Isaiah 29:1-4
1Ariel is as good as dead ▼ –Ariel, the town David besieged! ▼
Keep observing your annual rituals,
celebrate your festivals on schedule. ▼
▼ Heb “Add year to year, let your festivals occur in cycles.” This is probably a sarcastic exhortation to the people to keep up their religious rituals, which will not prevent the coming judgment. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:527.
2 I will threaten Ariel,
and she will mourn intensely
and become like an altar hearth ▼
▼ The term אֲרִיאֵל (’ari’el, “Ariel”) is the word translated “altar hearth” here. The point of the simile is not entirely clear. Perhaps the image likens Jerusalem’s coming crisis to a sacrificial fire.
before me. 3 I will lay siege to you on all sides; ▼
I will besiege you with troops; ▼
▼ The meaning of מֻצָּב (mutsav) is not certain. Because of the parallelism (note “siege works”), some translate “towers.” The noun is derived from נָצַב (natsav, “take one’s stand”) and may refer to the troops stationed outside the city to prevent entrance or departure.
I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will fall;
while lying on the ground ▼
▼ Heb “from the ground” (so NIV, NCV).
you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. ▼
▼ Heb “and from the dust your word will be low.”
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; ▼
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. ▼
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