Isaiah 29
29
1Ho Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.
2Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
3And I will encamp against you round about,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siegeworks against you.
4Then deep from the earth you shall speak,
from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5But the multitude of your foes#29.5 Cn: Heb strangers shall be like small dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8As when a hungry man dreams he is eating
and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!
10For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes, the prophets,
and covered your heads, the seers.
11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13 #
Mt 15.8-9; Mk 7.6-7. And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;
14 #
1 Cor 1.19. therefore, behold, I will again
do marvelous things with this people,
wonderful and marvelous;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hid.”
15Woe to those who hide deep from the Lord their counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 #
Is 45.9; Rom 9.20. You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay;
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
17Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 #
Mt 11.5. In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless shall come to naught and the scoffer cease,
and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.
22Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
no more shall his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction.”
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Isaiah 29: RSV
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
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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