 deceiving, others will deceive you!
33:2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning! 4
Deliver us when distress comes. 5
33:3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise; 6
the nations scatter when you spring into action! 7
Isaiah 33:9-12
Context33:9 The land 8 dries up 9 and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up 10 and decays.
Sharon 11 is like the desert; 12
Bashan and Carmel 13 are parched. 14
33:10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“Now I will exalt myself;
now I will magnify myself. 15
you give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you. 17
33:12 The nations will be burned to ashes; 18
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
1 tn Heb “Woe [to] the destroyer.”
sn In this context “the destroyer” appears to refer collectively to the hostile nations (vv. 3-4). Assyria would probably have been primary in the minds of the prophet and his audience.
2 tn Heb “and the deceitful one”; NAB, NIV “O traitor”; NRSV “you treacherous one.” In the parallel structure הוֹי (hoy, “woe [to]”) does double duty.
3 tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to derive from an otherwise unattested verb נָלָה (nalah). The translation follows the Qumran scroll 1QIsaa in reading ככלתך, a Piel infinitival form from the verbal root כָּלָה (kalah), meaning “finish.”
4 tn Heb “Be their arm each morning.” “Arm” is a symbol for strength. The mem suffixed to the noun has been traditionally understood as a third person suffix, but this is contrary to the context, where the people speak of themselves in the first person. The mem (מ) is probably enclitic with ellipsis of the pronoun, which can be supplied from the context. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:589, n. 1.
5 tn Heb “[Be] also our deliverance in the time of distress.”
6 tn Heb “at the sound of tumult the nations run away.”
7 tn Heb “because of your exaltation the nations scatter.”
8 tn Or “earth” (KJV); NAB “the country.”
9 tn Or “mourns” (BDB 5 s.v. I אָבַל). HALOT 6-7 lists homonyms I אבל (“mourn”) and II אבל (“dry up”). They propose the second here on the basis of parallelism. See 24:4.
10 tn Heb “Lebanon is ashamed.” The Hiphil is exhibitive, expressing the idea, “exhibits shame.” In this context the statement alludes to the withering of vegetation.
11 sn Sharon was a fertile plain along the Mediterranean coast. See 35:2.
12 tn Or “the Arabah” (NIV). See 35:1.
13 sn Both of these areas were known for their trees and vegetation. See 2:13; 35:2.
14 tn Heb “shake off [their leaves]” (so ASV, NRSV); NAB “are stripped bare.”
15 tn Or “lift myself up” (KJV); NLT “show my power and might.”
16 tn The second person verb and pronominal forms in this verse are plural. The hostile nations are the addressed, as the next verse makes clear.
17 sn The hostile nations’ plans to destroy God’s people will come to nothing; their hostility will end up being self-destructive.
