Isaiah 29
29
Warnings to Jerusalem
1How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem,
the city where David camped.
Your festivals have continued
year after year.
2I will attack Jerusalem,
and that city will be filled with sadness and crying.
It will be like an altar to me.
3I will put armies all around you, Jerusalem;
I will surround you with towers
and with devices to attack you.
4You will be pulled down and will speak from the ground;
I will hear your voice rising from the ground.
It will sound like the voice of a ghost;
your words will come like a whisper from the dirt.
5Your many enemies will become like fine dust;
the many cruel people will be like chaff that is blown away.
Everything will happen very quickly.
6The Lord All-Powerful will come
with thunder, earthquakes, and great noises,
with storms, strong winds, and a fire that destroys.
7Then all the nations that fight against Jerusalem
will be like a dream;
all the nations that attack her
will be like a vision in the night.
8They will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating,
but when he awakens, he is still hungry.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking,
but when he awakens, he is still weak and thirsty.
It will be the same way with all the nations
who fight against Mount Zion.
9Be surprised and amazed.
Blind yourselves so that you cannot see.
Become drunk, but not from wine.
Trip and fall, but not from beer.
10The Lord has made you go into a deep sleep.
He has closed your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.)
He has covered your heads. (The seers are your heads.)
11This vision is like the words of a book that is closed and sealed. You may give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But he will say, “I can’t read the book, because it is sealed.” 12Or you may give the book to someone who cannot read and tell him to read it. But he will say, “I don’t know how to read.”
13The Lord says:
“These people worship me with their mouths,
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is based on
nothing but human rules.
14So I will continue to amaze these people
by doing more and more miracles.
Their wise men will lose their wisdom;
their wise men will not be able to understand.”
Warnings About Other Nations
15How terrible it will be for those who try
to hide things from the Lord
and who do their work in darkness.
They think no one will see them or know what they do.
16You are confused.
You think the clay is equal to the potter.
You think that an object can tell the one who made it,
“You didn’t make me.”
This is like a pot telling its maker,
“You don’t know anything.”
A Better Time Is Coming
17In a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland,
and the rich farmland will seem like a forest.
18At that time the deaf will hear the words in a book.
Instead of having darkness and gloom, the blind will see.
19The Lord will make the poor people happy;
they will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20Then the people without mercy will come to an end;
those who do not respect God will disappear.
Those who enjoy doing evil will be gone:
21those who lie about others in court,
those who trap people in court,
those who lie and take justice from innocent people in court.
22This is what the Lord who set Abraham free says to the family of Jacob:
“Now the people of Jacob will not be ashamed
or disgraced any longer.
23When they see all their children,
the children I made with my hands,
they will say my name is holy.
They will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy,
and they will respect the God of Israel.
24People who do wrong will now understand.
Those who complain will accept being taught.”
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Isaiah 29: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 29
29
1Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around; 2then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.#29:2 or, Ariel 3I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you. 4You 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.
5But 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. 6She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire. 7The 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. 8It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn’t 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 will be like that.
9Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10For Yahweh 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. 11All 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;” 12and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t read.”
13The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; 14therefore, 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.”
15Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?” 16You 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”?
17Isn’t 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? 18In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. 19The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off— 21who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for one who reproves in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
22Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale. 23But 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, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”
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