Isaiah 29

Modern

Literal

Woe to David’s City

¹Woe to you, O Ariel,^a

the city of Ariel where David camped!

Year upon year

let your festivals recur.

¹Woe to Ariel, Ariel the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around.

²And I will constrain Ariel,

and there will be mourning and lamentation;

she will be like an altar hearth^a before Me.

²And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; and to Me she will be as Ariel!

³I will camp in a circle around you;

I will besiege you with towers

and set up siege works against you.

³And I will encamp in a circle against you, and I will lay siege against you with a siege-work, and I will raise against you the fortifications.

⁴You will be brought low,

you will speak from the ground,

and out of the dust

your words will be muffled.

Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;

your speech will whisper out of the dust.

⁴And you will be brought low, from the ground you will speak, and from the dust Your speech will be low, and Your voice will be from the ground like a spirit from the dust, and your speech will whisper.

⁵But your many foes will be like fine dust,

the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.

Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁵The multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff passing away; and it will come to pass in an instant, suddenly,

⁶you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts

with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

⁶from YHWH of Hosts you will be visited with thunder and earthquake and a great voice, with storm and tempest and the flame of devouring fire.

⁷All the many nations

going out to battle against Ariel—

even all who war against her,

laying siege and attacking her—

will be like a dream,

like a vision in the night,

⁷And it will come to pass like a dream and a vision of night, and the multitude of all the nations that go out against Ariel—even all those fighting against her and the siegeworks against her, and those pressing on her.

⁸as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,

then awakens still hungry;

as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,

then awakens faint and parched.

So will it be for all the many nations

who go to battle against Mount Zion.

⁸And it will be as when the hungry one dreams and behold, he is eating, and he awakens, and his soul is empty; or as when the thirsty one dreams and behold, he is drinking, and he awakens, and behold, he is faint and his soul is still running about. So will be the multitude of the all nations coming out against Mount Zion.

⁹Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not with wine;

stagger, but not from strong drink.

⁹Pause and be astonished, blind yourselves and be blinded; be drunk, not from wine; stagger, not from strong drink!

¹⁰For the LORD has poured out on you

a spirit of deep sleep.

He has shut your eyes, O prophets;

He has covered your heads, O seers.

¹⁰For YHWH has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and He has closed your eyes, O prophets, and He has covered your heads, O seers.

¹¹And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”

¹¹And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to the one knowing a book, saying, “Read this now! “And he says, I am not able, for it is” sealed.

¹²Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

¹²And the book is given to one who does not know a book, saying, “Read this now! And he says, “I do not know a book.”

¹³Therefore the Lord said:

“These people draw near to Me with their mouths

and honor Me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from Me.

Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.^a

¹³And YHWH says, “Because that this people draws near with its mouth, and honors Me with its lips, and its heart has grown far away from Me, and their reverence toward Me is a commandment taught by men.

¹⁴Therefore I will again confound these people

with wonder upon wonder.

The wisdom of the wise will vanish,

and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”^a

¹⁴Therefore behold, I am adding to do a marvellous work with this people, and by a wonder making wonders, so will perish, the wisdom of its wise, and the understanding of its discerning will be hidden.

¹⁵Woe to those who dig deep

to hide their plans from the LORD.

In darkness they do their works and say,

“Who sees us, and who will know?”

¹⁵Wo to those going deep from YHWH to hide their counsel. And their works are in darkness, and they say, “Who sees us and who knows us?”

¹⁶You have turned things upside down,

as if the potter were regarded as clay.

Shall what is formed say to him who formed it,

“He did not make me”?^a

Can the pottery say of the potter,

“He has no understanding”?

¹⁶You have turned things upside down! Shall the potter be considered like clay? Shall the thing made say of the one making it “He did not make me”? Or the thing formed say of the one forming it “He does not understand”?

Sanctification for the Godly

¹⁷In a very short time,

will not Lebanon become an orchard,

and the orchard seem like a forest?

¹⁷Is it not yet very a little while that Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be considered a forest?

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁸And in that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and from the gloom and from the darkness, the eyes of the blind will see.

¹⁹The humble will increase their joy in the LORD,

and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁹And the lowly will add joy in YHWH, and the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

²⁰For the ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who look for evil

will be cut down—

²⁰For the ruthless one will cease, and the mocking one will disappear, and all those watching for iniquity will be cut down—

²¹those who indict a man with a word,

who ensnare the mediator at the gate,

and who with false charges

deprive the innocent of justice.

²¹those making guilty a man by a word and laying a snare for the one arguing in the gate and stretching aside in confusion the just one.

²²Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed

and no more will his face grow pale.

²²Therefore thus says YHWH, who redeemed Abraham, to the house of Jacob, “Now no more will Jacob be ashamed, and now no more will his face grow pale.

²³For when he sees his children around him,

the work of My hands,

they will honor My name,

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,

and they will stand in awe

of the God of Israel.

²³For in his seeing his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they will sanctify My name and they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel they will fear.

²⁴Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

²⁴And those having gone astray in spirit will know understanding, and those having grumbled, will learn instruction.”