Isaiah 29:2–13

²Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.

³And I will encamp against you round about,

and will besiege you with

towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.

⁴Then deep from the earth you shall speak,

from low in the dust your words shall come;

your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly,

⁶you 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 the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

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

shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

⁸As when a hungry man dreams he is eating

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams 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.

⁹Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk, but not with wine;

stagger, but not with strong drink!

¹⁰For 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 sealed. 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 this people draw 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 of men learned by rote;