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Changes Are Coming

17 In just a very short time[a]
Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.[b]
18 At that time[c] the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.[d]
19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight[e] in the Holy One of Israel.[f]
20 For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated[g]
21 those who bear false testimony against a person,[h]
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate[i]
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.[j]

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:17 tn The Hebrew text phrases this as a rhetorical question, “Is it not yet a little, a short [time]?”
  2. Isaiah 29:17 sn The meaning of this verse is debated, but it seems to depict a reversal in fortunes. The mighty forest of Lebanon (symbolic of the proud and powerful; see 2:13; 10:34) will be changed into a common orchard, while the common orchard (symbolic of the oppressed and lowly) will grow into a great forest. See J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:538.
  3. Isaiah 29:18 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
  4. Isaiah 29:18 tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).
  5. Isaiah 29:19 tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).
  6. Isaiah 29:19 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
  7. Isaiah 29:20 tn Heb “and all the watchers of wrong will be cut off.”
  8. Isaiah 29:21 tn Heb “the ones who make a man a sinner with a word.” The Hiphil of חָטָא (khataʾ) here has a delocutive sense: “declare a man sinful/guilty.”
  9. Isaiah 29:21 sn Legal disputes were resolved at the city gate, where the town elders met. See Amos 5:10.
  10. Isaiah 29:21 tn Heb “and deprive by emptiness the innocent.”

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?(A)
18 On that day the deaf shall hear
    the words of a scroll,
and freed from gloom and darkness
    the eyes of the blind shall see.(B)
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.(C)
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—(D)
21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
    who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate
    and undermine justice for the one in the right.(E)

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