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.

Woe to Jerusalem

29 Ah! Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped!

Add year to year,
    let festivals recur.
Yet[a] I will inflict Ariel,
    and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
    and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.[b]
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.
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.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:2 Or “And”
  2. Isaiah 29:2 Hebrew “Ariel,” which might mean “altar hearth”
  3. Isaiah 29:3 The Hebrew text literally reads “like the ball”; the LXX supports an emendation to “David”
  4. Isaiah 29:3 Hebrew “tower”
  5. Isaiah 29:4 Or “And”
  6. Isaiah 29:4 Hebrew “word”