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.
Yet I will besiege Ariel;(E)
    she will mourn and lament,(F)
    she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a](G)
I will encamp against you on all sides;
    I will encircle(H) you with towers
    and set up my siege works(I) against you.
Brought 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)

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Footnotes

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

Ariel besieged but spared

29 Oh, Ariel, Ariel,
    town where David encamped!
Year by year, let the festivals come around—
    but I will oppress Ariel.
There will be mourning and lamentation;
    she will be like an Ariel to me.
I will surround you like a wall,
    and I will lay a siege against you with assault towers,
    and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
You will be brought down;
    from the ground you will speak;
    from low in the dust your speech will come.
Your voice will be like a ghost’s from the earth;
    from the dust your words will whisper.

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