Isaiah 29

Woe to David’s City

Woe^a to you, Ariel, Ariel,^b

the city^c where David settled!

Add year to year

and let your cycle of festivals^d go on.

Yet I will besiege Ariel;^e

she will mourn and lament,^f

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

I will encamp against you on all sides;

I will encircle^h you with towers

and set up my siege worksⁱ against you.

Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble^j out of the dust.^k

Your voice will come ghostlike^l from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper.^m

But your many enemies will become like fine dust,ⁿ

the ruthless^o hordes like blown chaff.^p

Suddenly,^q in an instant,

the Lord Almighty will come^r

with thunder^s and earthquake^t and great noise,

with windstorm and tempest^u and flames of a devouring fire.^v

Then the hordes of all the nations^w that fight against Ariel,^x

that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,

will be as it is with a dream,^y

with a vision in the night—

as when hungry people dream they are eating,

but they awaken,^z and their hunger remains;

as when thirsty people dream they are drinking,

but they awaken faint, with their thirst unquenched.^a

So will it be with the hordes of all the nations

that fight against Mount Zion.^b

Be stunned and amazed,^c

blind yourselves and be sightless;^d

be drunk,^e but not from wine,^f

stagger,^g but not from beer.

The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:^h

He has sealed your eyesⁱ (the prophets);^j

he has covered your heads (the seers).^k

For you this whole vision^l is nothing but words sealed^m 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.” Or 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.”

The Lord says:

“These peopleⁿ come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,^o

but their hearts are far from me.^p

Their worship of me

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

Therefore once more I will astound these people

with wonder upon wonder;^r

the wisdom of the wise^s will perish,

the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.^t”

Woe to those who go to great depths

to hide^u their plans from the Lord,

who do their work in darkness and think,

“Who sees us?^v Who will know?”^w

You turn things upside down,

as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!^x

Shall what is formed say to the one who formed^y it,

“You did not make me”?

Can the pot say to the potter,^z

“You know nothing”?^a

In a very short time,^b will not Lebanon^c be turned into a fertile field^d

and the fertile field seem like a forest?^e

In that day^f the deaf^g will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of gloom and darkness^h

the eyes of the blind will see.ⁱ

Once more the humble^j will rejoice in the Lord;

the needy^k will rejoice in the Holy One^l of Israel.

The ruthless^m will vanish,ⁿ

the mockers^o will disappear,

and all who have an eye for evil^p will be cut down—

those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,

who ensnare the defender in court^q

and with false testimony^r deprive the innocent of justice.^s

Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed^t Abraham,^u says to the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;^v

no longer will their faces grow pale.^w

When they see among them their children,^x

the work of my hands,^y

they will keep my name holy;^z

they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One^a of Jacob,

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

Those who are wayward^b in spirit will gain understanding;^c

those who complain will accept instruction.”^d