Isaiah 29

Isaiah 28 Isaiah 30

Isaiah 29New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Jerusalem Is Warned

29 Woe, O ^[a]Ariel, ^[b]Ariel the city where David once camped!
Add year to year, ^[c]observe your feasts on schedule.
²I will bring distress to Ariel,
And she will be a city of lamenting and mourning;
And she will be like an Ariel to me.
³I will camp against you ^[d]encircling you,
And I will set siegeworks against you,
And I will raise up battle towers against you.
⁴Then you will be brought low;
From the earth you will speak,
And from the dust where you are prostrate
Your words will come.
Your voice will also be like that of a ^[e]spirit from the ground,
And your speech will whisper from the dust.

⁵But the multitude of your ^[f]enemies will become like fine dust,
And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which ^[g]blows away;
And it will happen instantly, suddenly.
⁶From the Lord of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,
With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.
⁷And the multitude of all the nations who wage war against ^[h]Ariel,
Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸It will be as when a hungry man dreams—
And behold, he is eating;
But when he awakens, his ^[i]hunger is not satisfied,
Or as when a thirsty man dreams—
And behold, he is drinking,
But when he awakens, behold, he is faint
And his ^[j]thirst is not quenched.
Thus the multitude of all the nations will be
Who wage war against Mount Zion.

⁹Be delayed and wait,
Blind yourselves and be blind;
They become drunk, but not with wine,
They stagger, but not with strong drink.
¹⁰For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep,
He has shut your eyes, the prophets;
And He has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed ^[k]book, which when they give it to the one who ^[l]is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²Then the ^[m]book will be given to the one who ^[n]is illiterate, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I ^[o]cannot read.”

¹³Then the Lord said,

“Because this people draw near with their ^[p]words
And honor Me with their ^[q]lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their ^[r]reverence for Me ^[s]consists of ^[t]tradition learned by rote,
¹⁴Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;
And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,
And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.”

¹⁵Woe to those who deeply hide their ^[u]plans from the Lord,
And whose deeds are done in a dark place,
And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”
¹⁶You turn things around!
Shall the potter be considered ^[v]as equal with the clay,
That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;
Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

Blessing after Discipline

¹⁷Is it not yet just a little while
^[w]Before Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,
And the fertile field will be considered as a forest?
¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear words of a book,
And out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
¹⁹The afflicted also will increase their gladness in the Lord,
And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
²⁰For the ruthless will come to an end and the scorner will be finished,
Indeed all who ^[x]are intent on doing evil will be cut off;
²¹Who ^[y]cause a person to be indicted by a word,
And ensnare him who adjudicates at the gate,
And ^[z]defraud the one in the right with ^[aa]meaningless arguments.

²²Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now turn pale;
²³But when ^[ab]he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,
They will sanctify My name;
Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
²⁴“Those who err in ^[ac]mind will know ^[ad]the truth,
And those who ^[ae]criticize will ^[af]accept instruction.