Isaiah 29

Isaiah 29

The Siege of Jerusalem

1Woe to Ariel, Ariel,[#vv 9, 13 ; 2 Sam 5.9]

the city where David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the festivals run their round.

2Yet I will oppress Ariel,[#Isa 3.26; Lam 2.5]

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and you shall be to me like an Ariel.

3And like David I will encamp against you;[#Lk 19.43, 44; #29.3 Heb mss Gk: MT like a circle]

I will besiege you with towers

and raise siegeworks against you.

4Then deep from the earth you shall speak;[#Lev 20.6; Deut 18.10, 11; 1 Sam 28.8, 15; 2 Chr 33.6; Isa 8.19]

from low in the dust your words shall come;

your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5But the multitude of your arrogant ones shall be like fine dust[#Isa 17.13, 14; 25.3–5; 30.13; 1 Thess 5.3; #29.5 Q ms Compare Gk: MT strangers]

and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly,

6you will be visited by the Lord of hosts[#Isa 28.2; Mt 24.7; Mk 13.8; Lk 21.11; Rev 11.13, 19; 16.18]

with thunder and earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.

7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,[#Job 20.8; Ps 73.20; Mic 4.11, 12; Zech 12.9]

all that fight against her and her stronghold and who distress her,

shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating[#Isa 54.17]

and wakes up still hungry

or a thirsty person dreams of drinking

and wakes up faint, still thirsty,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

9Be astounded and stunned;[#Isa 51.17, 21, 22]

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk but not from wine;

stagger but not from strong drink!

10For the Lord has poured out upon you[#Ps 69.23; Isa 6.9, 10; Mic 3.6; Rom 11.8]

a spirit of deep sleep;

he has closed your eyes (the prophets)

and covered your heads (the seers).

11The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read with the command, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot, for it is sealed.”[#Isa 8.16; 28.7; Dan 12.4, 9; Mt 13.11]

12And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot read.”

13The Lord said:[#Ezek 33.31; Mt 15.8, 9; Mk 7.6, 7]

Because these people draw near with their mouths

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me

and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote,

14so I will again do[#Jer 8.9; 49.7; Hab 1.5; 1 Cor 1.19]

amazing things with this people,

shocking and amazing.

The wisdom of their wise shall perish,

and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.

15Woe to those who hide a plan too deep for the Lord ,[#Ps 94.7; Isa 30.1; 57.12]

whose deeds are in the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

16You turn things upside down![#Isa 45.9; Jer 18.1–6; Rom 9.19–21]

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?

Shall the thing made say of its maker,

“He did not make me,”

or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

Hope for the Future

17Shall not Lebanon in a very little while[#Isa 32.15]

become a fruitful field

and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?

18On that day the deaf shall hear[#v 11 ; Isa 35.5]

the words of a scroll,

and freed from gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind shall see.

19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord ,[#Isa 61.1; Mt 11.5; Jas 2.5]

and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

20For the tyrant shall be no more,[#v 5 ; Isa 28.14, 22; 59.4]

and the scoffer shall cease to be;

all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—

21those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,[#Prov 28.21; Am 5.10, 12]

who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate

and undermine justice for the one in the right.

22Therefore thus says the Lord , who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:[#Isa 41.8; 45.17; 54.4]

“No longer shall Jacob be ashamed;

no longer shall his face grow pale.

23For when he sees his children,[#Isa 5.16; 8.13; 45.11; 49.20–26]

the work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,[#Isa 28.7]

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

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Published by: National Council of the Churches of Christ