Isaiah 29
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Woe to Jerusalem
29 Woe to Ariel,[a] Ariel,
the city where David camped!(A)
Continue year after year;
let the festivals recur.
2 I will oppress Ariel,
and there will be mourning and crying,
and she will be to Me like an Ariel.[b]
3 I will camp in a circle around you;
I will besiege you with earth ramps,
and I will set up my siege towers against you.
4 You will be brought down;
you will speak from the ground,
and your words will come from low in the dust.
Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;(B)
your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 Your many foes[c] will be like fine dust,(C)
and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff.
Then suddenly, in an instant,(D)
6 you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts
with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise,
storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.(E)
7 All the many nations(F)
going out to battle against Ariel—
all the attackers, the siege works against her,
and those who oppress her—
will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.(G)
8 It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating,
then wakes and is still hungry;
and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking,
then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water.
So it will be for all the many nations
who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9 Stop and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk,[d] but not with wine;
they stagger,[e] but not with beer.(H)
10 For the Lord has poured out on you
an overwhelming urge to[f] sleep;(I)
He has shut your eyes—the prophets,
and covered your heads—the seers.(J)
11 For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document.(K) If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it,[g] he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it,[h] he will say, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord said:
Because these people approach Me with their mouths(L)
to honor Me with lip-service[i]—
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship consists of man-made rules
learned by rote—
14 therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.(M)
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,(N)
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.
15 Woe to those who go to great lengths
to hide their plans from the Lord.(O)
They do their works in darkness,
and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”(P)
16 You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?(Q)
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?
17 Isn’t it true that in just a little while
Lebanon will become an orchard,
and the orchard will seem like a forest?(R)
18 On that day the deaf will hear(S)
the words of a document,
and out of a deep darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The humble will have joy
after joy in the Lord,
and the poor people will rejoice(T)
in the Holy One of Israel.(U)
20 For the ruthless one will vanish,
the scorner will disappear,(V)
and all those who lie in wait with evil intent
will be killed—
21 those who, with their speech,
accuse a person of wrongdoing,
who set a trap at the gate for the mediator,
and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.(W)
22 Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham(X) says this about the house of Jacob:
Jacob will no longer be ashamed
and his face will no longer be pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of My hands within his nation,
they will honor My name,
they will honor the Holy One of Jacob(Y)
and stand in awe of the God of Israel.(Z)
24 Those who are confused will gain understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:1 Or Altar Hearth, or Lion of God; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 29:2 Or Altar Hearth, or Lion of God; Hb obscure
- Isaiah 29:5 Lit foreigners
- Isaiah 29:9 LXX, Tg, Vg read Be drunk
- Isaiah 29:9 Tg, Vg read wine; stagger
- Isaiah 29:10 Lit you a spirit of
- Isaiah 29:11 Lit If one gives it to one who knows the document, saying, “Read this, please”
- Isaiah 29:12 Lit who does not know the document, saying, “Read this, please”
- Isaiah 29:13 Lit their mouth and honor Me with its lips
Isaiah 29
International Standard Version
Judgment is Coming to Jerusalem
29 “How terrible it will be for you, Aruel, Aruel,[a]
the city where David encamped!
Year after year,
let your festivals run their cycle.
2 Then I’ll besiege Aruel,[b]
and there will be sorrow and mourning;
she will become to me like an altar fireplace.[c]
3 Then I’ll encamp against you like David,[d]
and I’ll lay siege to you with towers,
raise siege works against you,
4 and you will be brought down.
You will speak from the ground,
and your speech will mumble from the dust.
Your voice will come ghostlike from the ground,
and your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 “But the hordes of your enemies[e]
will become like fine dust,
and the hordes of tyrants like flying chaff.
Then suddenly, in an instant,
6 you will be visited by the Lord of the Heavenly Armies—
with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise,
with a windstorm, a tempest,
and flames from a devouring fire.
