Isaiah 29:2–13

²Yet I will besiege Ariel;^h

she will mourn and lament,ⁱ

she will be to me like an altar hearth.^aj

³I will encamp against you on all sides;

I will encircle^k you with towers

and set up my siege works^l against you.

⁴Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble^m out of the dust.ⁿ

Your voice will come ghostlike^o from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper.^p

⁵But your many enemies will become like fine dust,^q

the ruthless^r hordes like blown chaff.^s

Suddenly,^t in an instant,

⁶the Lord Almighty will come^u

with thunder^v and earthquake^w and great noise,

with windstorm and tempest^x and flames of a devouring fire.^y

⁷Then the hordes of all the nations^z that fight against Ariel,^a

that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,

will be as it is with a dream,^b

with a vision in the night—

⁸as when a hungry person dreams of eating,

but awakens^c hungry still;

as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,

but awakens faint and thirsty still.^d

So will it be with the hordes of all the nations

that fight against Mount Zion.^e

⁹Be stunned and amazed,^f

blind yourselves and be sightless;^g

be drunk,^h but not from wine,ⁱ

stagger,^j but not from beer.

¹⁰The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:^k

He has sealed your eyes^l (the prophets);^m

he has covered your heads (the seers).ⁿ

¹¹For you this whole vision^o is nothing but words sealed^p in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” ¹²Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

¹³The Lord says:

“These people^q come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,^r

but their hearts are far from me.^s

Their worship of me

is based on merely human rules they have been taught.^bt