Isaiah 29
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
The Siege of Jerusalem
29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the festivals run their round.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and Jerusalem[a] shall be to me like an Ariel.[b]
3 And like David[c] I will encamp against you;
I will besiege you with towers
and raise siege-works against you.
4 Then deep from the earth you shall speak,
from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5 But the multitude of your foes[d] shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating
and wakes up still hungry,
or a thirsty person dreams of drinking
and wakes up faint, still thirsty,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not from wine;
stagger, 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,
and covered your heads, you seers.
11 The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read, with the command, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot, for it is sealed.’ 12 And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot read.’
13 The Lord said:
Because these people draw near with their mouths
and honour me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote;
14 so I will again do
amazing things with this people,
shocking and amazing.
The wisdom of their wise shall perish,
and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.
15 Ha! You who hide a plan too deep for the Lord,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows us?’
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?
Shall the thing made say of its maker,
‘He did not make me’;
or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,
‘He has no understanding’?
Hope for the Future
17 Shall not Lebanon in a very little while
become a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?
18 On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—
21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate,
and without grounds deny justice to the one in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
No longer shall Jacob be ashamed,
no longer shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:2 Heb she
- Isaiah 29:2 Probable meaning, altar hearth; compare Ezek 43.15
- Isaiah 29:3 Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 29:5 Cn: Heb strangers
Isaiah 29
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
29 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end.
2 And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel.
3 And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.
4 Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.
5 And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.
6 And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it.
8 And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.
9 Be astonished, and wander, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.
10 For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.
11 And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.
12 And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.
13 And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:
14 Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
15 Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?
16 This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel shall be esteemed as a forest?
18 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut off that watched for iniquity:
21 That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and declined in vain from the just.
22 Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:
23 But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God of Israel:
24 And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall learn the law.
Isaías 29
Reina-Valera Antigua
29 AY de Ariel, ciudad donde habitó David! Añadid un año á otro, mátense víctimas.
2 Mas yo pondré á Ariel en apretura, y será desconsolada y triste; y será á mí como Ariel.
3 Porque asentaré campo contra ti en derredor, y te combatiré con ingenios, y levantaré contra ti baluartes.
4 Entonces serás humillada, hablarás desde la tierra, y tu habla saldrá del polvo; y será tu voz de la tierra como de pythón, y tu habla susurrará desde el polvo.
5 Y la muchedumbre de tus extranjeros será como polvo menudo, y la multitud de los fuertes como tamo que pasa; y será repentinamente, en un momento.
6 De Jehová de los ejércitos serás visitada con truenos y con terremotos y con gran ruido, con torbellino y tempestad, y llama de fuego consumidor.
7 Y será como sueño de visión nocturna la multitud de todas las gentes que pelearán contra Ariel, y todos los que pelearán contra ella y sus ingenios, y los que la pondrán en apretura.
8 Y será como el que tiene hambre y sueña, y parece que come; mas cuando despierta, su alma está vacía; ó como el que tiene sed y sueña, y parece que bebe; mas cuando se despierta, hállase cansado, y su alma sedienta: así será la multitud de todas las gentes que pelearán contra el monte de Sión.
9 Deteneos y maravillaos; ofuscaos y cegad; embriagaos, y no de vino; titubead, y no de sidra.
10 Porque Jehová extendió sobre vosotros espíritu de sueño, y cerró vuestros ojos: cubrió vuestros profetas, y vuestros principales videntes.
11 Y os será toda visión como palabras de libro sellado, el cual si dieren al que sabe leer, y le dijeren: Lee ahora esto; él dirá: No puedo, porque está sellado.
12 Y si se diere el libro al que no sabe leer, diciéndole: Lee ahora esto; él dira: No sé leer.
13 Dice pues el Señor: Porque este pueblo se me acerca con su boca, y con sus labios me honra, mas su corazón alejó de mí, y su temor para conmigo fué enseñado por mandamiento de hombres:
14 Por tanto, he aquí que nuevamente excitaré yo la admiración de este pueblo con un prodigio grande y espantoso; porque perecerá la sabiduría de sus sabios, y se desvanecerá la prudencia de sus prudentes.
15 Ay de los que se esconden de Jehová, encubriendo el consejo, y sus obras son en tinieblas, y dicen: ¿Quién nos ve, y quién nos conoce?
16 Vuestra subversión ciertamente será reputada como el barro del alfarero. ¿La obra dirá de su hacedor, No me hizo; y dirá el vaso de aquel que lo ha formado, No entendió?
17 ¿No será tornado de aquí á muy poco tiempo el Líbano en Carmelo, y el Carmelo será estimado por bosque?
18 Y en aquel tiempo los sordos oirán las palabras del libro, y los ojos de los ciegos verán en medio de la oscuridad y de las tinieblas.
19 Entonces los humildes crecerán en alegría en Jehová, y los pobres de los hombres se gozarán en el Santo de Israel.
20 Porque el violento será acabado, y el escarnecedor será consumido: serán talados todos los que madrugaban á la iniquidad.
21 Los que hacían pecar al hombre en palabra; los que armaban lazo al que reprendía en la puerta, y torcieron lo justo en vanidad.
22 Por tanto, Jehová que redimió á Abraham, dice así á la casa de Jacob: No será ahora confundido Jacob, ni su rostro se pondrá pálido;
23 Porque verá á sus hijos, obra de mis manos en medio de sí, que santificarán mi nombre; y santificarán al Santo de Jacob, y temerán al Dios de Israel.
24 Y los errados de espíritu aprenderán inteligencia, y los murmuradores aprenderán doctrina.
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