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
1Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!
Add year to year,
let festivals recur.
2Yet#Or “And” I will inflict Ariel,
and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.#Hebrew “Ariel,” which might mean “altar hearth”
3And I will encamp in a circle#The Hebrew text literally reads “like the ball”; the LXX supports an emendation to “David” against you,
and I will lay siege to you with towers#Hebrew “tower”
and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4Then#Or “And” you shall be low;
you shall speak from the earth,
and your words#Hebrew “word” will be low, from dust.
And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,
and your word will whisper from the dust.
5But#Or “And” the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.
And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.
6You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great sound,
storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.
7And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating! And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.
Or#Or “And” as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking! And he wakes up and look, he is faint, and his inner self is longing for water.
So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9Be astonished and be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blinded!
They are drunk but#Or “and” not from wine;
they stagger but#Or “and” not from strong drink.
10For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,
and he has covered your heads, the seers.
11And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document.
When they give it to one who knows the#The reading tradition (Qere) has “a” instead of “the” document, saying, “Read#Literally “Call” this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.”
12And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read,#Literally “know a document” saying, “Read#Literally “Call” this now!” he says, “I do not know how to read.”#Literally “know a document”
13And the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with its mouth,
and with its lips it honors me,
and its heart is far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,
14therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular and a spectacle with this spectacular people.
And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”
15Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,
and their deeds are#The Hebrew is singular in a dark place.
And they say, “Who sees us?
And who knows us?”
16Your perversity!
As if a potter#Literally “of the one who creates” shall be regarded as the clay! That the product of its maker says, “He did not make me,”
and the thing made into shape says of its potter,#Literally “one who creates” “He has no understanding.”
Blessing after Punishment
17In a very little while#Literally “Not still a trifling of time” shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,
and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
18And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.
19And the meek have joy after joy#Literally “shall add joy” in Yahweh,
and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall come to an end.
And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;
21those who mislead a person into sin with a word
and set a trap for the arbitrator#Literally “one who argues” in the gate
and guide away the righteous by emptiness.
22Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
and his face will no longer grow pale.
23For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will treat my name as holy,
and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,
and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24And those who err in spirit will acquire#Literally “know” understanding,
and those who grumble will learn instruction.
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