Isaiah 29:1-4

New International Reader's Version

29 Jerusalem, how terrible it will be for you!
    Ariel, you are the city where David made his home.
The years will come and go.
    Keep on celebrating your regular feasts.
² The Lord says, “Ariel, I will surround you.
    Jerusalem, I will get ready to attack you.
Your people will mourn.
    They will sing songs of sadness.
I will make you like the front of an altar
    covered with blood.
³ I will be like an army camped against you on all sides.
    I will surround you with towers in order to attack you.
    I will build my ramps all around you and set up my ladders.
⁴ You will be brought down to the grave.
    You will speak from deep down inside the ground.
    Your words will be barely heard out of the dust.
Your voice will sound like the voice of a ghost
    coming from under the ground.
    Your words will sound like a whisper out of the dust.”