Isaiah 29–30

¹Woe to Ariel, Ariel, The city of the encampment of David! Add year to year, let festivals go round. ²And I have sent distress to Ariel, And it hath been lamentation and mourning, And it hath been to me as Ariel. ³And I encamped, O babbler, against thee, And I laid siege against thee—a camp. And I raised up against thee bulwarks. ⁴And thou hast been low, From the earth thou speakest, And from the dust makest thy saying low, And thy voice hath been from the earth, As one having a familiar spirit, And from the dust thy saying whisperest, ⁵And as small dust hath been The multitude of those scattering thee, And as chaff passing on the multitude of the terrible, And it hath been at an instant—suddenly. ⁶By Jehovah of Hosts thou art inspected, With thunder, and with an earthquake, And great noise, hurricane, and whirlwind, And flame of devouring fire. ⁷And as a dream, a vision of night, hath been The multitude of all the nations Who are warring against Ariel, And all its warriors, and its bulwark, Even of those distressing her. ⁸And it hath been, as when the hungry dreameth, And lo, he is eating, And he hath waked, and empty is his soul, And as when the thirsty dreameth, And lo, he is drinking, and he hath waked, And lo, he is weary, and his soul is longing, So is the multitude of all the nations Who are warring against mount Zion.

⁹Tarry and wonder, look ye, yea, look, Be drunk, and not with wine, Stagger, and not with strong drink. ¹⁰For poured out on you hath Jehovah a spirit of deep sleep, And He closeth your eyes—the prophets, And your heads—the seers—He covered. ¹¹And the vision of the whole is to you, As words of the sealed book, That they give unto one knowing books, Saying, ‘Read this, we pray thee,’ And he hath said, ‘I am not able, for it is sealed;’ ¹²And the book is given to him who hath not known books, Saying, ‘Read this, we pray thee,’ And he hath said, ‘I have not known books.’ ¹³And the Lord saith: Because drawn near hath this people, with its mouth, And with its lips they have honoured Me, And its heart it hath put far off from Me, And their fear of Me is—A precept of men is taught! ¹⁴Therefore, lo, I am adding to do wonderfully with this people, A wonder, and a marvel, And perished hath the wisdom of its wise ones, And the understanding of its intelligent ones hideth itself.’ ¹⁵Woe to those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, ‘Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?’ ¹⁶Your perversion! as clay is the potter esteemed? That the work saith of its maker, ‘He hath not made me?’ And the framed thing said of its framer, ‘He did not understand?’

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little, And turned hath Lebanon to a fruitful field, And the fruitful field for a forest is reckoned? ¹⁸And heard in that day have the deaf the words of a book, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind do see. ¹⁹And the humble have added joy in Jehovah, And the poor among men In the Holy One of Israel rejoice. ²⁰For ceased hath the terrible one, And consumed hath been the scorner, And cut off have been all watching for iniquity, ²¹Causing men to sin in word, And for a reprover in the gate lay a snare, And turn aside into emptiness the righteous. ²²Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Who ransomed Abraham, Concerning the house of Jacob: ‘Not now ashamed is Jacob, Nor now doth his face become pale, ²³For in his seeing his children, The work of My hand, in his midst, They sanctify My name, And have sanctified the Holy One of Jacob, And the God of Israel they declare fearful. ²⁴And the erring in spirit have known understanding, And murmurers learn doctrine!’

Chapter 30

¹Woe to apostate sons, The affirmation of Jehovah! To do counsel, and not from Me, And to spread out a covering, and not of My spirit, So as to add sin to sin. ²Who are walking to go down to Egypt, And My mouth have not asked, To be strong in the strength of Pharaoh, And to trust in the shadow of Egypt. ³And the strength of Pharaoh Hath been to you for shame, And the trust in the shadow of Egypt confusion, ⁴For in Zoan were his princes, And his messengers reach Hanes. ⁵All he made ashamed of a people that profit not, Neither for help, not for profit, But for shame, and also for reproach! ⁶The burden of the beasts of the south. Into a land of adversity and distress, Of young lion and of old lion, Whence are viper and flying saraph, They carry on the shoulder of asses their wealth, And on the hump of camels their treasures, Unto a people not profitable. ⁷Yea, Egyptians are vanity, and in vain do help, Therefore I have cried concerning this: ‘Their strength is to sit still.’

