Isaiah 29
29
God Punishes Jerusalem
1 God says, “Look at Ariel,#29:1 Ariel A name for the altar at the Temple in Jerusalem. This name means “hearth” or “fireplace” but sounds like the word meaning “Lion of God.” Also in verse 7. the city where David camped. Keep on having your festivals, year after year. 2But I will punish Ariel. The city will be filled with sadness and crying, but it will always be my Ariel.
3“I will put armies all around you, Ariel. I will raise war towers against you. 4You will be pulled to the ground. Your voice will rise from the ground like the voice of a ghost. Your words come like a whisper from the dirt.”
5There will be so many foreigners that they will be like dust. Cruel people will be like the chaff blowing in the wind. Then suddenly, 6the Lord All-Powerful will punish you with earthquakes, thunder, and loud noises. There will be storms, strong winds, and a burning, destructive fire. 7Many nations will fight against Ariel. It will be a nightmare. Armies will surround Ariel and punish her. 8But it will also be like a dream to those armies. They will not get what they want. It will be like a hungry man dreaming about food. When the man wakes up, he is still hungry. It will be like a thirsty man dreaming about water. When the man wakes up, he is still thirsty. The same thing is true about all the nations fighting against Zion. Those nations will not get what they want.
9Be surprised and amazed!
You will become drunk, but not from wine.
Look and be amazed!
You will stumble and fall, but not from beer.
10The Lord will make you sleepy.
He will close your eyes. (The prophets are your eyes.)
He will cover your heads. (The prophets are your heads.)
11To you my words are like the words in a book that is closed and sealed.#29:11 sealed A piece of clay or wax was put on the closed book to show that the book should not be opened. You can give the book to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But that person will say, “I cannot read the book. It is closed and I cannot open it.” 12Or you can give the book to someone who cannot read and tell that person to read it. That person will say, “I cannot read the book because I don’t know how to read.”
13The Lord says, “These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized. 14So I will continue to amaze them by doing powerful and amazing things. Their wise men will lose their wisdom. Even the most intelligent among them will not be able to understand.”
15Look at them! They try to hide things from the Lord. They think he will not understand. They do their evil things in darkness. They tell themselves: “No one can see us. No one will know who we are.”
16You turn things upside down. You think the clay is equal to the potter. You think that something that is made can tell the one who made it, “You did not make me!” This is like a pot telling its maker, “You know nothing.”
A Better Time Is Coming
17This is the truth: After a very short time, Lebanon will become rich farmland, and the farmland will be like thick forests. 18The deaf will hear the words in the book. The blind will see through the darkness and fog. 19The Lord will make poor people happy. The poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20This will happen when the people who are mean and cruel have come to an end. It will happen when those who enjoy doing bad things are gone. 21(They lie about good people. They try to trap people in court. They try to destroy innocent people.)
22So the Lord, who made Abraham free, speaks to Jacob’s family. He says, “Now the people of Jacob will not be embarrassed and ashamed. 23Yes, when they see all their children, the children I myself have made for them, they will honor my name as holy. They will honor#29:23 honor Or “treat as holy.” the Holy One of Jacob, and they will respect the God of Israel. 24Many of these people did not understand, so they did what was wrong. They complained, but now they will learn their lesson.”
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 29: ERV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Yeshayah (Isaiah) 29
29
1Woe to Ari’ĕl, to Ari’ĕl, the city where Dawiḏ dwelt! Add year to year, let festivals come around.
2“And I shall distress Ari’ĕl, and there shall be mourning and sorrow, and it shall be to Me as Ari’ĕl.
3“And I shall encamp against you all around, I shall lay siege against you with a mound, and I shall raise siege-works against you.
4“And you shall be brought low and speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low, out of the dust. And your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground, and your speech whisper out of the dust.
5“But the crowd of those strange to you shall be like fine dust, and the crowd of the ruthless ones as chaff blowing away. And it shall be in an instant, suddenly!”
6You shall be visited by יהוה of hosts with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and flame of devouring fire.
7Then the crowd of all the nations who fight against Ari’ĕl, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
8And it shall be as when a hungry man dreams, and see, he eats; but he awakes, and his being is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and see, he drinks; but he awakes, and see, he is faint, and his being is longing. Thus shall the crowd of all the nations be who fight against Mount Tsiyon.
9Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10For יהוה has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets. And He has covered your heads, the seers.
11And the entire vision is to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men give to one who knows books, saying, “Read this, please.” And he said, “I am unable, for it is sealed.”
12And the book is given to one who does not know books, saying, “Read this, please.” And he said, “I have not known books.”
13And יהוה says, “Because this people has drawn near with its mouth, and with its lips they have esteemed Me, and it has kept its heart far from Me, and their fear of Me has become a command of men that is taught!#See Mat. 15:8, 9; Mark 7:6, 7
14“Therefore, see, I am again doing a marvellous work among this people, a marvellous work and a wonder. And the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their clever men shall be hidden.”
15Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from יהוה, and their works are in the dark; they say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
16How perverse of you! Should the potter be reckoned as the clay? Should what is made say of its Maker, “He did not make me”? And what is formed say of Him who formed it, “He did not understand”?
17Is it not yet a little while, and Leḇanon shall be turned into garden land, and garden land be reckoned as a forest?
18And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom, and out of darkness.
19And the meek ones shall increase their joy in יהוה, and the poor among men rejoice in the Set-apart One of Yisra’ĕl.
20For the ruthless one is brought to naught, the scorner is consumed, and all who watch for evil shall be cut off,
21those who make a man to sin in word, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the righteous with empty reasoning.
22Therefore thus said יהוה, who ransomed Aḇraham, concerning the house of Ya‛aqoḇ, “Ya‛aqoḇ is no longer put to shame, no longer does his face grow pale.
23“For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they shall set apart My Name, and set apart the Set-apart One of Ya‛aqoḇ, and fear the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl.
24“And those who went astray in spirit shall come to understanding, and the grumblers accept instruction.”
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.