Isaiah 29

Revised Geneva Translation

29 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city in which David dwelt! Add year to year. Let them kill lambs.

² But I will bring Ariel into distress. And there shall be heaviness and sorrow. And it shall be to Me like Ariel.

³ And I will besiege you with a circle, and fight against you on a siege mount, and will cast up ramparts against you.

⁴ So shall you be humbled, and shall speak from the ground. And your speech shall be from the dust. Your voice, also, shall be from the ground, like one who has a spirit of divination. And your talking shall whisper from the dust.

⁵ Moreover, many of your strangers shall be like small dust. And the multitude of strong men shall be as chaff that passes away. And it shall be in a moment, suddenly.

⁶ You shall be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder, and shaking, and a great noise, a whirlwind, and a tempest, and a flame of a devouring fire.

⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel shall be as a dream, a vision by night, all those who make the war against it and strongholds against it and lay siege to it.

⁸ And it shall be like a hungry man dreams: And behold, he eats. And when he awakens, his soul is empty. Or like a thirsty man dreams: And lo, he is drinking. And when he awakens, behold, he faints. And his soul longs. So shall the multitude of all nations be that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ Wait and wonder. Blind yourself and be blinded. They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger, but not by strong drink.

¹⁰ For the LORD has covered you with a spirit of slumber and has shut your eyes. He has covered the Prophet and your chief Seers.

¹¹ And all their visions have become to you as the words of a book that is sealed up, which they deliver to one who can read, saying, “Read this, please.” And he shall say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

¹² And the book is given to him who cannot read, saying, “Read this, please.” And he shall say, “I cannot read.”

¹³ Therefore, the LORD said, “Because this people comes near to Me with their mouth, and honors Me with their lips, but has removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me was taught by the precept of men,

¹⁴ “therefore behold, I will again do a marvelous work in this people, a marvelous work and a wonder. For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.

¹⁵ “Woe to those who seek deeply to hide counsel from the LORD. For their works are in darkness. And they say, ‘Who sees us?’ and, ‘Who knows us?’

¹⁶ “You pervert things. Shall the potter be thought the same as the clay? For shall the work say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me,’ or the thing formed say of him who fashioned it, ‘He has no understanding’?

¹⁷ “Is it not but a little while before Lebanon shall be turned into Carmel, and Carmel shall be counted as a forest?

¹⁸ “And on that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book. And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

¹⁹ “The meek in the LORD shall receive joy again. And the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰ “For the cruel man shall cease and the scornful shall be consumed. And all who hurried to iniquity shall be cut off,

²¹ “who made a man sin with words and took him who reproved in the gate in a snare and made the just fall without cause.”

²² Therefore, thus says the LORD to the House of Jacob, He who redeemed Abraham: “Jacob shall not be confounded now, nor shall his face be pale now.

²³ “But when he sees his children, the work of My Hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify My Name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

²⁴ “Then, those who erred in spirit shall have understanding. And those who murmured shall learn doctrine.”