Isaiah 29

¹ Woe to Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David camped!
Add year to year;
let the feasts run their round.

² Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there will be moaning and lamentation,
and she will be to me like an Ariel.

³ And I will encamp against you all around,
and will besiege you with towers
and I will raise siege works against you.

⁴ Then deep from the earth you will speak,
from low in the dust your words will come;
your voice will be like a ghost from the ground,
and your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵ But the multitude of your foreign foes will be like fine dust,
and the multitude of the ruthless will be like passing chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,

⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest,
and the flame of a devouring fire.

⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

⁸ As when a hungry man dreams he is eating
and awakes with his hunger unsatisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking
and awakes faint, with his thirst unquenched,
so will the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ Dull yourselves and be dull!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not with wine;
stagger, but not with strong drink!

¹⁰ For the LORD has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes—the prophets—
and covered your heads—the seers.

¹¹ And the vision of all this has become to you
like the words of a sealed scroll.
When men give it to one who can read, saying,
"Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."

¹² And when the scroll is given to one who cannot read, saying,
"Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

¹³ And the Lord said:
"Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

¹⁴ therefore, behold, I will again do a wonderful thing with this people,
wonderful and marvelous;
and the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden."

¹⁵ Woe to those who hide deep from the LORD their counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"

¹⁶ You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
"He did not make me";
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
"He has no understanding"?

¹⁷ Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon will be turned into a garden,
and the garden will be considered a forest?

¹⁸ In that day the deaf will hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹ The meek will obtain fresh joy in the LORD,
and the poor among mankind will exult in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ For the ruthless will come to nothing
and the scoffer will cease,
and all who watch to do evil will be cut off—

²¹ who make a man out to be an offender by a word,
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
and with an empty plea turn aside the righteous.

²² Therefore thus says the LORD,
who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
"Jacob will no more be ashamed;
no more will his face grow pale.

²³ For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

²⁴ And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who murmur will accept instruction."