Isaiah 29:2–13

²I will torment Ariel, 

and the city will be filled with people grieving and mourning. 

The city will become like Ariel. 

³I will set up war camps all around you. 

I will blockade you with towers. 

I will put up mounds of dirt around you. 

⁴When you have fallen, you will speak as you lie on the ground. 

Your words will be muffled by the dust. 

Your voice will come out of the ground like that of a ghost. 

Your words will be whispered from the dust. 

⁵Your many enemies will be like fine dust. 

Your many foes will be like husks blown by the wind. 

All of this will happen suddenly, unexpectedly. 

⁶The Lord of Armies will punish you 

with thunder, earthquakes, and loud noises, 

with windstorms, rainstorms, and fire storms. 

⁷The armies from all the nations will go to war against Ariel. 

They will go to war against it, blockade it, and torment it. 

All of this will be like a dream, like a vision in the night. 

⁸They will be like hungry people who dream that they’re eating 

and wake up to find they’re hungry. 

They will be like thirsty people who dream that they’re drinking 

and wake up to find they’re lightheaded and parched with thirst. 

This is what will happen to the armies from all the nations 

that fight against Mount Zion. 

⁹If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused. 

If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded. 

You are drunk, but not from wine. 

You stagger, but not from liquor. 

¹⁰The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. 

He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.) 

He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers.^b) 

¹¹To you all these visions will be like words in a book that is closed and sealed. You give this book to someone who can read, saying, “Please read this.” 

He answers, “I can’t read it. It’s sealed.” 

¹²Then you give the book to someone who can’t read, saying, “Please read this.” 

He answers, “I can’t read.” 

¹³The Lord says, 

“These people worship me with their mouths 

and honor me with their lips. 

But their hearts are far from me, 

and their worship of me is ⸤based on⸥ rules made by humans.