Isaiah 29

The Lord’s Word Will Be Hidden From Some but Revealed to Others

1 How horrible it will be for you Ariel, Ariel,tthe city where David camped.Let year after year go by.Let your annual festivals go on.2 I will torment Ariel,and the city will be filled with people grieving and mourning.The city will become like Ariel.3 I will set up war camps all around you.I will blockade you with towers.I will put up mounds of dirt around you.4 When you have fallen, you will speak as you lie on the ground.Your words will be muffled by the dust.Your voice will come out of the ground like that of a ghost.Your words will be whispered from the dust.5 Your many enemies will be like fine dust.Your many foes will be like husks blown by the wind.All of this will happen suddenly, unexpectedly.6 The Lord of Armies will punish youwith thunder, earthquakes, and loud noises,with windstorms, rainstorms, and fire storms.7 The armies from all the nations will go to war against Ariel.They will go to war against it, blockade it, and torment it.All of this will be like a dream, like a vision in the night.8 They will be like hungry people who dream that they’re eatingand wake up to find they’re hungry.They will be like thirsty people who dream that they’re drinkingand wake up to find they’re lightheaded and parched with thirst.This is what will happen to the armies from all the nationsthat fight against Mount Zion.9 If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused.If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded.You are drunk, but not from wine.You stagger, but not from liquor.10 The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.)He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers.t)11 To you all these visions will be like words in a book that is closed and sealed. You give this book to someone who can read, saying, “Please read this.”He answers, “I can’t read it. It’s sealed.”12 Then you give the book to someone who can’t read, saying, “Please read this.”He answers, “I can’t read.”13 The Lord says,“These people worship me with their mouthsand honor me with their lips.But their hearts are far from me,and their worship of me is based on rules made by humans.14 That is why I am going to do something completely amazingfor these people once again.The wisdom of their wise people will disappear.The intelligence of their intelligent people will be hidden.”15 How horrible it will be for thosewho try to hide their plans from the Lord.Their deeds are done in the dark,and they say, “No one can see us”and “No one can recognize us.”16 You turn things upside down!Is the potter no better than his clay?Can something that has been madesay about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?Can a piece of potterysay about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?17 In a very short time Lebanon will be turned into a fertile fieldand the fertile field will be considered a forest.18 When that day comes, the deaf will hear the words written in the book.The blind will see out of their gloom and darkness.19 Humble people again will find joy in the Lord.The poorest of people will find joy in the Holy One of Israel.20 Tyrants will be gone.Mockers will be finished.All who look for ways to do wrong will come to an end:21 those who make people sin with words,those who lay traps for judges,those who, without any reason, deny justiceto people who are in the right.22 This is what the Lord, who saved Abraham, says about the descendants of Jacob:Jacob will no longer be ashamed.Jacob’s face will no longer turn pale.23 When they see all their children,the children I made with my hands,they will acknowledge my name as holy.They will treat the Holy One of Jacob as holy.They will stand in terror of the God of Israel.24 Then those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding,and those who complain 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