Isaiah 29
29
Woe to Jerusalem
1“Woe #Ezek. 24:6, 9to Ariel, to Ariel, the city #2 Sam. 5:9where David dwelt!
Add year to year;
Let feasts come around.
2Yet I will distress Ariel;
There shall be heaviness and sorrow,
And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
3I will encamp against you all around,
I will lay siege against you with a mound,
And I will raise siegeworks against you.
4You shall be brought down,
You shall speak out of the ground;
Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;
Your voice shall be like a medium’s, #Is. 8:19out of the ground;
And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5“Moreover the multitude of your #Is. 25:5foes
Shall be like fine dust,
And the multitude of the terrible ones
Like #Job 21:18; Is. 17:13chaff that passes away;
Yes, it shall be #Is. 30:13; 47:11; 1 Thess. 5:3in an instant, suddenly.
6#Is. 28:2; 30:30You will be punished by the Lord of hosts
With thunder and #1 Sam. 2:10; Zech. 14:4; Matt. 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11; Rev. 16:18, 19earthquake and great noise,
With storm and tempest
And the flame of devouring fire.
7#Is. 37:36; Mic. 4:11, 12; Zech. 12:9The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
Even all who fight against her and her fortress,
And distress her,
Shall be #Job 20:8as a dream of a night vision.
8#Ps. 73:20It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,
And look—he eats;
But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;
Or as when a thirsty man dreams,
And look—he drinks;
But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,
And his soul still craves:
So the multitude of all the nations shall be,
Who fight against Mount Zion.”
The Blindness of Disobedience
9Pause and wonder!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
#Is. 28:7, 8They are drunk, #Is. 51:21but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
10For #Ps. 69:23; Is. 6:9, 10; Mic. 3:6; Rom. 11:8the Lord has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has #Ps. 69:23; Is. 6:10closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, #1 Sam. 9:9; Is. 44:18; Mic. 3:6; (2 Thess. 2:9–12)the seers.
11The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book #Is. 8:16that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”
#Dan. 12:4, 9; (Matt. 13:11–16); Rev. 5:1–5, 9And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”
And he says, “I am not literate.”
13Therefore the Lord said:
#Ps. 78:36; Ezek. 33:31; Matt. 15:8, 9; Mark 7:6, 7“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me #Col. 2:22with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14#Is. 6:9, 10; 28:21; Hab. 1:5Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
#Is. 44:25; Jer. 49:7; Obad. 8; 1 Cor. 1:19For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
15#Is. 30:1Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark;
#Ps. 10:11; 94:7; Is. 47:10; Ezek. 8:12; Mal. 2:17They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the #Is. 45:9; Jer. 18:1–6; (Rom. 9:19–21)thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
Future Recovery of Wisdom
17Is it not yet a very little while
Till #Is. 32:15Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
18#Is. 35:5; Matt. 11:5; Mark 7:37In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19#(Ps. 25:9; 37:11; Is. 11:4; 61:1; Matt. 5:5; 11:29)The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And #Is. 14:30; (Matt. 5:3; 11:5; James 2:5)the poor among men shall rejoice
In the Holy One of Israel.
20For the terrible one is brought to nothing,
#Is. 28:14The scornful one is consumed,
And all who #Is. 59:4; Mic. 2:1watch for iniquity are cut off—
21Who make a man an offender by a word,
And #Amos 5:10, 12lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
And turn aside the just #Prov. 28:21by empty words.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, #Josh. 24:3who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall not now be #Is. 45:17ashamed,
Nor shall his face now grow pale;
23But when he sees his children,
#(Is. 45:11; 49:20–26; Eph. 2:10)The work of My hands, in his midst,
They will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
And fear the God of Israel.
24These also #Is. 28:7who erred in spirit will come to understanding,
And those who complained will learn doctrine.”
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Isaiah 29: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 29
29
A Message about Jerusalem
1“What sorrow awaits Ariel,#29:1 Ariel sounds like a Hebrew term that means “hearth” or “altar.” the City of David.
Year after year you celebrate your feasts.
2Yet I will bring disaster upon you,
and there will be much weeping and sorrow.
For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means—
an altar covered with blood.
3I will be your enemy,
surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls.
I will build siege towers
and destroy it.
4Then deep from the earth you will speak;
from low in the dust your words will come.
Your voice will whisper from the ground
like a ghost conjured up from the grave.
5“But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed
like the finest of dust.
Your many attackers will be driven away
like chaff before the wind.
Suddenly, in an instant,
6I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire.
7All the nations fighting against Jerusalem#29:7 Hebrew Ariel.
will vanish like a dream!
Those who are attacking her walls
will vanish like a vision in the night.
8A hungry person dreams of eating
but wakes up still hungry.
A thirsty person dreams of drinking
but is still faint from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with your enemies,
with those who attack Mount Zion.”
9Are you amazed and incredulous?
Don’t you believe it?
Then go ahead and be blind.
You are stupid, but not from wine!
You stagger, but not from liquor!
10For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
11All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” 12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.”
13And so the Lord says,
“These people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me
is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.#29:13 Greek version reads Their worship is a farce, / for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. Compare Mark 7:7.
14Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites
with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.”
15What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord,
who do their evil deeds in the dark!
“The Lord can’t see us,” they say.
“He doesn’t know what’s going on!”
16How foolish can you be?
He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay!
Should the created thing say of the one who made it,
“He didn’t make me”?
Does a jar ever say,
“The potter who made me is stupid”?
17Soon—and it will not be very long—
the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field,
and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.
18In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book,
and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
19The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20The scoffer will be gone,
the arrogant will disappear,
and those who plot evil will be killed.
21Those who convict the innocent
by their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice
and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.
22That is why the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel,#29:22 Hebrew of Jacob. See note on 14:1.
“My people will no longer be ashamed
or turn pale with fear.
23For when they see their many children
and all the blessings I have given them,
they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward will gain understanding,
and complainers will accept instruction.
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