7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel,[f]
all that attack her and her fortification[g] and besiege her,
will become like a dream, with its visions in the night—
8 as when a hungry man dreams—
he eats, but wakes up still hungry;
or when a thirsty man dreams—
he drinks, but wakes up faint,
with his thirst unquenched.
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
Blind to God’s Words
9 “Act stupid!
Be astonished!
Act blind,
and be blind!
Be drunk,[h] but not from[i] wine;
stagger around,[j] but not from strong drink.
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep—
he has closed your eyes, you prophets,
he has covered your heads, you seers!”
11 “And this entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book. When people give it to someone who can read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he answers,[k] ‘I cannot, because it is sealed.’ 12 Or when they give the book[l] to someone who cannot read, and say, ‘Read this, please,’ he answers,[m] ‘I don’t know how to read.’”
A Rebuke of Hypocritical Worship
13 Then the Lord said:
“Because these people draw near with their mouths
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me,
worship of me[n] has become
merely like[o] rules taught by human beings.
14 Therefore, watch out!
“As for me,[p] I will once again
do amazing things with this people,
wonder upon wonder.
The wisdom of their wise men will perish,
and the insights[q] of their discerning men will stay hidden.”
A Rebuke to the Deceptive
15 “How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths
to hide your plans from the Lord,
you whose deeds have been[r] done[s] in the dark,
and who say, ‘Who can see us?
Who has recognized[t] us?’
16 He has turned the tables on you[u]—
as if the potter were thought to be like heat.[v]
Can what is made say of the one who made it,
‘He did not make me?’
Or can what is formed say of the ones[w] who formed it,
‘He has no skill?’
17 “In a very little while,
will not Lebanon be turned into a garden of fruit,[x]
and the garden of fruit[y] seem like a forest?
18 On that day the deaf will hear
the words of a scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The humble will again experience joy in the Lord,
and the poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless will vanish,
and mockers will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—
21 those who make a person appear to be the offender in a lawsuit,
who set a trap for someone
who is making his defense in court,[z]
and push aside the innocent
with specious arguments.
22 “Therefore, this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob:
‘No longer will Jacob be ashamed;
no longer will his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees in his midst his children,
the work of my hands,
they will keep my name holy;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Moreover, those who go astray in spirit will gain[aa] understanding,
and those who complain will accept instruction.’”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:1 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Ariel, Ariel; i.e. a nickname assigned by the prophet for Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:2 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Ariel, Ariel; i.e. an allusion to Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:2 Lit. an Ariel; i.e. perhaps a pun on the name Aruel
- Isaiah 29:3 So 4QIsak MTmss LXX; 1QIsaa MT read you on all sides
- Isaiah 29:5 So 1QIsaa; MT reads foreigners; LXX reads the ungodly
- Isaiah 29:7 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read Ariel, Ariel; i.e. an allusion to Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:7 So 1QIsaa; MT reads her mountain stronghold; LXX reads Jerusalem
- Isaiah 29:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads They have become drunk
- Isaiah 29:9 So 1QIsaa LXX; MT lacks from
- Isaiah 29:9 So 1QIsaa; MT reads They stagger around
- Isaiah 29:11 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read he will answer
- Isaiah 29:12 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read the book will be given
- Isaiah 29:12 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read he will answer
- Isaiah 29:13 So 1QIsaa; MT reads Their worship of me
- Isaiah 29:13 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX lack like
- Isaiah 29:14 So 1QIsaa LXX; the Heb. lacks as for me
- Isaiah 29:14 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read insight
- Isaiah 29:15 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read deeds are (or will be)
- Isaiah 29:15 DSS MT lack done
- Isaiah 29:15 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read recognizes
- Isaiah 29:16 So 1QIsaa; MT reads You turn things upside down!
- Isaiah 29:16 I.e. the fire in a kiln; so 1QIsaa; MT LXX read clay
- Isaiah 29:16 So 1QIsaa; MT LXX read one
- Isaiah 29:17 Lit. into Carmel
- Isaiah 29:17 Lit. and Carmel
- Isaiah 29:21 Lit. in the gate
- Isaiah 29:24 Lit. discover
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