Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem

1  Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where 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.t
3  And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4  And 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 the voice of a ghost,
and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

5  But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6  you 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 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.
8  As 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.

9  Astonish yourselvest and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10  For 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 sealed. 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 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 taught by men,
14  therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."

15  Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
16  You 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
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18  In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19  The 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 the 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 lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who 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,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24  And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction."

Isaiah 29

Ariel is Besieged

1 Ariel is as good as deadt –
Ariel, the town David besieged!t
Keep observing your annual rituals,
celebrate your festivals on schedule.t

2 I will threaten Ariel,
and she will mourn intensely
and become like an altar heartht before me.

3 I will lay siege to you on all sides;s
I will besiege you with troops;t
I will raise siege works against you.

4 You will fall;
while lying on the groundt you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard.t
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld;t
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.t

5 But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,
the horde of tyrantst like chaff that is blown away.
It will happen suddenly, in a flash.

6 Judgment will come from the Lord who commands armies,t
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.

7 It will be like a dream, a night vision.
There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,
those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.

8 It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,
only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty.t
It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,
only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched.t
So it will be for the horde from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.

God’s People are Spiritually Insensitive

9 You will be shocked and amazed!t
You are totally blind!t
They are drunk,s but not because of wine;
they stagger,s but not because of beer.

10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply.t
He has shut your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
11 To you this entire prophetic revelationt is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can readt and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”

12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t readt and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.”t

13 The sovereign mastert says,
“These people say they are loyal to me;t
they say wonderful things about me,t
but they are not really loyal to me.t
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual.t

14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –
an absolutely extraordinary deed.t
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.”t

15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead,t
who do their work in secret and boast,t
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?”t

16 Your thinking is perverse!t
Should the potter be regarded as clay?t
Should the thing made sayt about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?
Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

Changes are Coming

17 In just a very short timet
Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.s

18 At that timet the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.ts

19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delightt in the Holy One of Israel.s

20 For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminatedt –

21 those who bear false testimony against a person,t
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gates
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.t

22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:t
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed;
their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.t

23 For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,t
they will honort my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;ss
they will respectt the God of Israel.

24 Those who stray morally will gain understanding;t
those who complain will acquire insight.t