Isaiah 29

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

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

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

⁴And you will be brought low ; from the earth you shall speak , and from the dust your speech will be bowed down ; your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost , and from the dust your speech shall whisper .

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

⁶you 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 .

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

⁸As when a hungry man dreams , and behold, he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied , or as when a thirsty man dreams , and behold, he is drinking and awakes faint , with his thirst not quenched , so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion .

⁹Astonish yourselves and be astonished ; blind yourselves and be blind ! Be drunk , but not with wine ; stagger , but not with strong drink !

¹⁰For 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 ).

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

¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read , saying , Read this , he says , I cannot read .

¹³And 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 ,

¹⁴therefore , behold , I will again do wonderful things with this people , with wonder upon wonder ; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish , and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden .

¹⁵Ah , you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel , whose deeds are in the dark , and who say , Who sees us? Who knows us?

¹⁶You 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 ?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field , and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest ?

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

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

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

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

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham , concerning the house of Jacob : Jacob shall no more be ashamed , no more shall his face grow pale .

²³For 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 .

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