Isaiah 29
The Siege of Jerusalem
1 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,the city awhere David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel. ▼
▼ Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)
3 cAnd I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you dwith towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4 eAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like fthe voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5 But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like gsmall dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
hAnd in an instant, suddenly,
6 iyou will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7And jthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be klike a dream, a vision of the night.
8 lAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Astonish yourselves ▼
▼Or Linger awhile
and be astonished;blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
nstagger, but not with strong drink!
10 oFor the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is psealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13 And the Lord said:
“Because qthis people rdraw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14therefore, behold, sI will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and tthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15 Ah, uyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are vin the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 wYou turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while
xuntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18In that day ythe deaf shall hear
zthe words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
aathe eyes of the blind shall see.
19 abThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless shall come to nothing
and acthe scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and adlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea aeturn aside him who is in the right.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, afwho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children,
agthe work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
ahthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24And those aiwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
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