Isaiah 29

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

Tragedy is coming to you Ariel, Ariel the city where David lived! Year after year you have your festivals.

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

But I'm going to cause trouble for Ariel; the city will cry and mourn, it will be like an altar hearth to me.

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

I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you.

4 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.

You will be brought down, you will speak from where you're lying on the ground, mumbling in the dust. Your words will come like a ghost from the grave; your voice will be a whisper from the dust.

5 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.

But then all your enemies will become like fine dust; all your cruel oppressors like chaff that's blown away. Then suddenly, in no time at all,

6 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.

the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up.

7 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.

The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream!

8 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.

It will be like someone hungry dreaming that they're eating but who wakes up still hungry. It will be like someone thirsty dreaming of drinking but who wakes up still weak and thirsty. This is what it will be like for all your enemies, the ones attacking Mount Zion.

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

Be shocked and amazed! Make yourselves blind so you can't see! Get drunk, but not from wine! Stagger around, but not from beer!

10 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.

For the Lord has made you very sleepy, and he has shut the eyes and covered the heads of those who speak for God and see visions.

11 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.

This entire vision is like words in a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to someone who knows how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I can't read it because it's sealed shut.”

12 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.

If you give it to someone who doesn't know how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I don't know how to read.”

13 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:

The Lord says, “These people come and praise me with their words, and honor me with lip service, but their thoughts are miles away. Their worship of me only consists of them following rules people have taught them.

14 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.

So once again I will surprise these people with miracle upon miracle. The wisdom of the wise will die, and the insight of the insightful will disappear.”

15 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?

Tragedy is coming to people who take such trouble to hide their plans from the Lord. They work in the dark and say to themselves, “Nobody can see us, can they? Nobody will know, will they?”

16 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.

How perverse you are! It's as if the clay was thought of as making the potter! Should something made say to its maker, “You didn't make me”? Can the pot tell the potter, “You don't understand anything”?

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

It won't be long and the forests of Lebanon will be turned into a productive field, and a productive field will seem like a forest.

18 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.

At that time the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and the eyes of the blind will see through the gloomy darkness what's written there.

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

The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.

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

Cruel people will no longer exist, the scornful will vanish, and those looking to do evil will be destroyed—

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

those who say things to trick others into sin, those who trap people by legal arguments in court, those who lie to mislead the innocent.

22 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:

So this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “You don't need to be ashamed anymore; your faces won't grow pale with fright any longer.

23 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:

When you see all your children and everything I've done for you, then you will regard my character as holy, and you will respect the Holy One of Jacob. You will have reverence for the God of Israel.

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

Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”