Isaiah 29

1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David [Beloved] encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around;

2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.

3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you.

4 You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.

5 But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.

6 She will be visited by Adonai Tzva'ot [Yahweh Commander of heaven’s armies] with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.

7 The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger is not satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion [Mountain ridge, Marking] will be like that.

9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For Adonai has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.

11 All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed:”

12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t read.”

13 'Adonay [Lord] said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their ‘fear of me’ is a mitzvah ·instruction· of human origin—

14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.”

15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Adonai, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

16 You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?”

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

18 In that day, the deaf will sh'ma ·hear obey· the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

19 The humble also will increase their joy in Adonai, and the poor among men will rejoice in haKadosh Isra'el [the Holy One of God prevails].

20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do vain striving of iniquity are cut off—

21 who cause a person to be found in sin ·err (the standard goal)· by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.

22 Therefore Adonai, who redeemed Abraham [Father of a multitude], says concerning the house of Jacob [Supplanter]: “Jacob [Supplanter] shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale.

23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the middle of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob [Supplanter], and will stand in awe of the God of Israel [God prevails].

24 They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”