Isaiah 29
29
1Tragedy is coming to you Ariel, Ariel the city where David lived! Year after year you have your festivals. 2But I'm going to cause trouble for Ariel; the city will cry and mourn, it will be like an altar hearth#29:2. “Altar hearth”: the part where the sacrifice was burned, generally a messy area of animal remains and ash. In Hebrew the word Ariel can mean “altar” (Ezekiel 43:15-16) or “lion of God.” to me. 3I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you. 4You will be brought down, you will speak from where you're lying on the ground, mumbling in the dust. Your words will come like a ghost from the grave; your voice will be a whisper from the dust.
5But then all your enemies will become like fine dust; all your cruel oppressors like chaff that's blown away. Then suddenly, in no time at all, 6the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up. 7The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream! 8It will be like someone hungry dreaming that they're eating but who wakes up still hungry. It will be like someone thirsty dreaming of drinking but who wakes up still weak and thirsty. This is what it will be like for all your enemies, the ones attacking Mount Zion.
9Be shocked and amazed! Make yourselves blind so you can't see! Get drunk, but not from wine! Stagger around, but not from beer! 10For the Lord has made you very sleepy, and he has shut the eyes and covered the heads of those who speak for God and see visions.
11This entire vision is like words in a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to someone who knows how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I can't read it because it's sealed shut.” 12If you give it to someone who doesn't know how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I don't know how to read.”
13The Lord says, “These people come and praise me with their words, and honor me with lip service, but their thoughts are miles away. Their worship of me only consists of them following rules people have taught them. 14So once again I will surprise these people with miracle upon miracle. The wisdom of the wise will die, and the insight of the insightful will disappear.”
15Tragedy is coming to people who take such trouble to hide their plans from the Lord. They work in the dark and say to themselves, “Nobody can see us, can they? Nobody will know, will they?”
16How perverse you are! It's as if the clay was thought of as making the potter! Should something made say to its maker, “You didn't make me”? Can the pot tell the potter, “You don't understand anything”?
17It won't be long and the forests of Lebanon will be turned into a productive field, and a productive field will seem like a forest. 18At that time the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and the eyes of the blind will see through the gloomy darkness what's written there.#29:18. “What's written there”: supplied for clarity. 19The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel. 20Cruel people will no longer exist, the scornful will vanish, and those looking to do evil will be destroyed— 21those who say things to trick others into sin, those who trap people by legal arguments in court, those who lie to mislead the innocent.
22So this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “You don't need to be ashamed anymore; your faces won't grow pale with fright any longer. 23When you see all your children and everything I've done for you, then you will regard my character as holy, and you will respect the Holy One of Jacob. You will have reverence for the God of Israel. 24Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
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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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.