Isaiah 29
1 Tragedy is coming to you Ariel, Ariel the city where David lived! Year after year you have your festivals.
Woe [to] Ariel, Ariel, The city of the encampment of David! Add year to year, let festivals go around.
2 But I'm going to cause trouble for Ariel; the city will cry and mourn, it will be like an altar hearth to me.
And I have sent distress to Ariel, And it has been lamentation and mourning, And it has been to me as Ariel.
3 I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you.
And I encamped, O babbler, against you, And I laid siege against you—a camp. And I raised up bulwarks against you.
4 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.
And you have been low, You speak from the earth, And make your saying low from the dust, And your voice has been from the earth, As one having a familiar spirit, And your saying whispers from the dust,
5 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,
And as small dust has been The multitude of those scattering you, And as chaff passing on the multitude of the terrible, And it has been in an instant—suddenly.
6 the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up.
You are inspected by YHWH of Hosts, With thunder, and with an earthquake, And great noise, windstorm, and whirlwind, And flame of devouring fire.
7 The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream!
And as a dream, a vision of night, Has been the multitude of all the nations Who are warring against Ariel, And all its warriors, and its bulwark, Even of those distressing her.
8 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.
And it has been, as when the hungry dreams, And behold, he is eating, And he has awoken, And his soul [is] empty, And as when the thirsty dreams, And behold, he is drinking, And he has awoken, And behold, he is weary, And his soul is longing, So is the multitude of all the nations Who are warring against Mount Zion.
9 Be shocked and amazed! Make yourselves blind so you can't see! Get drunk, but not from wine! Stagger around, but not from beer!
Linger and wonder, look, indeed, look, Be drunk, and not with wine, Stagger, and not with strong drink.
10 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.
For YHWH has poured out a spirit of deep sleep on you, And He closes your eyes—the prophets, And your heads—the seers—He covered.
11 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.”
And the vision of the whole is to you, As words of the sealed scroll, That they give to one knowing scrolls, Saying, “Please read this,” And he has said, “I am not able, for it [is] sealed”;
12 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.”
And the scroll is given to him who has not known scrolls, Saying, “Please read this,” And he has said, “I have not known scrolls.”
13 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.
And the Lord says: “Because this people has drawn near with its mouth, And they have honored Me with its lips, And it has put its heart far off from Me, And their fear of Me is a precept taught by men!
14 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.”
Therefore, behold, I am adding to do wonderfully with this people, A wonder, and a marvel, And the wisdom of its wise ones has perished, And the understanding of its intelligent ones hides itself.”
15 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?”
Woe [to] those going deep from YHWH to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, “Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?”
16 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”?
Your perversion! Is the potter esteemed as clay, That the work says of its maker, “He has not made me?” And the framed thing said of its framer, “He did not understand?”
17 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.
Is it not yet a very little [while], And Lebanon has turned into a fruitful field, And the fruitful field is reckoned for a forest?
18 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.
And the deaf have heard the words of a scroll in that day, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind see.
19 The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.
And the humble have added joy in YHWH, And the poor among men Rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 Cruel people will no longer exist, the scornful will vanish, and those looking to do evil will be destroyed—
For the terrible one has ceased, And the scorner has been consumed, And all watching for iniquity have been cut off,
21 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.
Who cause men to sin in word, And lay a snare for a reprover in the gate, And turn aside the righteous into emptiness.
22 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.
Therefore, thus said YHWH, Who ransomed Abraham, Concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob is not ashamed now, Nor does his face now become pale,
23 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.
For in his seeing his children, The work of My hand, in his midst, They sanctify My Name, And have sanctified the Holy One of Jacob, And they declare the God of Israel fearful.
24 Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”
And the erring in spirit have known understanding, And murmurers learn doctrine!”
