Isaiah 29

Warnings to Jerusalem

1 How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem, the city where David camped.
Your festivals have continued year after year.

2 I will attack Jerusalem, and that city will be filled with sadness and crying. It will be like an altar to me.

3 I will put armies all around you, Jerusalem; I will surround you with towers and with devices to attack you.

4 You will be pulled down and will speak from the ground; I will hear your voice rising from the ground.
It will sound like the voice of a ghost; your words will come like a whisper from the dirt.

5 Your many enemies will become like fine dust; the many cruel people will be like chaff that is blown away.
Everything will happen very quickly.

6 The Lord All-Powerful will come
with thunder, earthquakes, and great noises, with storms, strong winds, and a fire that destroys.

7 Then all the nations that fight against Jerusalem will be like a dream;
all the nations that attack her will be like a vision in the night.

8 They will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating, but when he awakens, he is still hungry.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking, but when he awakens, he is still weak and thirsty.
It will be the same way with all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.

9 Be surprised and amazed. Blind yourselves so that you cannot see.
Become drunk, but not from wine. Trip and fall, but not from beer.

10 The Lord has made you go into a deep sleep. He has closed your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.) He has covered your heads. (The seers are your heads.)
11 This vision is like the words of a book that is closed and sealed. You may give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But he will say, “I can’t read the book, because it is sealed.”

12 Or you may give the book to someone who cannot read and tell him to read it. But he will say, “I don’t know how to read.”

13 The Lord says:
“These people worship me with their mouths, and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is based on nothing but human rules.

14 So I will continue to amaze these people by doing more and more miracles.
Their wise men will lose their wisdom; their wise men will not be able to understand.”

Warnings About Other Nations

15 How terrible it will be for those who try to hide things from the Lord
and who do their work in darkness. They think no one will see them or know what they do.

16 You are confused. You think the clay is equal to the potter.
You think that an object can tell the one who made it, “You didn’t make me.”
This is like a pot telling its maker, “You don’t know anything.”

A Better Time Is Coming

17 In a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the rich farmland will seem like a forest.

18 At that time the deaf will hear the words in a book. Instead of having darkness and gloom, the blind will see.

19 The Lord will make the poor people happy; they will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 Then the people without mercy will come to an end; those who do not respect God will disappear. Those who enjoy doing evil will be gone:

21 those who lie about others in court, those who trap people in court, those who lie and take justice from innocent people in court.

22 This is what the Lord who set Abraham free says to the family of Jacob:
“Now the people of Jacob will not be ashamed or disgraced any longer.

23 When they see all their children, the children I made with my hands,
they will say my name is holy. They will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy, and they will respect the God of Israel.
24 People who do wrong will now understand. Those who complain will accept being taught.”

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