Isaiah 29

1 Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.

2 And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

3 I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.

4 You 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.

5 But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

6 you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

7 All 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,

8 as 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.

9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.

10 For 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.

11 And 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.”

12 Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

13 Therefore 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.

14 Therefore 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.”

15 Woe 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?”

16 You 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”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?

17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?

18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

19 The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—

21 those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

22 Therefore 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.

23 For 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.

24 Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

1 ¶ Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

3 And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

4 And thou shalt be brought down, [and] shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be 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.

5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones [shall be] as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

6 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

8 It shall even be as when an hungry [man] dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9 ¶ Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it [is] sealed:

12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.

15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

17 ¶ [Is] 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?

18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

19 The meek also shall increase [their] joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

22 Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

23 But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

1 Woe unto Ariel, Ariel, thou city of the camp of David! Ye keep seasons, and celebrate feasts.

2 But I will afflict Ariel, that he may be sad and wretched; and he shall be a true Ariel unto me.

3 For I will besiege thee round about, and will make thee afraid with a fortress, and will set up ramparts round about thee.

4 Then shalt thou be humbled, and shalt speak out of the earth, and shalt murmur with thy speech out of the dust: thy voice shall be as the voice of a sorcerer out of the earth, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5 And the multitude that scatter thee shall be as a thin dust, and the multitude of tyrants as a waving chaff: and it shall come to pass suddenly soon.

6 For thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with tempests, and with earthquakes, and with great thunderings, and with whirlwinds, and with tempests, and with flames of devouring fire.

7 But as a night vision in a dream, so shall be the multitude of all the heathen that fight against Ariel, with all their armies and their fortresses, and that fear him.

8 For as a hungry man dreameth that he eateth, but when he awaketh his soul is still empty: and as a thirsty man dreameth that he drinketh, but when he awaketh he is faint and thirsty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles that fight against mount Zion.

9 Be stiffnecked, and be dismayed; be blinded, and be drunken, but not with wine; be staggered, but not with strong drink.

10 For the LORD hath given you a spirit of hard sleep, and hath closed your eyes; he hath blinded your prophets, and your princes, and your seers,

11 And the visions of all the prophets shall be unto you as the words of a sealed book, which, if it were given to one that can read, saith, Read this; and he saith, I cannot, because it is sealed,

12 Or as if it were given to him that cannot read, saying, Read this; and he saith, I cannot read.

13 And the LORD saith, Because this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but their heart is far from me, and they fear me according to the commandment of men, which they teach,

14 I will also deal strangely with this people, most strangely and oddly, that the wisdom of their wise men may perish, and the understanding of their prudent men be blinded.

15 Woe unto them that desire to be hid from the LORD, that hide their ways, and their doings, and keep them in darkness, and say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?

16 How wickedly are ye! As if a potter's clay were remembered, and a work were said of its master, He hath not made me; and a vessel were said of its potter, He knoweth me not.

17 Now therefore, there is yet a little to be done, and Lebanon shall be a field, and the field shall be reckoned a forest.

18 For in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of darkness and gloom,

19 And the miserable shall have joy again in the LORD, and the poor of men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel,

20 When the tyrants shall be ended, and the scoffers shall be finished, and all they that watch to do mischief shall be destroyed,

21 Who make men to sin by preaching, and go after him that punisheth them in the gate, departing from the righteous by lying.

22 Therefore thus saith the LORD that redeemed Abraham unto the house of Jacob; Jacob shall be put to shame no more, neither shall his face be ashamed any more.

23 For when they shall see their children, the works of my hands among them, they shall hallow my name, and shall sanctify the Holy One in Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

24 For they that have an erroneous spirit shall receive understanding, and the talkers shall be taught.