Isaiah 29:1-12

New International Version

Woe to David’s City

29 Woe^(A) to you, Ariel, Ariel,^(B)
    the city^(C) where David settled!
Add year to year
    and let your cycle of festivals^(D) go on.
²Yet I will besiege Ariel;^(E)
    she will mourn and lament,^(F)
    she will be to me like an altar hearth.^[a]^(G)
³I will encamp against you on all sides;
    I will encircle^(H) you with towers
    and set up my siege works^(I) against you.
⁴Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
    your speech will mumble^(J) out of the dust.^(K)
Your voice will come ghostlike^(L) from the earth;
    out of the dust your speech will whisper.^(M)

⁵But your many enemies will become like fine dust,^(N)
    the ruthless^(O) hordes like blown chaff.^(P)
Suddenly,^(Q) in an instant,
⁶    the Lord Almighty will come^(R)
with thunder^(S) and earthquake^(T) and great noise,
    with windstorm and tempest^(U) and flames of a devouring fire.^(V)
⁷Then the hordes of all the nations^(W) that fight against Ariel,^(X)
    that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,^(Y)
    with a vision in the night—
⁸as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
    but awakens^(Z) hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
    but awakens faint and thirsty still.^(AA)
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
    that fight against Mount Zion.^(AB)

⁹Be stunned and amazed,^(AC)
    blind yourselves and be sightless;^(AD)
be drunk,^(AE) but not from wine,^(AF)
    stagger,^(AG) but not from beer.
¹⁰The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:^(AH)
    He has sealed your eyes^(AI) (the prophets);^(AJ)
    he has covered your heads (the seers).^(AK)

¹¹For you this whole vision^(AL) is nothing but words sealed^(AM) in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” ¹²Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.

Romans 2:1-16

New International Version

God’s Righteous Judgment

2 You, therefore, have no excuse,^(A) you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.^(B) ²Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. ³So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ⁴Or do you show contempt for the riches^(C) of his kindness,^(D) forbearance^(E) and patience,^(F) not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?^(G)

⁵But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath^(H), when his righteous judgment^(I) will be revealed. ⁶God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”^[a]^(J) ⁷To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor^(K) and immortality,^(L) he will give eternal life.^(M) ⁸But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil,^(N) there will be wrath and anger.^(O) ⁹There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil:^(P) first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;^(Q) ¹⁰but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.^(R) ¹¹For God does not show favoritism.^(S)

¹²All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law^(T) will be judged by the law. ¹³For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey^(U) the law who will be declared righteous. ¹⁴(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law,^(V) they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) ¹⁶This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets^(W) through Jesus Christ,^(X) as my gospel^(Y) declares.