Isaiah 29-31

New King James Version

Woe to Jerusalem

29 “Woe ^(A)to ^[a]Ariel, to Ariel, the city ^(B)where David dwelt!
Add year to year;
Let feasts come around.
²Yet I will distress Ariel;
There shall be heaviness and sorrow,
And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
³I will encamp against you all around,
I will lay siege against you with a mound,
And I will raise siegeworks against you.
⁴You shall be brought down,
You shall speak out of the ground;
Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;
Your voice shall be like a medium’s, ^(C)out of the ground;
And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵“Moreover the multitude of your ^(D)foes
Shall be like fine dust,
And the multitude of the terrible ones
Like ^(E)chaff that passes away;
Yes, it shall be ^(F)in an instant, suddenly.
⁶^(G)You will be punished by the Lord of hosts
With thunder and ^(H)earthquake and great noise,
With storm and tempest
And the flame of devouring fire.
⁷^(I)The multitude of all the nations who fight against ^[b]Ariel,
Even all who fight against her and her fortress,
And distress her,
Shall be ^(J)as a dream of a night vision.
⁸^(K)It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,
And look—he eats;
But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;
Or as when a thirsty man dreams,
And look—he drinks;
But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,
And his soul still craves:
So the multitude of all the nations shall be,
Who fight against Mount Zion.”

The Blindness of Disobedience

⁹Pause and wonder!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
^(L)They are drunk, ^(M)but not with wine;
They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
¹⁰For ^(N)the Lord has poured out on you
The spirit of deep sleep,
And has ^(O)closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, namely, ^(P)the seers.

¹¹The whole vision has become to you like the words of a ^[c]book ^(Q)that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”

^(R)And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”

¹²Then the book is delivered to one who ^[d]is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”

And he says, “I am not literate.”

¹³Therefore the Lord said:

^(S)“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me ^(T)with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
¹⁴^(U)Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
^(V)For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵^(W)Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord,
And their works are in the dark;
^(X)They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
¹⁶Surely you have things turned around!
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay;
For shall the ^(Y)thing made say of him who made it,
“He did not make me”?
Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?

Future Recovery of Wisdom

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while
Till ^(Z)Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest?
¹⁸^(AA)In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
¹⁹^(AB)The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord,
And ^(AC)the poor among men shall rejoice
In the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰For the ^[e]terrible one is brought to nothing,
^(AD)The scornful one is consumed,
And all who ^(AE)watch for iniquity are cut off—
²¹Who make a man an offender by a word,
And ^(AF)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
And turn aside the just ^(AG)by empty words.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, ^(AH)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall not now be ^(AI)ashamed,
Nor shall his face now grow pale;
²³But when he sees his children,
^(AJ)The work of My hands, in his midst,
They will hallow My name,
And hallow the Holy One of Jacob,
And fear the God of Israel.
²⁴These also ^(AK)who erred in spirit will come to understanding,
And those who complained will learn doctrine.”

Futile Confidence in Egypt

30 “Woe to the rebellious children,” says the Lord,
^(AL)“Who take counsel, but not of Me,
And who ^[f]devise plans, but not of My Spirit,
^(AM)That they may add sin to sin;
²^(AN)Who walk to go down to Egypt,
And ^(AO)have not asked My advice,
To strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh,
And to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
³^(AP)Therefore the strength of Pharaoh
Shall be your shame,
And trust in the shadow of Egypt
Shall be your humiliation.
⁴For his princes were at ^(AQ)Zoan,
And his ambassadors came to Hanes.
⁵^(AR)They were all ashamed of a people who could not benefit them,
Or be help or benefit,
But a shame and also a reproach.”

⁶^(AS)The ^[g]burden against the beasts of the South.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
From which came the lioness and lion,
^(AT)The viper and fiery flying serpent,
They will carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys,
And their treasures on the humps of camels,
To a people who shall not profit;
⁷^(AU)For the Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose.
Therefore I have called her
^[h]Rahab-Hem-Shebeth.

