Isaiah, 29

1. Woe, Ariel, Ariel, city where David encamped. Let year after year pass, let the feasts make their full round,

1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

2. then I shall inflict trouble on Ariel, and there will be sighing and sobbing, and I shall make it truly Ariel.

2. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

3. I shall encamp all round you, I shall lay siege to you and mount siege-works against you.

3. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.

4. You will be laid low, will speak from the underworld, your words will rise like a murmur from the dust. Your voice from the earth will be like a ghost's, it will whisper as though coming from the dust.

4. And thou shalt be brought down, [and] shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

5. The horde of your enemies will be like fine dust, the horde of the warriors like flying chaff. And suddenly, in an instant,

5. Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones [shall be] as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

6. you will be visited by Yahweh Sabaoth with thunder, earthquake, mighty din, hurricane, tempest, flame of devouring fire.

6. Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

7. It will be like a dream, like a vision at night: the horde of all the nations at war with Ariel, all those fighting, besieging and troubling it.

7. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

8. It will be like the dream of a hungry man: he eats, then wakes up with an empty belly; or like the dream of a thirsty man: he drinks, then wakes up exhausted with a parched throat. So will it be with the horde of all the nations making war on Mount Zion.

8. It shall even be as when an hungry [man] dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

9. Be stupefied and stunned, go blind, unseeing, drunk but not on wine, staggering but not through liquor.

9. Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

10. For Yahweh has infused you with a spirit of lethargy, he has closed your eyes (the prophets), he has veiled your heads (the seers).

10. For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

11. For to you every vision has become like the words of a sealed book. You give it to someone able to read and say, 'Read that.' He replies, 'I cannot, because it is sealed.'

11. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it [is] sealed:

12. You then give the book to someone who cannot read, and say, 'Read that.' He replies, 'I cannot read.'

12. And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

13. The Lord then said: Because this people approaches me only in words, honours me only with lip-service while their hearts are far from me, and reverence for me, as far as they are concerned, is nothing but human commandment, a lesson memorised,

13. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

14. very well, I shall have to go on astounding this people with prodigies and wonders: for the wisdom of its wise men is doomed, the understanding of any who understand will vanish.

14. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.

15. Woe to those who burrow down to conceal their plans from Yahweh, who scheme in the dark and say, 'Who can see us? Who knows who we are?'

15. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

16. How perverse you are! Is the potter no better than the clay? Something that was made, can it say of its maker, 'He did not make me'? Or a pot say of the potter, 'He does not know his job'?

16. Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

17. Is it not true that in a very short time the Lebanon will become productive ground, so productive you might take it for a forest?

17. [Is] it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

18. That day the deaf will hear the words of the book and, delivered from shadow and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see.

18. And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

19. The lowly will find ever more joy in Yahweh and the poorest of people will delight in the Holy One of Israel;

19. The meek also shall increase [their] joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20. for the tyrant will be no more, the scoffer has vanished and all those on the look-out for evil have been destroyed:

20. For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

21. those who incriminate others by their words, those who lay traps for the arbitrator at the gate and groundlessly deprive the upright of fair judgement.

21. That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

22. That is why Yahweh, God of the House of Jacob, Abraham's redeemer, says this, 'No longer shall Jacob be disappointed, no more shall his face grow pale,

22. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

23. for when he sees his children, my creatures, home again with him, he will acknowledge my name as holy, he will acknowledge the Holy One of Jacob to be holy and will hold the God of Israel in awe.

23. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

24. Erring spirits will learn to understand and murmurers accept instruction.'

24. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.