The Siege of Jerusalem

29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city fwhere David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the feasts run their round.

2  Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.1

3  gAnd I will encamp against you all around,

and will besiege you hwith towers

and I will raise siegeworks against you.

4  iAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

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

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

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

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

lAnd in an instant, suddenly,

6  myou 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.

7  And nthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

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

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

8  pAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, 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.

9  Astonish yourselves2 and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,3 but not with wine;

rstagger,4 but not with strong drink!

10  sFor 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).

11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is tsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13  And the Lord said:

“Because uthis people vdraw 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 taught by men,

14  therefore, behold, wI will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15  Ah, yyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are zin the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

16  aYou turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

that the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

17  Is it not yet a very little while

buntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

18  In that day cthe deaf shall hear

dthe words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

ethe eyes of the blind shall see.

19  fThe meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,

and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

20  For the ruthless shall come to nothing

and gthe scoffer cease,

and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

21  who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

and hlay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea iturn aside him who is in the right.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, jwho redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,

no more shall his face grow pale.

23  For when he sees his children,

kthe work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

lthey will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24  And those mwho go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who murmur will accept instruction.”