Isaiah 29
29
Jerusalem will suffer
The LORD said:
1Jerusalem, city of David,
the place of my altar,#29.1 the place of my altar: One possible meaning for “ariel, ariel” of the Hebrew text. In Hebrew “ariel” can mean “God's hero” or “God's lion” or “God's altar”.
you are in for trouble!
Celebrate your festivals
year after year.
2I will still make you suffer,
and your people will cry
when I make an altar of you.#29.2 when…you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
3I will surround you and prepare
to attack from all sides.#29.3 from all sides: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. One ancient translation has “like David”.
4From deep in the earth,
you will call out for help
with only a faint whisper.
5Then your cruel enemies
will suddenly be swept away
like dust in a storm.
6I, the LORD All-Powerful,
will come to your rescue
with a thundering earthquake
and a fiery whirlwind.
7Every brutal nation
that attacks Jerusalem
and makes it suffer
will disappear like a dream
when night is over.
8Those nations that attack
Mount Zion
will suffer from hunger
and thirst.
They will dream of food and drink
but wake up weary and hungry
and thirsty as ever.
Prophets who fool themselves
9Be shocked and stunned,
you prophets!
Refuse to see.
Get drunk and stagger,
but not from wine.
10The LORD has made you drowsy;#Ro 11.8.
he put you into a deep sleep
and covered your head.
11Now his message is like a sealed letter to you. Some of you say, “We can't read it, because it's sealed.” 12Others say, “We can't read it, because we don't know how to read.”
13The Lord has said:#Mt 15.8,9; Mk 7.6,7.
“These people praise me
with their words,
but they never really
think about me.
They worship me by repeating
rules made up by humans.
14So once again I will do things#1 Co 1.19.
that shock and amaze them,
and I will destroy the wisdom
of those who claim to know
and understand.”
15You are in for trouble,
if you try to hide your plans
from the LORD!
Or if you think what you do
in the dark can't be seen.
16You have it all backwards.#Is 45.9; Ro 9.20.
A clay dish doesn't say
to the potter,
“You didn't make me.
You don't even know how.”
Hope for the future
17Soon the forest of Lebanon
will become a field with crops,
thick as a forest.#29.17 with…forest: Or “and Mount Carmel will be covered with forests”.
18The deaf will be able to hear
whatever is read to them;
the blind will be freed
from a life of darkness.
19The poor and the needy
will celebrate and shout
because of the LORD,
the holy God of Israel.
20All who are cruel and arrogant
will be gone for ever.
Those who live by crime
will disappear,
21together with everyone
who tells lies in court
and keeps innocent people
from getting a fair trial.
22The LORD who rescued Abraham
has this to say
about Jacob's descendants:
“They will no longer
be ashamed and disgraced.
23When they see how great
I have made their nation,
they will praise and honour me,
the holy God of Israel.
24Everyone who is confused
will understand,
and all who have complained
will obey my teaching.”
Currently Selected:
Isaiah 29: CEVUK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Isaiah 29
29
The LORD’s Word Will Be Hidden from Some but Revealed to Others
1How horrible it will be for you Ariel, Ariel,#29:1 Ariel is an unknown Hebrew word which may mean “lion of God,” “mountain of God,” or “fireplace.”
the city where David camped.
Let year after year go by.
Let your annual festivals go on.
2I will torment Ariel,
and the city will be filled with people grieving and mourning.
The city will become like Ariel.
3I will set up war camps all around you.
I will blockade you with towers.
I will put up mounds of dirt around you.
4When you have fallen, you will speak as you lie on the ground.
Your words will be muffled by the dust.
Your voice will come out of the ground like that of a ghost.
Your words will be whispered from the dust.
5Your many enemies will be like fine dust.
Your many foes will be like husks blown by the wind.
All of this will happen suddenly, unexpectedly.
6The Lord of Armies will punish you
with thunder, earthquakes, and loud noises,
with windstorms, rainstorms, and fire storms.
7The armies from all the nations will go to war against Ariel.
They will go to war against it, blockade it, and torment it.
All of this will be like a dream, like a vision in the night.
8They will be like hungry people who dream that they’re eating
and wake up to find they’re hungry.
They will be like thirsty people who dream that they’re drinking
and wake up to find they’re lightheaded and parched with thirst.
This is what will happen to the armies from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
9If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused.
If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded.
You are drunk, but not from wine.
You stagger, but not from liquor.
10The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.)
He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers.#29:10 A seer is a prophet.)
11To you all these visions will be like words in a book that is closed and sealed. You give this book to someone who can read, saying, “Please read this.”
He answers, “I can’t read it. It’s sealed.”
12Then you give the book to someone who can’t read, saying, “Please read this.”
He answers, “I can’t read.”
13The Lord says,
“These people worship me with their mouths
and honor me with their lips.
But their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me is ⌞based on⌟ rules made by humans.
14That is why I am going to do something completely amazing
for these people once again.
The wisdom of their wise people will disappear.
The intelligence of their intelligent people will be hidden.”
15How horrible it will be for those
who try to hide their plans from the Lord.
Their deeds are done in the dark,
and they say, “No one can see us”
and “No one can recognize us.”
16You turn things upside down!
Is the potter no better than his clay?
Can something that has been made
say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?
Can a piece of pottery
say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?
17In a very short time Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field
and the fertile field will be considered a forest.
18When that day comes, the deaf will hear the words written in the book.
The blind will see out of their gloom and darkness.
19Humble people again will find joy in the Lord.
The poorest of people will find joy in the Holy One of Israel.
20Tyrants will be gone.
Mockers will be finished.
All who look for ways to do wrong will come to an end:
21those who make people sin with words,
those who lay traps for judges,
those who, without any reason, deny justice
to people who are in the right.
22This is what the Lord, who saved Abraham, says about the descendants of Jacob:
Jacob will no longer be ashamed.
Jacob’s face will no longer turn pale.
23When they see all their children,
the children I made with my hands,
they will acknowledge my name as holy.
They will treat the Holy One of Jacob as holy.
They will stand in terror of the God of Israel.
24Then those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding,
and those who complain will accept instruction.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.