Isaiah 29
29
Ariel besieged but spared
1Oh, Ariel, Ariel,
town where David encamped!
Year by year, let the festivals come around—
2but I will oppress Ariel.
There will be mourning and lamentation;
she will be like an Ariel to me.
3I will surround you like a wall,
and I will lay a siege against you with assault towers,
and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4You will be brought down;
from the ground you will speak;
from low in the dust your speech will come.
Your voice will be like a ghost’s from the earth;
from the dust your words will whisper.
5But your many enemies will be like fine dust,
the terrible horde like passing chaff.
Suddenly, in an instant, 6the LORD of heavenly forces will come to you with thunder, earthquake, and a mighty voice,
with whirlwind, tempest, and flames of devouring fire.
7The horde of nations fighting against Ariel,
and all who make war on her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8It will be like when a hungry person dreams of eating
but wakes up and the mouth is empty.
Or when a thirsty person dreams of drinking
but wakes up and has a dry throat.
So will it be for all the horde of nations
who fight against Mount Zion.
9Be shocked and stunned;
blind yourselves; be blind!
Be drunk, but not on wine;
stagger, but not on account of beer!
10The LORD has poured on you a spirit of deep sleep,
and has shut your eyes, you prophets,
and covered your heads, you seers.
11This entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed scroll. When they give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” that one will say, “I can’t, because it’s sealed.” 12And when the scroll is given to one who can’t read, saying, “Read this,” that one will say, “I can’t read.”
The wisdom of their wise
13The Lord says:
Since these people turn toward me with their mouths,
and honor me with lip service
while their heart is distant from me,
and their fear of me is just a human command that has been memorized,
14I will go on doing amazing things to these people,
shocking and startling things.
The wisdom of their wise will perish,
and the discernment of their discerning will be hidden.
15Doom to those who hide their plan deep, away from the LORD,
whose deeds are in the dark,
who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16You have everything backward!
Should the potter be thought of as clay?
Should what is made say of its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?
Should what is shaped say of the one who shaped it,
“He doesn’t understand”?
17In just a little while won’t Lebanon become farmland once again,
and the farmland be considered a forest?
18On that day: The deaf will hear the words of a scroll and, freed from dimness and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see.
19The poor will again find joy in the LORD,
and the neediest of people will rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20The tyrant will be no more,
the mocker will perish,
and all who plot evil will be eliminated:
21all who incriminate others wrongly,
who entrap the judge in the gate,
and pointlessly postpone justice for the innocent.
22Therefore, proclaims the LORD,
the God of#29.22 Or to the house of Jacob,
who redeemed Abraham:
Jacob won’t be ashamed now,
and his face won’t grow pale now.
23When he sees his children among them,
the work of my hands,
proclaiming my name holy,
they will make holy the holy one of Jacob,
and stand in awe of Israel’s God.
24Those who wander in spirit will have understanding,
and those who grumble will gain insight.
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Isaiah 29: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
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.