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Isaiah 33 · a question people ask

Who is "the king in his beauty" (33:17)?

In the text

The verse doesn't name him: "Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land" (33:17). In Hebrew beauty is yofi, which Isaiah has only once more, in chapter 3: "and branding instead of beauty" (Isaiah 3:24) (tap beauty). No New Testament verse quotes 33:17, and none names this king. These notes set out only what the verse says. They don't identify the king, and they don't set the verse beside other passages to do so.

The verses

“Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see a distant land.”
Isaiah 33:17 · World English Bible
“It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty.”
Isaiah 3:24 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Isaiah 33

Isaiah 33: He will dwell on high

In Isaiah 33 the LORD "dwells on high" (33:5), and the one who walks righteously "will dwell on high" (33:16), with the same Hebrew words. And Jerusalem is "a tent that won’t be removed" (33:20), "nor will any of its cords be broken" (33:20); three verses later, rigging, the same Hebrew word, "is untied" (33:23).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions