Isaiah

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

1Trouble is coming to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David once camped! Go on adding year to year. Let your feasts and sacrifices keep going.

NoteAriel is Isaiah's name for Jerusalem. The word can mean "lion of God," and it also sounds like the word for the hearth of an altar, the spot where the fire burns. Verse 2 plays on that second meaning.

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

2But I will press hard on Ariel. There will be crying and grief. The city will become like an altar hearth to me, a place of fire.

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

3I will set up camp all around you. I will build towers to surround you and pile up dirt ramps against your walls.

4And 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.

4You will be brought low. You will speak from the ground, and your words will be muffled by the dust. Your voice will rise from the earth like a ghost, and your speech will only whisper out of the dust.

Note"As of one that hath a familiar spirit" in the KJV means a voice like a spirit of the dead, thin and coming from underground.

5Moreover 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.

5But the crowd of enemies attacking you will blow away like fine dust. The mob of cruel men will scatter like chaff in the wind. It will happen suddenly, in a single moment.

6Thou 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.

6The LORD of Armies himself will come to you with thunder, an earthquake, and a great roar, with windstorm and violent weather and flames of burning fire.

7And 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.

7All those nations that go to war against Ariel, everyone who attacks her walls and presses her hard, will fade like a dream, like something seen at night.

8It 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.

8It will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating, then wakes up still empty. Or a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking, then wakes up weak and still thirsty. That is how it will go for all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

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

9Stop and stare in shock. Cry out until you cannot see. These people stagger like drunks, but not from wine. They cannot walk straight, but no strong drink did it.

10For 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.

10The LORD has poured a deep sleep over you and shut your eyes. He has covered the heads of your prophets and your seers, the men who were supposed to see.

11And 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:

11So the whole vision has become like words in a scroll that is sealed shut. Hand it to someone who can read and say, "Please read this," and he answers, "I can't. It is sealed."

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

12Hand the scroll to someone who never learned to read and say, "Please read this," and he answers, "I don't know how to read."

13Wherefore 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:

13So the Lord said: These people come close to me with their mouths. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from me. The respect they show me is just a set of rules that men taught them.

14Therefore, 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.

14So watch: I will keep doing amazing things among these people, wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will disappear, and the smartest minds will lose their understanding.

15Woe 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?

15Trouble is coming to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their work in the dark and say, "Who sees us? Who will ever know?"

16Surely 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?

16You have things completely backwards, as if the potter were no different from his clay. Does something say to the one who made it, "He did not make me"? Does a pot say of the potter, "He has no idea what he is doing"?

17Is 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?

17In just a little while, won't the forest of Lebanon turn into farmland, and won't the farmland grow thick as a forest?

18And 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.

18On that day people who could not hear will hear the words of the scroll. Eyes that were blind will see, out of the gloom and the dark.

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

19Humble people will be happier than ever in the LORD. The poor will be full of joy in the Holy One of Israel.

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

20The cruel man will be gone. The one who sneers at everything will be finished. Everyone who watches for a chance to do wrong will be cut off.

21That 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.

21These are the people who twist one word to make a man guilty. They set traps for the person who speaks up for what is right at the city gate. With empty lies they cheat an innocent man out of justice.

NoteThe city gate was where townspeople held trials and settled arguments, so "him that reproveth in the gate" means the person standing up for justice in court.

22Therefore 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.

22So this is what the LORD says about the family of Jacob, the LORD who rescued Abraham: Jacob will not be ashamed anymore. His face will not turn pale with fear again.

23But 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.

23When he sees his children among him, made by my own hands, they will treat my name as holy. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

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

24People whose thinking went wrong will come to understand. People who grumbled and complained will accept being taught.