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.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Isaias (Isaiah) 29
29
1WOE to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took! Year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end.
2And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.
3And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.
4Thou shalt be brought down: thou shalt speak out of the earth. And thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python: and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.
5And the multitude of them that fan thee shall be like small dust: and, as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.
6And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.
7And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.
8And as he that is hungry dreameth and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth and drinketh, and after he is awake is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles that have fought against mount Sion.
9Be astonished and wonder waver and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.
10For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep: he will shut up your eyes: he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.
11And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this. And he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.
12And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read. And he shall answer: I know no letters.
13And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:
14Therefore, behold, I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
15Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord! And their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?
16This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not. Or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.
17Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and Charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?
18And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book: and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.
19And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord: and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For he that did prevail hath failed; the scorner is consumed; and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:
21That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.
22Therefore, thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:
23But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name. And they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob: and shall glorify the God of Israel.
24And they that erred in spirit shall know understanding: and they that murmured shall learn the law.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.