Isaiah 29
29
Warnings to Jerusalem
1How terrible it will be for you, Jerusalem.
You are the city where David camped.
Her festivals have continued
year after year.
2I will attack Jerusalem.
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.
I will build devices around you 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 groups of cruel people will be like chaff that is blown away.
Everything will happen very quickly.
6The Lord of heaven’s armies will come.
He will come with thunder, earthquakes and great noises.
He will come 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 surround and 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 wakes up, he is still hungry.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking.
But when he wakes up, 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 you may tell that person to read it. But he will say, “I can’t read the book. It is closed, and I can’t open it.” 12Or you may give the book to someone who cannot read. You may tell him to read the book. But he will say, “I can’t read it because I don’t know how to read.”
13The Lord says:
“These people say they love me.
They show honor to me with words.
But their hearts are far from me.
The honor they show me
is nothing but human rules they have memorized.
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.
How terrible it will be for those 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 person 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 will be gone.
Those who trap people in court will be gone.
Those who lie and take justice from innocent people in court will be gone.
22The Lord set Abraham free. This Lord speaks to the family of Jacob.
“Now the people of Jacob will not be ashamed.
They will not be disgraced any longer.
23They will see all their children,
the children I made with my hands.
And they will say my name is holy.
The people will agree that the Holy One of Jacob is holy.
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: ICB
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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.