Isaiah 29

1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city against which David fought: year has been added to year, the solemnities have unfolded.

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelled! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

2 And I will surround Ariel with siege works, and it will be in sorrow and mourning, and it will be like Ariel to me.

Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be to me as Ariel.

3 And I will surround you like a sphere all around you, and I will raise up a rampart against you, and I will set up fortifications to blockade you.

And I will camp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you.

4 You will be brought low. You will speak from the ground, and your eloquence will be heard from the dirt. And, from the ground, your voice will be like that of the python, and your eloquence will mumble from the dirt.

And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 And the multitude of those who fan you will be like fine dust. And the multitude of those who have prevailed against you will be like embers fading away.

Moreover the multitude of your strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yes, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

6 And this will happen suddenly and swiftly. It will be visited from the Lord of hosts with thunder and earthquakes, and with the great noise of a whirlwind and a storm, and with a flame of devouring fire.

You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7 And the multitude of all the nations that have struggled against Ariel will be like the dream of a vision by night, along with all who have battled, and besieged, and prevailed against it.

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her fortification, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

8 And it will be like one who is hungry and dreams of eating, but, when he has been awakened, his soul is empty. And it will be like one who is thirsty and dreams of drinking, but, after he has been awakened, he still languishes in thirst, and his soul is empty. So shall the multitude of all the nations be, who have struggled against Mount Zion.

It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he wakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he wakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9 Be stupefied and in wonder! Shake and quiver! Be inebriated, but not from wine! Stagger, but not from drunkenness!

Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry you out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the Lord has mixed for you a spirit of deep sleep. He will close your eyes. He will cover your prophets and leaders, who see visions.

For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.

11 And the vision of all will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which, when they have given it to someone who knows how to read, they will say, “Read this,” but he will respond, “I cannot; for it has been sealed.”

And the vision of all is become to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed:

12 But if the book is given to someone who does not know how to read, and it is said to him, “Read,” then he will respond, “I do not know how to read.”

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I am not learned.

13 And the Lord said: Since this people have drawn near to me only with their mouth, and their lips glorify me while their heart is far from me, and their fear of me is based on the commandments and doctrines of men,

Why the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14 for this reason, behold, I will proceed to accomplish a wonder for this people, a great and mystifying miracle. For wisdom will perish from their wise, and the understanding of their prudent will be concealed.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

15 Woe to you who use the depths of the heart, so that you may hide your intentions from the Lord. Their works are done in darkness, and so they say: “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

Woe to them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?

16 This intention of yours is perverse. It is as if the clay were to plan against the potter, or as if the work were to say to its maker: “You did not make me.” Or it is as if what has been formed were to say to the one who formed it, “You do not understand.”

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

17 In not more than a little while and a brief time, Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and a fruitful field will be considered to be a forest.

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

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

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

19 And the meek will increase their rejoicing in the Lord, and the poor among men will exult in the Holy One of Israel.

The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the one who was prevailing has failed, the one who was mocking has been consumed, and all those who were standing guard over iniquity have been cut down.

For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

21 For they caused men to sin by a word, and they supplanted him who argued against them at the gates, and they turned away from justice in vain.

That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nothing.

22 Because of this, thus says the Lord, he who has redeemed Abraham, to the house of Jacob: From now on, Jacob will not be confounded; from now on his countenance will not blush with shame.

Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

23 Instead, when he sees his children, they will be the work of my hands in his midst, sanctifying my name, and they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will preach the God of Israel.

But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the middle of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

24 And those who had gone astray in spirit will know understanding, and those who had murmured will learn the law.

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.