Isaiah 29:2–13

²Yet I will distress Ariel;

There shall be heaviness and sorrow,

And it shall be to Me as Ariel.

³I will encamp against you all around,

I will lay siege against you with a mound,

And I will raise siegeworks against you.

⁴You shall be brought down,

You shall speak out of the ground;

Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;

Your voice shall be like a medium’s, ^cout of the ground;

And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵“Moreover the multitude of your ^dfoes

Shall be like fine dust,

And the multitude of the terrible ones

Like ^echaff that passes away;

Yes, it shall be ^fin an instant, suddenly.

^6gYou will be punished by the Lord of hosts

With thunder and ^hearthquake and great noise,

With storm and tempest

And the flame of devouring fire.

⁷ⁱThe multitude of all the nations who fight against ²Ariel,

Even all who fight against her and her fortress,

And distress her,

Shall be ^jas a dream of a night vision.

^8kIt shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,

And look—he eats;

But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;

Or as when a thirsty man dreams,

And look—he drinks;

But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,

And his soul still craves:

So the multitude of all the nations shall be,

Who fight against Mount Zion.”

The Blindness of Disobedience

⁹Pause and wonder!

Blind yourselves and be blind!

^lThey are drunk, ^mbut not with wine;

They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.

¹⁰For ⁿthe Lord has poured out on you

The spirit of deep sleep,

And has ^oclosed your eyes, namely, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, namely, ^pthe seers.

¹¹The whole vision has become to you like the words of a ³book ^qthat is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”

^rAnd he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

¹²Then the book is delivered to one who ⁴is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”

And he says, “I am not literate.”

¹³Therefore the Lord said:

^s“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths

And honor Me ^twith their lips,

But have removed their hearts far from Me,

And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,