Isaiah 29
Lexham English Bible
Woe to Jerusalem
29 Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!
Add year to year,
let festivals recur.
2 Yet[a] I will inflict Ariel,
and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.[b]
3 And I will encamp in a circle[c] against you,
and I will lay siege to you with towers[d]
and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4 Then[e] you shall be low;
you shall speak from the earth,
and your words[f] will be low, from dust.
And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,
and your word will whisper from the dust.
5 But[g] the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.
And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.
6 You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great sound,
storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!
And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.
Or[h] as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!
And he wakes up and look, he is faint,
and his inner self is longing for water.
So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be astonished and be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blinded!
They are drunk but[i] not from wine;
they stagger but[j] not from strong drink.
10 For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,
and he has covered your heads, the seers.
11 And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the[k] document, saying, “Read[l] this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who does not know how to read,[m] saying, “Read[n] this now!” he says, “I do not know how to read.”[o]
13 And the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with its mouth,
and with its lips it honors me,
and its heart is far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,
14 therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular
and a spectacle with this spectacular people.
And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”
15 Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,
and their deeds are[p] in a dark place.
And they say, “Who sees us?
And who knows us?”
16 Your perversity!
As if a potter[q] shall be regarded as the clay!
That the product of its maker says,
“He did not make me,”
and the thing made into shape says of its potter,[r]
“He has no understanding.”
Blessing after Punishment
17 In a very little while[s] shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,
and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
18 And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.
19 And the meek have joy after joy[t] in Yahweh,
and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall come to an end.
And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;
21 those who mislead a person into sin with a word
and set a trap for the arbitrator[u] in the gate
and guide away the righteous by emptiness.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
and his face will no longer grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will treat my name as holy,
and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,
and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will acquire[v] understanding,
and those who grumble will learn instruction.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:2 Or “And”
- Isaiah 29:2 Hebrew “Ariel,” which might mean “altar hearth”
- Isaiah 29:3 The Hebrew text literally reads “like the ball”; the LXX supports an emendation to “David”
- Isaiah 29:3 Hebrew “tower”
- Isaiah 29:4 Or “And”
- Isaiah 29:4 Hebrew “word”
- Isaiah 29:5 Or “And”
- Isaiah 29:8 Or “And”
- Isaiah 29:9 Or “and”
- Isaiah 29:9 Or “and”
- Isaiah 29:11 The reading tradition (Qere) has “a” instead of “the”
- Isaiah 29:11 Literally “Call”
- Isaiah 29:12 Literally “know a document”
- Isaiah 29:12 Literally “Call”
- Isaiah 29:12 Literally “know a document”
- Isaiah 29:15 The Hebrew is singular
- Isaiah 29:16 Literally “of the one who creates”
- Isaiah 29:16 Literally “one who creates”
- Isaiah 29:17 Literally “Not still a trifling of time”
- Isaiah 29:19 Literally “shall add joy”
- Isaiah 29:21 Literally “one who argues”
- Isaiah 29:24 Literally “know”
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
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