Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem

29Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city ^fwhere 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.¹

^3gAnd I will encamp against you all around,

and will besiege you ^hwith towers

and I will raise siegeworks against you.

⁴ⁱAnd 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 ^jthe voice of a ghost,

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

⁵But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ^ksmall dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

^lAnd in an instant, suddenly,

^6myou 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 ⁿthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

shall be ^olike a dream, a vision of the night.

^8pAs 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.

⁹Astonish yourselves² and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,³ but not with wine;

^rstagger,⁴ but not with strong drink!

^10sFor 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 ^tsealed. 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.”

¹³And the Lord said:

“Because ^uthis people ^vdraw 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, ^wI will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and ^xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵Ah, ^yyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are ^zin the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

^16aYou 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”?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while

^buntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

¹⁸In that day ^cthe deaf shall hear

^dthe words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

^ethe eyes of the blind shall see.

^19fThe 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 ^gthe 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 ^hlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea ⁱturn aside him who is in the right.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, ^jwho 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,

^kthe work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

^lthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴And those ^mwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who murmur will accept instruction.”