29:1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.
29:2 Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.
29:3 I will encamp against you all around; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.
29:4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.
29:5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust, the ruthless hordes like blown chaff. Suddenly, in an instant,
29:6 the LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.
29:7 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night–
29:8 as when a hungry man dreams that he is eating, but he awakens, and his hunger remains; as when a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, but he awakens faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
29:9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
29:10 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
29:11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say to him, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.”
29:12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” he will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
29:13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.
29:14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
29:15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
29:16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pot say of the potter, “He knows nothing”?
29:17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
29:18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
29:19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
29:20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down–
29:21 those who with a word make a man out to be guilty, who ensnare the defender in court and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.
29:22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will their faces grow pale.
29:23 When they see among them their children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
29:24 Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding; those who complain will accept instruction.”
29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, / The city where David camped! / Add year to year; let the feasts run their course.
29:2 But I will distress Ariel, / And she will become mourning and lamentation / And will be like an Ariel to Me.
29:3 And I will encamp in a circle against you, / And will besiege you with palisades, / And will raise up siegeworks against you.
29:4 And you will be brought down; from the ground you will speak, / And your speech will come from low in the dust. / And your voice will be like that of a departed spirit from the ground, / And your speech will twitter from the dust.
29:5 But the multitude of your enemies will be like fine dust, / And the multitude of those who terrorize will be like chaff that passes / away; / And it will happen in an instant, suddenly.
29:6 From Jehovah of hosts you will be visited, / With thunder and earthquake and great noise, / With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of consuming fire.
29:7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, / Even all who fight against her and her stronghold and who distress her, / Will be like a dream, like a vision in the night.
29:8 And as when a hungry man dreams and finds himself eating, / But he awakens and what he desires is not there; / Or as when a thirsty man dreams and finds himself drinking, / But he awakens and is indeed faint and what he desires is far from him; / So will the multitude of all the nations be / That fight against Mount Zion.
29:9 Linger and be astounded, / Blind yourselves and be blind. / They are drunk, but not with wine; / They stagger, but not with liquor.
29:10 For Jehovah has poured out upon you / A spirit of deep sleep / And has shut your eyes, the prophets; / And your heads, the seers, He has covered.
29:11 And all the vision will be to you like the words of a book that has been sealed, which when they give to him who is literate, saying, Please read this, he will say, I am not able to, for it is sealed.
29:12 Then the book will be given to him who is illiterate, saying, Please read this, and he will say, I am illiterate.
29:13 And the Lord said, / Because this people draws near with their mouth, / And with their lips they honor Me, / Yet they remove their heart far from Me, / And their fear for Me / Is a commandment of men merely learned;
29:14 Therefore, indeed, I will once again / Do something wondrous with this people, something wondrously marvelous; / And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, / And the understanding of those who understand will be hidden.
29:15 Woe to those who hide deeply / Their counsel from Jehovah, / And whose deeds are in the dark / And who say, Who sees us? And, Who knows us?
29:16 You turn things upside down! / Shall the potter be considered to be like the clay, / That what is made should say of him who made it, He did not make me, / Or what is formed should say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?
29:17 Is it not yet a little while / Before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, / And the fruitful field will be considered to be a forest.
29:18 And in that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, / And out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see,
29:19 And the afflicted will increase their joy in Jehovah, / And the needy of mankind will exult in the Holy One of Israel.
29:20 For he who terrorizes will cease to be, and the scorner will be consumed, / And all who watch for iniquity will be cut off,
29:21 Those who make a man sin by his words / And ensnare him who judges at the gate / And turn aside the righteous with an empty argument.
29:22 Therefore thus says Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob,
Jacobwill not now be ashamed, / Nor will his face now turn pale;
29:23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, / They will sanctify My name / And sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, / And hold the God of Israel in awe.
29:24 And those who have erred in spirit will come to understand, / And the murmurers will learn teaching.