⁸No, go in, write it on a tablet with them, And on a book engrave it, And it is for a latter day, for a witness unto the age, ⁹That a rebellious people is this, sons—liars, Sons not willing to hear the law of Jehovah. ¹⁰Who have said to seers, ‘Ye do not see,’ And to prophets, ‘Ye do not prophesy to us Straightforward things, Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits, ¹¹Turn aside from the way, decline from the path, Cause to cease from before us the Holy One of Israel.’ ¹²Therefore, thus said the Holy One of Israel, Because of your kicking against this word, And ye trust in oppression, And perverseness, and rely on it, ¹³Therefore is this iniquity to you as a breach falling, Swelled out in a wall set on high, Whose destruction suddenly, at an instant cometh. ¹⁴And He hath broken it As the breaking of the potters’ bottle, Beaten down—He doth not spare, Nor is there found, in its beating down, A potsherd to take fire from the burning, And to draw out waters from a ditch. ¹⁵For thus said the Lord Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel: ‘In returning and rest ye are saved, In keeping quiet and in confidence is your might, And ye have not been willing. ¹⁶And ye say, No, for on a horse we flee? Therefore ye flee, And on the swift we ride! Therefore swift are your pursuers. ¹⁷One thousand because of the rebuke of one, Because of the rebuke of five ye flee, Till ye have been surely left as a pole On the top of the mountain, And as an ensign on the height.

¹⁸And therefore doth wait Jehovah to favour you, And therefore He is exalted to pity you, For a God of judgment is Jehovah, O the blessedness of all waiting for Him. ¹⁹For the people in Zion dwell in Jerusalem, Weep thou not, weeping, Pitying, He pitieth thee at the voice of thy cry, When He heareth He answereth thee. ²⁰And the Lord hath given to you bread of adversity, And water of oppression. And thy directors remove no more, And thine eyes have seen thy directors, ²¹And thine ear heareth a word behind thee, Saying, ‘This is the way, go ye in it,’ When ye turn to the right, And when ye turn to the left. ²²And ye have defiled the covering of Thy graven images of silver, And the ephod of thy molten image of gold, Thou scatterest them as a sickening thing, ‘Go out,’ thou sayest to it. ²³And He hath given rain for thy seed, With which thou dost sow the ground, And bread, the increase of the ground, And it hath been fat and plenteous, Enjoy do thy cattle in that day an enlarged pasture. ²⁴And the oxen and the young asses serving the ground, Fermented provender do eat, That one is winnowing with shovel and fan. ²⁵And there hath been on every high mount, And on every exalted hill, Rivulets—streams of waters, In a day of much slaughter, in the falling of towers. ²⁶And the light of the moon hath been as the light of the sun, And the light of the sun is sevenfold, As the light of seven days, In the day of Jehovah’s binding up the breach of His people, When the stroke of its wound He healeth.

²⁷Lo, the name of Jehovah is coming from far, Burning is His anger, and great the flame, His lips have been full of indignation, And His tongue is as a devouring fire. ²⁸And His breath is as an overflowing stream, Unto the neck it divideth, To sift nations with a sieve of vanity, And a bridle causing to err, Is on the jaws of the peoples. ²⁹Singing is to you as in a night sanctified for a festival, And joy of heart as he who is going with a pipe, To go in to the mountain of Jehovah, Unto the rock of Israel. ³⁰And caused to be heard hath Jehovah The honour of His voice, And the coming down of His arm He doth shew with the raging of anger, And the flame of a consuming fire, Scattering, and inundation, and hailstone. ³¹For from the voice of Jehovah broken down is Asshur, With a rod He smiteth. ³²And every passage of the settled staff, That Jehovah causeth to rest on him, Hath been with tabrets, and with harps, And in battles of shaking he hath fought with it. ³³For, arranged from former time is Tophet, Even it for the king is prepared, He hath made deep, He hath made large, Its pile is fire and much wood, The breath of Jehovah, As a stream of brim stone, is burning in it!

Chapter 31