Isaiah 29

Chapter 29

A Message about Jerusalem

1 “What sorrow awaits Ariel,t the City of David.
Year after year you celebrate your feasts.2 Yet I will bring disaster upon you,
and there will be much weeping and sorrow.
For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means—
an altar covered with blood.3 I will be your enemy,
surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls.
I will build siege towers
and destroy it.4 Then deep from the earth you will speak;
from low in the dust your words will come.
Your voice will whisper from the ground
like a ghost conjured up from the grave.5 “But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed
like the finest of dust.
Your many attackers will be driven away
like chaff before the wind.
Suddenly, in an instant,6 I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.7 All the nations fighting against Jerusalemt
will vanish like a dream!
Those who are attacking her walls
will vanish like a vision in the night.8 A hungry person dreams of eating
but wakes up still hungry.
A thirsty person dreams of drinking
but is still faint from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with your enemies,
with those who attack Mount Zion.”9 Are you amazed and incredulous?
Don’t you believe it?
Then go ahead and be blind.
You are stupid, but not from wine!
You stagger, but not from liquor!10 For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.11 All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.”

12 When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.”
13 And so the Lord says,
“These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.t14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”15 What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the LORD,
who do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The LORD can’t see us,” they say.
“He doesn’t know what’s going on!”16 How foolish can you be?
He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
“He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
“The potter who made me is stupid”?17 Soon—and it will not be very long—
the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.18 In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.19 The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the LORD.
The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.20 The scoffer will be gone,
the arrogant will disappear,
and those who plot evil will be killed.21 Those who convict the innocent
by their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice
and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.

22 That is why the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel,t
“My people will no longer be ashamed
or turn pale with fear.23 For when they see their many children
and all the blessings I have given them,
they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Israel.
They will stand in awe of the God of Jacob.24 Then the wayward will gain understanding,
and complainers 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