Fathers

Isaiah 33

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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 finished betrayal, you will be betrayed. Yahweh, be gracious to us. We have waited for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. At the noise of the thunder, the peoples have fled. When you lift yourself up, the nations are scattered. Your plunder will be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. Men will leap on it as locusts leap. Yahweh is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. There will be stability in your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Yahweh is your treasure. Behold, their valiant ones cry outside; the ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. The highways are desolate. The traveling man ceases. The covenant is broken. He has despised the cities. He doesn’t respect man. The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare. “Now I will arise,” says Yahweh. “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted. You will conceive chaff. You will give birth to stubble. Your breath is a fire that will devour you. The peoples will be like the burning of lime, like thorns that are cut down and burned in the fire. Hear, you who are far off, what I have done; and, you who are near, acknowledge my might.” The 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? He 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— he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land. Your heart will meditate on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed? Where is he who counted the towers? You 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. Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that won’t be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there Yahweh will be with us in majesty, a place of wide rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will go, neither will any gallant ship pass by there. For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us. Your rigging is untied. They couldn’t strengthen the foot of their mast. They couldn’t spread the sail. Then the prey of a great plunder was divided. The lame took the prey. The inhabitant won’t say, “I am sick.” The people who dwell therein will be forgiven their iniquity.

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What the Fathers say

Isaiah 33:7

Western Saints

Jerome

Behold, those who see will cry out: The angels of peace will weep bitterly. The roads are abandoned, the passer-by has ceased on the path, the pact has become void, cities have been thrown down, men have not been regarded. The land has mourned and languished, Lebanon is confused and darkened, Sharon has become like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel have been shaken. Now I will arise, says the Lord: now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up. …

Commentary on Isaiah ↗

Bede

But if you want to see that the ancient prophets were terribly sad and aggrieved about the future blinding of their nation, which was the cause of our illumination, listen to Isaiah, for when he was sent to announce beforehand the grace of the Lord's coming, saying that "a light has arisen upon those who dwell in the region of the shadow of death," he responded immediately to the advent of the same light, saying "you have enlarged the nation; you have not increased its joy." And elsewhere, while commemorating the despondency of this …

Commentary on Samuel 3:16.1 ↗

Thomas Aquinas

720. Behold they that see shall cry. Here he sets out the punishment which Assyria inflicted on others. And first, he describes the punishment inflicted by them as to the disturbance of men: they that see the magnitude of the army shall cry without, they who live in the suburbs, angels of peace, envoys of Ezechias to Rabsaces, below (Isa 36:3). Behold the voice of the daughter of my people from a far country (Jer 8:19).

Commentary on Isaiah ↗