Isaiah 29

CHAPTER 29

Woe to Ariel

¹Woe, O ¹Ariel, ²Ariel the city where David once ^acamped!

Add year to year, ^3bobserve your feasts on schedule.

²I will bring distress to ¹Ariel,

And she will be a city of mourning and ^amoaning;

And she will be like an Ariel to me.

³And I will ^acamp against you ¹encircling you,

And I will fortify siegeworks against you,

And I will raise up fortifications against you.

⁴Then you will ^abe brought low;

From the earth you will speak,

And from the dust where you are prostrate

Your words will come.

Your voice will also be like that of a ¹spirit from the ground,

And your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵But it will be that the multitude of your ¹enemies will become like fine ^adust,

And the multitude of the ^bruthless ones like the chaff which ²blows away;

And it will happen ^cinstantly, suddenly.

⁶From Yahweh of hosts you will be ^apunished with ^bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,

With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

⁷And it will be that the ^amultitude of all the nations who wage war against ¹Ariel,

Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,

Will be like a dream, a ^bvision of the night.

⁸And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—

And behold, he is eating;

But he awakens, and his soul is empty,

Or as when a thirsty man dreams—

And behold, he is drinking,

But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,

And his soul is not quenched.

^aThus the multitude of all the nations will be

Who wage war against Mount Zion.

^9aAstonish yourselves and be astonished,

Blind yourselves and be blind;

They ^bbecome drunk, but not with wine;

They stagger, but not with strong drink.

¹⁰For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep ^asleep;

He has ^bshut your eyes, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed ^1abook, which when they give it to the one who ²is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

¹²Then the ¹book will be given to the one who ²does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I ³do not know how to read a book.”

¹³Then the Lord said,

“Because ^athis people draw near with their mouth

And honor Me with their lips,

But they remove their hearts far from Me,

And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,

¹⁴Therefore behold, I will once again deal ^amarvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;

And ^bthe wisdom of their wise men will perish,

And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”

¹⁵Woe to those who deeply ^ahide their counsel from Yahweh,

And whose ^bdeeds are done in a dark place,

And they say, “^cWho sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

¹⁶You turn things around!

Shall the potter be considered ¹as equal with the clay,

That ^awhat is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

¹⁷Is it not yet just a little while

¹Before Lebanon will be turned into a ^afruitful orchard,

And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?

¹⁸On that day the ^adeaf will hear ^bwords of a book,

And out of ¹darkness and thick darkness the ^ceyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The ^aafflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,

And the ^bneedy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ^aruthless will come to an end and the ^bscoffer will be finished,

Indeed ^call who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;

²¹Who ¹cause a person to sin by a word,

And ^aensnare him who reproves at the gate,

And ^2bdefraud the one in the right with ³meaningless arguments.

²²Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed ^aAbraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob ^bshall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

²³But when ¹he sees his ^achildren, the ^bwork of My hands, in his midst,

They will sanctify My name;

Indeed, they will ^csanctify the Holy One of Jacob

And will stand trembling before the God of Israel.

²⁴“Those who ^aerr in spirit will ^bknow discernment,

And those who ¹criticize will ^2cgain learning.