Isaiah 29

Woe to Jerusalem

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

Add year to year,
- let festivals recur.
2 Yet[fn] I will inflict Ariel,
- and there shall be mourning and lamentation,
- and it shall be to me like an altar hearth.[fn]
3 And I will encamp in a circle[fn] against you,
- and I will lay siege to you with towers[fn]
- and I will raise up siegeworks against you.
4 Then[fn] you shall be low;
- you shall speak from the earth,
- and your words[fn] will be low, from dust.
And your voice will be from the earth, like a ghost,
- and your word will whisper from the dust.
5 But[fn] the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust,
- and the multitude of tyrants like chaff that passes by.

And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.

6 You will be punished by Yahweh of hosts

with thunder and earthquake and great sound,
- storm wind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,
- all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
  - and those who inflict her shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 And it shall be as when the hungry person dreams—look, he is eating!
- And he wakes up and his inner self is empty.
Or[fn] as when the thirsty person dreams—look, he is drinking!
- And he wakes up and look, he is faint,
- and his inner self is longing for water.
So shall be the multitude of all the nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be astonished and be amazed!
- Blind yourselves and be blinded!
They are drunk but[fn] not from wine;
- they stagger but[fn] not from strong drink.
10 For Yahweh has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep,
- and he has shut your eyes, the prophets,
- and he has covered your heads, the seers.

11 And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the[fn] document, saying, “⌊Read⌋[fn] this now!” He says, “I am not able, for it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who does not ⌊know how to read⌋,[fn] saying, “⌊Read⌋[fn] this now!” he says, “I do not ⌊know how to read⌋.”[fn]

13 And the Lord said,

“Because this people draw near with its mouth,
- and with its lips it honors me,
and its heart is far from me,
- and their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught,

14 therefore look, I am again doing something spectacular

and a spectacle with this spectacular people.
And the wisdom of its wise men shall perish,
- and the discernment of its discerning ones shall keep itself hidden.”
15 Ah! Those who make a plan deep, to hide it from Yahweh,
- and their deeds are[fn] in a dark place.
And they say, “Who sees us?
- And who knows us?”
16 Your perversity!
- As if a potter[fn] shall be regarded as the clay!
That the product of its maker says,
- “He did not make me,”
and the thing made into shape says of its potter ,[fn]
- “He has no understanding.”

Blessing after Punishment

17 In a very little while[fn] shall not Lebanon change into a fruitful land,
- and the fruitful land be regarded as a forest?
18 And on that day, the deaf shall hear the words of a scroll,
- and the eyes of the blind shall see out of gloom and darkness.
19 And the meek have joy after joy[fn] in Yahweh,
- and the needy of the people shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
- and the scoffer shall come to an end.
And all those lying in wait for evil shall be cut off;
- 21 those who mislead a person into sin with a word
and set a trap for the arbitrator[fn] in the gate
- and guide away the righteous by emptiness.

22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says this to the house of Jacob:

“Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
- and his face will no longer grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
- the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will treat my name as holy,
- and they will treat the holy one of Jacob as holy,
- and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will acquire[fn] understanding,
- and those who grumble will learn instruction.

29:1 Or “And”

29:1 Hebrew “Ariel,” which might mean “altar hearth”

29:1 The Hebrew text literally reads “like the ball”; the LXX supports an emendation to “David”

29:1 Hebrew “tower”

29:1 Or “And”

29:1 Hebrew “word”

29:1 Or “And”

29:6 Or “And”

29:6 Or “and”

29:11 The reading tradition (Qere) has “a” instead of “the”

29:11 Literally “Call”

29:12 Literally “know a document”

29:12 Literally “Call”

29:12 Literally “know a document”

29:14 The Hebrew is singular

29:14 Literally “of the one who creates”

29:14 Literally “one who creates”

29:14 Literally “Not still a trifling of time”

29:14 Literally “shall add joy”

29:14 Literally “one who argues”

29:22 Literally “know”

LEB ISA Chapter 29