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
Jerusalem Will Suffer
The Lord said:
1Jerusalem, city of David,
the place of my altar,#29.1 the place of my altar: One possible meaning for “ariel, ariel” of the Hebrew text. In Hebrew “ariel” can mean “God's hero” or “God's lion” or “God's altar.”
you are in for trouble!
Celebrate your festivals
year after year.
2I will still make you suffer,
and your people will cry
when I make an altar of you.#29.2 when … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3I will surround you and prepare
to attack from all sides.#29.3 from all sides: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. One ancient translation has “like David.”
4From deep in the earth,
you will call out for help
with only a faint whisper.
5Then your cruel enemies
will suddenly be swept away
like dust in a windstorm.
6I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will come to your rescue
with a thundering earthquake
and a fiery whirlwind.
7Every brutal nation
that attacks Jerusalem
and makes it suffer
will disappear like a dream
when night is over.
8Those nations that attack
Mount Zion
will suffer from hunger
and thirst.
They will dream of food and drink
but wake up weary and hungry
and thirsty as ever.
Prophets Who Fool Themselves
9Be shocked and stunned,
you prophets!
Refuse to see.
Get drunk and stagger,
but not from wine.
10 #
Ro 11.8. The Lord has made you drowsy;
he put you into a deep sleep
and covered your head.
11Now his message is like a sealed letter to you. Some of you say, “We can't read it, because it's sealed.” 12Others say, “We can't read it, because we don't know how to read.”
13 #
Mt 15.8,9; Mk 7.6,7. The Lord has said:
“These people praise me
with their words,
but they never really
think about me.
They worship me by repeating
rules made up by humans.
14 #
1 Co 1.19. So once again I will do things
that shock and amaze them,
and I will destroy the wisdom
of those who claim to know
and understand.”
15You are in for trouble,
if you try to hide your plans
from the Lord!
Or if you think what you do
in the dark can't be seen.
16 #
Is 45.9; Si 33.13; Ro 9.20. You have it all backwards.
A clay dish doesn't say
to the potter,
“You didn't make me.
You don't even know how.”
Hope for the Future
17Soon the forest of Lebanon
will become a field with crops,
thick as a forest.#29.17 with … forest: Or “and Mount Carmel will be covered with forests.”
18The deaf will be able to hear
whatever is read to them;
the blind will be freed
from a life of darkness.
19The poor and the needy
will celebrate and shout
because of the Lord,
the holy God of Israel.
20All who are cruel and arrogant
will be gone forever.
Those who live by crime
will disappear,
21together with everyone
who tells lies in court
and keeps innocent people
from getting a fair trial.
22The Lord who rescued Abraham
has this to say
about Jacob's descendants:
“They will no longer
be ashamed and disgraced.
23When they see how great
I have made their nation,
they will praise and honor me,
the holy God of Israel.
24Everyone who is confused
will understand,
and all who have complained
will obey my teaching.”
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.