Isaiah 29
29
1Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city of David's encampment! Add ye year to year; let the feasts come round. 2But I will distress Ariel, and there shall be sorrow and sadness; and it shall be unto me as an Ariel. 3And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with watch-posts, and I will raise forts against thee. 4And thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall come low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5And the multitude of thine enemies shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away; and it shall be in an instant, suddenly. 6Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. 7And the multitude of all the nations that war against Ariel, even all that war against her and her fortifications, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. 8It shall even be as when the hungry dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when the thirsty dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; and he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul craveth: so shall the multitude of all the nations be that war against mount Zion.
9Be astounded and astonished, blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10For Jehovah hath poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets and your chiefs, the seers, hath he covered. 11And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. 12And they give the book to him that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read. 13And the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is removed far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught of men; 14therefore, behold, I will proceed to do marvellously with this people, to do marvellously, even with wonder, and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hid. 15Woe unto them that hide deep, far from Jehovah, their counsel! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? 16Oh your perverseness! — Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay, so that the work should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?
17Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and, out of obscurity and out of darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see; 19and the meek shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the needy among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20For the terrible one shall come to nought, and the scorner shall be no more, and all that watch for iniquity shall be cut off, 21that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and pervert the judgment of the righteous by futility. 22Therefore thus saith Jehovah who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now be pale; 23for when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall hallow my name, and hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God#GodHebrew: Elohim of Israel. 24And they that are of erring spirit shall know understanding, and the disobedient shall learn doctrine.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.
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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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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