Isaiah 29

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 keeping your feasts, year after year.

Note"Ariel" is another name for Jerusalem. The word can mean the top of an altar, where the fire burns. Verse 2 plays on that 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 sadness. The city will be like the top of an altar, where the fire burns.

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 and walls to shut you in.

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 down low. Your voice will come up out of the ground. Your words will be soft and dusty. You will sound like a ghost whispering from under the dirt.

Note"A familiar spirit" in the King James Version means the spirit of a dead person. The picture is a thin, whispery voice coming from under the ground.

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 against you will become like fine dust. The cruel ones will blow away like bits of dry straw. It will happen all at once, very fast.

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 who leads heaven's armies will come to you. He will come with thunder, shaking ground, and a loud noise. There will be wind, storm, and 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.

7Many nations are coming to fight Ariel. They attack her strong walls and press her hard. But they will all fade away like a dream in the 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. He wakes up, and he is still empty. Or a thirsty man dreams he is drinking. He wakes up weak, and he still wants water. That is how the nations fighting Mount Zion will be.

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 be amazed. Cry out loud, keep crying. These people act drunk, but not from wine. They stumble, but not from strong drink.

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. He has shut the eyes of your prophets, the people who tell what God says. He has covered the heads of the seers, who see God's messages.

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:

11God's whole message has become like words in a sealed scroll. Someone hands it to a man who can read. They say, "Please read this." He says, "I cannot. It is sealed shut."

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

12Then they hand the scroll to a man who never learned to read. They say, "Please read this." He says, "I do not know how."

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 this. These people come near me with their mouths. They say kind words about me with their lips. But their hearts are far away from me. The way they worship me is only rules that people 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 I will do a wonderful thing among these people, wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will be gone. Their clever men will not understand anything.

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 people who hide their plans from the LORD. They do their work in the dark. They say, "Who sees us? Who knows what we do?"

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 turn things upside down. You act as if the clay were the same as the potter, the one who shapes it. Can a pot tell its maker, "You did not make me"? Can a pot say, "My maker does not know anything"?

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?

17It will only be a little while longer. Then the forest of Lebanon will become a garden of trees. And that garden will grow so thick it looks like 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 cannot hear will hear the words of the scroll. People who cannot see will see, even out of deep darkness.

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 more and more glad in the LORD. Poor people 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 man who makes fun of others will be finished. Everyone who looks for a way 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.

21They twist one word to get a man in trouble. They set traps for the judge at the town gate. They tell lies so a good man does not get fair treatment.

NoteIn Bible times, the town gate was where judges listened to people's cases. It worked something like a courtroom.

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 the LORD speaks about the family of Jacob. He is the one who saved Abraham long ago. He says, Jacob will not be ashamed now. His face will not turn white with fear.

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.

23He will look around and see his children, made by my own hands. Then they will treat my name as holy. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in wonder before 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 the wrong way will understand at last. People who grumbled will be glad to be taught.