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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Isaiah 29: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Isaiah 29
29
Woe to David’s City
(Luke 19:41–44)
1Woe to you, O Ariel,#29:1 Or Altar Hearth or Lion of God; probably a nickname for Jerusalem; twice in this verse, twice in verse 2, and once in verse 7
the city of Ariel where David camped!
Year upon year
let your festivals recur.
2And I will constrain Ariel,
and there will be mourning and lamentation;
she will be like an altar hearth #29:2 Or like Ariel; see the footnote for verse 1. before Me.
3I will camp in a circle around you;
I will besiege you with towers
and set up siege works against you.
4You will be brought low,
you will speak from the ground,
and out of the dust
your words will be muffled.
Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;
your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5But your many foes will be like fine dust,
the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.
Then suddenly, in an instant,
6you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts
with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
7All the many nations
going out to battle against Ariel—
even all who war against her,
laying siege and attacking her—
will be like a dream,
like a vision in the night,
8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,
then awakens still hungry;
as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,
then awakens faint and parched.
So will it be for all the many nations
who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9Stop and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be sightless;
be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not from strong drink.
10For the Lord has poured out on you
a spirit of deep sleep.
He has shut your eyes, O prophets;
He has covered your heads, O seers.
11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” 12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”
13Therefore the Lord said:
“These people draw near to Me with their mouths
and honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.#29:13 Hebrew; LXX They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men. Cited in Matthew 15:8–9 and Mark 7:6–7
14Therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder upon wonder.
The wisdom of the wise will vanish,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.#29:14 Hebrew; LXX I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the intelligence of the intelligent. Cited in 1 Corinthians 1:19”
15Woe to those who dig deep
to hide their plans from the Lord.
In darkness they do their works and say,
“Who sees us, and who will know?”
16You have turned things upside down,
as if the potter were regarded as clay.
Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,
“He did not make me”?#29:16 Cited in Romans 9:20
Can the pottery say of the potter,
“He has no understanding”?
Sanctification for the Godly
17In a very short time,
will not Lebanon become an orchard,
and the orchard seem like a forest?
18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will increase their joy in the Lord,
and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless will vanish,
the mockers will disappear,
and all who look for evil
will be cut down—
21those who indict a man with a word,
who ensnare the mediator at the gate,
and who with false charges
deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore the Lord who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed
and no more will his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children around him,
the work of My hands,
they will honor My name,
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and they will stand in awe
of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.”
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The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God's Word has been dedicated to the public domain.