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 where David encamped! Add year to year; let the festivals come round.
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.
But I will besiege Ariel, and she will be mourning and lamenting; and she will be to me like Ariel.
3 I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you.
I will encamp against you in a circle and will lay siege against you with a palisade, and I will raise siege works 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.
You will be brought down and will speak from the ground; your speech will be low from the dust. Your voice will sound like a spirit that speaks from the ground, and out of the dust your speech will whisper.
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,
The great number of your invaders will become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones as chaff that passes away. It will happen suddenly, in an instant.
6 the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up.
Yahweh of hosts will come to you with thunder, earthquake, great noise, with strong winds and violent storm, and the flames of a devouring fire.
7 The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream!
It will be like a dream, a vision of the night: A horde of all the nations will fight against Ariel and her stronghold. They will attack her and her fortifications to press upon 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.
It will be like when a hungry man dreams he is eating, but when he awakes, his stomach is empty. It will be like when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he when he awakes, he is fainting, with his thirst not quenched. Yes, so will be the great number of nations that fights 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!
Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with beer.
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 Yahweh has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep. He has closed your eyes, the prophets, and has covered your heads, the seers.
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.”
All revelation has become to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men might give to one who is learned, saying, “Read this.” He also says, “I cannot, 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.”
If the book is given to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
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.
The Lord said, “This people comes close to me with their mouths and honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Their honor for me is only a commandment of men that has been taught.
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, see, I will proceed to do a marvelous thing among this people, wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will disappear.”
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 who deeply hide their plans from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in darkness. They say, “Who sees us, and who knows 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”?
You turn things upside down! Should the potter be considered like clay, so that the thing that is made should say about him who made it, “He did not make me,” or the thing formed say about him who formed it, “He does 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.
In just a little while, Lebanon will be turned into a field, and the field will become 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.
On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of the deep darkness.
19 The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.
The oppressed will again rejoice in Yahweh, and the poor among men will 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 ruthless will cease, and the scoffer will vanish. All those who love to do evil will be eliminated,
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 by a word make a man out to be an offender. They lay a snare for him who seeks justice at the gate and put the righteous down with empty lies.
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 this is what Yahweh says concerning the house of Jacob—Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, “Jacob will no longer be ashamed, nor will his face be 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.
But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, they will make my name holy. They will make holy the name of the Holy One of Jacob and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”
Those who err in spirit will gain understanding, and complainers will learn knowledge.”
