Isaiah 29:1-12

English Standard Version

The Siege of Jerusalem

29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
    the city ^(A)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.^[a]
³^(B)And I will encamp against you all around,
    and will besiege you ^(C)with towers
    and I will raise siegeworks against you.
⁴^(D)And 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 ^(E)the voice of a ghost,
    and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

⁵But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ^(F)small dust,
    and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
^(G)And in an instant, suddenly,
⁶    ^(H)you 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 ^(I)the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
    all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
    shall be ^(J)like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸^(K)As 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^[b] and be astonished;
    blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk,^[c] but not with wine;
    ^(L)stagger,^[d] but not with strong drink!
¹⁰^(M)For 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 ^(N)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.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)
Isaiah 29:9 Or Linger awhile
Isaiah 29:9 Or They are drunk
Isaiah 29:9 Or they stagger