The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Isaiah 29
1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where
David encamped! Add year to year; let the
feasts come around;
2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will
be mourning and lamentation. She shall
be to me as an altar hearth.†
3 I will encamp against you all around
you, and will lay siege against you with
posted troops. I will raise siege works
against you.
4 You will be brought down, and will
speak out of the ground. Your speech will
mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be
as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of
the ground, and your speech will whisper
out of the dust.
5 But the multitude of your foes will be
like fine dust, and the multitude of the
ruthless ones like chaff that blows away.
Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies
with thunder, with earthquake, with great
noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with
the flame of a devouring fire.
7 The multitude of all the nations that
fight against Ariel, even all who fight
against her and her stronghold, and who
distress her, will be like a dream, a vision
of the night.
8 It will be like when a hungry man
dreams, and behold, he eats; but he
awakes, and his hunger isn’t satisfied; or
like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes,
and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty.
The multitude of all the nations that fight
against Mount Zion will be like that.
9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves
and be blind! They are drunken, but
not with wine; they stagger, but not with
strong drink.
10 For Yahweh has poured out on you a
spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your
eyes, the prophets; and he has covered
your heads, the seers.
11 All vision has become to you like the
words of a book that is sealed, which men
deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please;” andhe says, “I can’t,for
it is sealed;”
12 and the book is delivered to one who
is not educated, saying, “Read this, please;”
and he says, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord said, “Because this people
draws near with their mouth and honors
me with their lips, but they have removed
their heart far from me, and their fear of
me is a commandment of men which has
been taught;
14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do
a marvelous work among this people, even
a marvelous work and a wonder; and the
wisdom of their wise men will perish, and
the understanding of their prudent men
will be hidden.”
15 Woe to those who deeply hide their
counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds
are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees
us?” and “Who knows us?”
16 You turn things upside down! Should
the potter be thought to be like clay, that
the thing made should say about him who
made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing
formed say of him who formed it, “He has
no understanding”?
17 Isn’t it yet a very little while, and
Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field will be regarded as a
forest?
18 In that day, the deaf will hear the
words of the book, and the eyes of the
blind will see out of obscurity and out of
darkness.
19The humble also will increase their joy
in Yahweh, and the poor among men will
rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing,
and the scoffer ceases, and all those who
are alert to do evil are cut off—
21 who cause a person to be indicted
by a word, and lay a snare for one who
reproves in the gate, and who deprive the
innocent of justice with false testimony.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed
Abraham, says concerning the house of
Jacob: “Jacob shall no longer be ashamed,
neither shall his face grow pale.
23 But when he sees his children, the
work of my hands, in the middle of him,
they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will
sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will
stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 They also who err in spirit will come
to understanding, and those who grumble
will receive instruction.”