Isaiah, 29

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

1. Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.

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 moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.

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

3. And I will encamp against you round about, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.

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. Then deep from the earth you shall speak, 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.

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. But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,

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

6. you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a 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, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

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. As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, 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. Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; 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 has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.

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 this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "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 when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."

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. And the Lord said: "Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men learned by rote;

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 again do marvelous things with this people, wonderful and marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning 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 to those who hide deep from the LORD their counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows 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. You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay; that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has 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 until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded 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. In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.

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 shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall exult 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 ruthless shall come to nought and the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be 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. who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

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 says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow 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. For when he sees his children, 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.

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

24. And those who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who murmur will accept instruction."