Isaiah — Chapter 29

“Ah, Ariel,aAriel A poetic name of Jerusalem; cf. 33.7. Ariel,City where David camped!Add year to year,Let festivals come in their cycles!

And I will harass Ariel,And there shall be sorrow and sighing.She shall be to Me like Ariel.bShe shall be to Me like Ariel Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

And I will camp against you round about;cround about Meaning of Heb. uncertain. Septuagint reads “like David”; cf. v. 1. I will lay siege to you with a mound,dwith a mound Meaning of Heb. uncertain. And I will set up siegeworks against you.

And you shall speak from lower than the ground,Your speech shall be humbler than the sod;Your speech shall sound like a ghost’s from the ground,Your voice shall chirp from the sod.

And like fine dust shall beThe multitude of your strangers;eyour strangers Manuscript 1QIsᵃ reads “those insolent toward you.” And like flying chaff,The multitude of tyrants.”And suddenly, in an instant,

She shall be remembered of GOD of HostsWith roaring, and shaking, and deafening noise,Storm, and tempest, and blaze of consuming fire.

Then, like a dream, a vision of the night,Shall be the multitude of nationsThat war upon Ariel,And all her besiegers, and the siegeworks against her,And those who harass her.

Like someone hungry who dreams of eating,But wakes up still hungry;And like someone thirsty who dreams of drinking,But wakes faintAnd utterly parched—So shall be all the multitude of nationsThat war upon Mount Zion.

Act stupid and be stupefied!Act blind and be blinded!(They are drunk, but not from wine,They stagger, but not from liquor.)

For GOD has spread over youA spirit of deep sleep,And has shut your eyes, the prophets,And covered your heads, the seers;

So that all prophecy has been to youLike the words of a sealed document.If it is handed to one who can read with a request to read it, the response will be, “I can’t, because it is sealed”;

and if the document is handed with the same request to one who cannot read, the response will be, “I can’t read.”

My Sovereign said:Because that people has approached [Me] with its mouthAnd honored Me with its lips,But has kept its heart far from Me,And its worship of Me has beenA social obligation,fsocial obligation Lit. “commandment of men.” learned by rote—

Truly, I shall further baffle that peopleWith bafflement upon bafflement;And the wisdom of its wise shall fail,And the prudence of its prudent shall vanish.

Ha! Those who would hide their plansDeep from GOD!Who do their work in dark placesAnd say, “Who sees us, who takes note of us?”

How perverse of you!Should the potter be accounted as the clay?gHow perverse of you! / Should the potter be accounted as the clay? Meaning of first line uncertain; emendation yields “Should the potter be accounted / Like the jugs or like the clay?” Should what is made say of its Maker,“This One did not make me,”And what is formed say of the One who formed it,“That One did not understand”?hThat One did not understand Emendation yields “That One did not fashion me.”

Surely, in a little while,Lebanon will be transformed into farmland,And farmland accounted as mere brush.

In that day, the deaf shall hear even written words,And the eyes of the blind shall seeEven in darkness and obscurity.

Then the humble shall have increasing joy through GOD,And the neediest of people shall exultIn the Holy One of Israel.

For the tyrant shall be no more,The scoffer shall cease to be;And those diligent for evil shall be wiped out,

Who cause people to lose their lawsuits,Laying a snare for the arbiter at the gate,And wronging by falsehoodOne who was in the right.

Assuredly, thus said GOD to the House of Jacob, Who redeemed Abraham:iWho redeemed Abraham Emendation yields “Whose fathers were redeemed.” No more shall Jacob be shamed,No longer his face grow pale.

For when he—that is, his progeny—behold what My hands have wrought in his midst, they will hallow My name.They will hallow the Holy One of JacobAnd stand in awe of the God of Israel.

And the confused shall acquire insightAnd grumblers accept instruction.