Isaiah 29

1 Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end.

2 And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.

3 I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.

And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.

4 You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.

Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.

5 But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.

6 you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.

7 All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.

8 as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.

9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.

Be astonished, and wander, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.

10 For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.

For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.

11 And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”

And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

12 Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.

13 Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:

14 Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

15 Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

16 You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?

This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.

17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?

Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?

18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.

19 The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—

For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:

21 those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.

22 Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale.

Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:

23 For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:

24 Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.