Isaiah, 29

1. Woe to Ariel - Ariel, the city against which David encamped! After a year or two, after the feasts have made their full round,

2. I will lay siege on Ariel and there will be grief and mourning. To me she will be like an Ariel.

3. I will send warriors against you; they will encircle you with outposts and raise siegeworks against you.

4. Thrown down, you will speak from the ground: from the dust your words will come muffled, your voice will rise as a ghost's, your speech will be a whisper in the dust. But in a flash,

5. the horde of your enemies will be like dust, the horde of tyrants, flying chaff.

6. For suddenly, Yahweh Sabaoth will come with thunder, earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and thunderstorm and flames of consuming fire.

7. The hordes of all nations that fight against Ariel, that attack and besiege her fortress, will vanish like a dream, like a vision in the night.

8. As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakens with an empty stomach, or when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakens with a parched throat, so will the horde of nations be that make war against Zion.

9. Be irresolute, be stupefied, lose your sight and remain blind! Be drunk but not from wine, stagger but not from beer.

10. For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep; he has shut your eyes - the prophets; he has covered your heads - the seers.

11. The revelation of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed scroll. When someone gives it to another who knows how to read and says, "Read this," the other one answers, "I cannot; it is sealed."

12. When the scroll is given to one who doesn't know how to read," he answers, "I do not know."

13. Yahweh has said; "These people approach me in words; they honor me with lip-service, while their hearts stay afar. The worship they offer me is useless, these are no more than traditions and human rules.

14. Because of this I will surprise them once more; the wisdom of the wise will be useless and the understanding of their prudent men will be at a loss.

15. Woe to those who hide deep from Yahweh their plans, who work in the dark and say, "Who will know, and who will see us?"

16. You turn things upside down, as though the potter were the clay, and of him it could say, "He did not make me; he knows nothing."

17. In a very short time, Lebanon will become a fruitful field and the fruitful field will be as a forest.

18. On that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of the dark and obscurity the eyes of the blind will see.

19. The meek will find joy and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20. For the tyrant will be no more and the scoffers gone forever, and all who plan to do evil will be cut down -

21. those who by a word make a man guilty, those who for a bribe can lay a snare and send home the just empty-handed.

22. Therefore Yahweh, Abraham's redeemer, speaks concerning the people of Jacob: No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale.

23. When he sees the work of my hands, his children again in his midst, they will sanctify my name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24. Those who err in spirit will understand; those who murmur will learn.