A Rebellious People

⁸Now go, ^(AV)write it before them on a tablet,
And note it on a scroll,
That it may be for time to come,
Forever and ever:
⁹That ^(AW)this is a rebellious people,
Lying children,
Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
¹⁰^(AX)Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;
^(AY)Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
¹¹Get out of the way,
Turn aside from the path,
Cause the Holy One of Israel
To cease from before us.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you ^(AZ)despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
¹³Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^(BA)Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking ^(BB)comes suddenly, in an instant.
¹⁴And ^(BC)He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,
Which is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare.
So there shall not be found among its fragments
^[i]A shard to take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

^(BD)“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
^(BE)But you would not,
¹⁶And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses”—
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

¹⁷^(BF)One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee,
Till you are left as a ^[j]pole on top of a mountain
And as a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be ^(BG)gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^(BH)Blessed are all those who ^(BI)wait for Him.

¹⁹For the people ^(BJ)shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;
You shall ^(BK)weep no more.
He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will ^(BL)answer you.
²⁰And though the Lord gives you
^(BM)The bread of adversity and the water of ^[k]affliction,
Yet ^(BN)your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
²¹Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you ^(BO)turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.
²²^(BP)You will also defile the covering of your images of silver,
And the ornament of your molded images of gold.
You will throw them away as an unclean thing;
^(BQ)You will say to them, “Get away!”

²³^(BR)Then He will give the rain for your seed
With which you sow the ground,
And bread of the increase of the earth;
It will be ^[l]fat and plentiful.
In that day your cattle will feed
In large pastures.
²⁴Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that work the ground
Will eat cured fodder,
Which has been winnowed with the shovel and fan.
²⁵There will be ^(BS)on every high mountain
And on every high hill
Rivers and streams of waters,
In the day of the ^(BT)great slaughter,
When the towers fall.
²⁶Moreover ^(BU)the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun,
And the light of the sun will be sevenfold,
As the light of seven days,
In the day that the Lord binds up the bruise of His people
And heals the stroke of their wound.

Judgment on Assyria

²⁷Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
Burning with His anger,
And His burden is heavy;
His lips are full of indignation,
And His tongue like a devouring fire.
²⁸^(BV)His breath is like an overflowing stream,
^(BW)Which reaches up to the neck,
To sift the nations with the sieve of futility;
And there shall be ^(BX)a bridle in the jaws of the people,
Causing them to err.

²⁹You shall have a song
As in the night when a holy festival is kept,
And gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute,
To come into ^(BY)the mountain of the Lord,
To ^[m]the Mighty One of Israel.
³⁰^(BZ)The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard,
And show the descent of His arm,
With the indignation of His anger
And the flame of a devouring fire,
With scattering, tempest, ^(CA)and hailstones.
³¹For ^(CB)through the voice of the Lord
Assyria will be ^[n]beaten down,
As He strikes with the ^(CC)rod.
³²And in every place where the staff of punishment passes,
Which the Lord lays on him,
It will be with tambourines and harps;
And in battles of ^(CD)brandishing He will fight with it.
³³^(CE)For Tophet was established of old,
Yes, for the king it is prepared.
He has made it deep and large;
Its pyre is fire with much wood;
The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone,
Kindles it.

The Folly of Not Trusting God

31 Woe to those ^(CF)who go down to Egypt for help,
And ^(CG)rely on horses,
Who trust in chariots because they are many,
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
^(CH)Nor seek the Lord!
²Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster,
And ^(CI)will not ^[o]call back His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers,
And against the help of those who work iniquity.
³Now the Egyptians are men, and not God;
And their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out His hand,
Both he who helps will fall,
And he who is helped will fall down;
They all will perish ^(CJ)together.

God Will Deliver Jerusalem

⁴For thus the Lord has spoken to me:

^(CK)“As a lion roars,
And a young lion over his prey
(When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,
He will not be afraid of their voice
Nor be disturbed by their noise),
So the Lord of hosts will come down
To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.
⁵^(CL)Like birds flying about,
So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.
Defending, He will also deliver it;
Passing over, He will preserve it.”

⁶Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have ^(CM)deeply revolted. ⁷For in that day every man shall ^(CN)throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—^(CO)sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.

⁸“Then Assyria shall ^(CP)fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of mankind shall ^(CQ)devour him.
But he shall flee from the sword,
And his young men shall become forced labor.
⁹^(CR)He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear,
And his princes shall be afraid of the banner,”
Says the Lord,
Whose fire is in Zion
And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.