Isaiah 29
1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let the festivals come round in order;
[This is a message from Yahweh: ] Terrible things will happen to Jerusalem, the city where [King] David lived. You people continue to celebrate your festivals each year.
2 Yet will I distress Ariel, and there shall be groaning and wailing: and it shall be unto me like Ariel.
But I will cause you to experience a great disaster, [and when that happens], people will weep and lament [very much]. Your city will become like [MET] an altar [to me] [where people are burned as sacrifices].
3 And I will encamp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with hostile posts, and I will raise up entrenchments against thee.
I will cause your enemies [to come to your city]; they will surround it by [building] towers and putting in place other things with which to attack you.
4 And brought down low, shalt thou speak [as though] out of the earth, and out of the dust shall come forth thy speech; and like one of a familiar spirit out of the earth shall be thy voice, and out of the dust shalt thou whisper forth thy speech.
Then you will talk [as though you were] buried deep in the ground [DOU]; it will sound like someone whispering from under the ground, like [SIM] a ghost speaking from a grave.
5 And like the small dust shall be the multitude of thy barbarian enemies, and like the passing chaff the multitude of tyrants; and [this] shall be at unawares, suddenly.
But, suddenly your enemies will be blown away like dust; their armies will disappear like [SIM] chaff that is blown away [by the wind]. [It will happen] very suddenly.
6 From the Lord of hosts shall the visitation come with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the devouring flame of fire.
The Commander of the armies of angels will come [to help you] with thunder and an earthquake and a very loud noise, with a strong wind and a big storm and a fire that will burn up everything.
7 And as a dream of a night-vision shall be the multitude of all the nations that go to war against Ariel, even all that fight against her and raise towers against her, and that distress her.
[Then] the armies of all the nations that will be attacking Jerusalem will quickly disappear like a dream in the night [DOU]. Those who will be attacking Jerusalem will suddenly vanish/disappear.
8 And it shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, that, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, that, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul yet longeth: so shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that go to war against mount Zion.
People who are asleep dream about eating food, [but] when they wake up, they are still hungry. People who are thirsty dream about drinking something, [but] when they wake up they are still thirsty. It will be like that when your enemies come to attack Zion Hill; [they will dream about conquering you, but when they wake up, ] [they will realize that they have not succeeded].
9 Stay but still and wonder; turn your eyes away, and be blinded; they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
You [people of Jerusalem], be amazed and surprised [about this] [IRO]! Do not believe [what I have said] [SAR]! And continue to be blind [IRO] [about what Yahweh is doing]. You are stupid, but it is not because you have drunk a lot of wine. You stagger, but not from drinking alcoholic drinks.
10 For the Lord hath poured out over you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: [over] the prophets, and your chiefs, the seers, hath he cast a vail.
Because Yahweh has prevented the prophets [DOU] from understanding [and telling you his messages], [it is as though] he has caused you to be fast/deeply asleep.
11 And the vision of every thing is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
[Yahweh gave me] this vision; [but] for you, it is only words on a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to those who can read [and request that they read it], they will say, “We cannot read it because the scroll is sealed.”
12 And the book is then delivered to one that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read.
When you give it to [others] who cannot read, they will say, “[We cannot read it because] we do not know how to read.”
13 And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is but the acquired precept of men;
[So] the Lord says, “These people say that they belong to me. They honor me by what they say [MTY], but they do not think [IDM] about what I [desire]. When they worship me, all they do is recite rules that people have made and that they have memorized.
14 Therefore, behold, I will do yet farther a marvelous work with this people, doing wonder on wonder; so that the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.
Therefore, again I will do something to amaze these people; I will perform many miracles. And [I will show that] the people [who tell others that they] are wise are not really wise, and [I will show that] the people [who tell others that they] are intelligent are not really intelligent.
15 Woe unto those that seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may be in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Terrible things will happen to those who try to conceal from me, Yahweh, the [evil] things that they plan to do; they do those things in the darkness and they think, ‘Yahweh certainly cannot [RHQ] see us; he cannot [RHQ] know what we are doing!’
16 Oh your perverseness! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? that the work shall say of its maker, He hath not made me? or shall the thing framed say of its framer, He had no understanding?
They are extremely foolish! [They act as though] they were the potters and I was the clay! Something that was created should certainly never [RHQ] say to the one who made it, ‘You did not make me!’ A jar should never say, ‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’”
17 Lo! but yet a very little while more, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest!
Soon [the forests in] Lebanon will become fertile fields, and abundant crops will grow in those fields, and that will happen very soon.
18 And on that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and out of obscurity, and out of darkness, shall the eyes of the blind see.
At that time, deaf people will [be able to hear]; [they will be able to] hear when someone reads from a book; and blind people will [be able to see]; [they will be able to] see things when it is gloomy and [even] when it is dark.
19 And the sufferers shall have abundant joy in the Lord, and the needy among men shall be glad in the Holy One of Israel.
Yahweh will enable humble people to be very joyful again. Poor people will rejoice about what the Holy One of Israel [has done].
20 For the tyrant is no more, and consumed is the scorner, and cut off are all that watch for injustice;
There will be no more people who ridicule [others] and no more arrogant people. And those who plan to do evil things will be executed.
21 That cause mankind to sin by [their] word; and lay a snare for him that reproveth [them] in the gate; and pervert through fraud the cause of the just.
Those who testify falsely in order to persuade judges to punish innocent people will vanish/disappear. Similar things will happen to those who by lying in court [persuade judges to] make unjust decisions.
22 Therefore thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Jacob, he who hath redeemed Abraham, Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, and not now shall his face be made pale.
That is why Yahweh, who rescued Abraham, says about the people of Israel, “My people will no longer be ashamed; no longer will they show on their faces that they are ashamed.
23 For when he seeth his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him, how they sanctify my name: then will they sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel will they reverence.
When they see that I have blessed them by giving them many children and doing many other things for them, they will realize that I am the Holy One of Israel, and they will revere me, the God to whom they, the descendants of Jacob, belong.
24 They also that were erring in spirit shall acquire understanding, and they that murmured shall obtain instruction.
When that happens, those who have not been able to think well will think clearly, and those who complain [about what I am doing] will accept what I am teaching them.”
