Isaiah 29

1 [This is a message from Yahweh: ] Terrible things will happen to Jerusalem, the city where [King] David lived. You people continue to celebrate your festivals each year.

Tragedy is coming to you Ariel, Ariel the city where David lived! Year after year you have your festivals.

2 But I will cause you to experience a great disaster, [and when that happens], people will weep and lament [very much]. Your city will become like [MET] an altar [to me] [where people are burned as sacrifices].

But I'm going to cause trouble for Ariel; the city will cry and mourn, it will be like an altar hearth to me.

3 I will cause your enemies [to come to your city]; they will surround it by [building] towers and putting in place other things with which to attack you.

I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you.

4 Then you will talk [as though you were] buried deep in the ground [DOU]; it will sound like someone whispering from under the ground, like [SIM] a ghost speaking from a grave.

You will be brought down, you will speak from where you're lying on the ground, mumbling in the dust. Your words will come like a ghost from the grave; your voice will be a whisper from the dust.

5 But, suddenly your enemies will be blown away like dust; their armies will disappear like [SIM] chaff that is blown away [by the wind]. [It will happen] very suddenly.

But then all your enemies will become like fine dust; all your cruel oppressors like chaff that's blown away. Then suddenly, in no time at all,

6 The Commander of the armies of angels will come [to help you] with thunder and an earthquake and a very loud noise, with a strong wind and a big storm and a fire that will burn up everything.

the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up.

7 [Then] the armies of all the nations that will be attacking Jerusalem will quickly disappear like a dream in the night [DOU]. Those who will be attacking Jerusalem will suddenly vanish/disappear.

The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream!

8 People who are asleep dream about eating food, [but] when they wake up, they are still hungry. People who are thirsty dream about drinking something, [but] when they wake up they are still thirsty. It will be like that when your enemies come to attack Zion Hill; [they will dream about conquering you, but when they wake up, ] [they will realize that they have not succeeded].

It will be like someone hungry dreaming that they're eating but who wakes up still hungry. It will be like someone thirsty dreaming of drinking but who wakes up still weak and thirsty. This is what it will be like for all your enemies, the ones attacking Mount Zion.

9 You [people of Jerusalem], be amazed and surprised [about this] [IRO]! Do not believe [what I have said] [SAR]! And continue to be blind [IRO] [about what Yahweh is doing]. You are stupid, but it is not because you have drunk a lot of wine. You stagger, but not from drinking alcoholic drinks.

Be shocked and amazed! Make yourselves blind so you can't see! Get drunk, but not from wine! Stagger around, but not from beer!

10 Because Yahweh has prevented the prophets [DOU] from understanding [and telling you his messages], [it is as though] he has caused you to be fast/deeply asleep.

For the Lord has made you very sleepy, and he has shut the eyes and covered the heads of those who speak for God and see visions.

11 [Yahweh gave me] this vision; [but] for you, it is only words on a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to those who can read [and request that they read it], they will say, “We cannot read it because the scroll is sealed.”

This entire vision is like words in a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to someone who knows how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I can't read it because it's sealed shut.”

12 When you give it to [others] who cannot read, they will say, “[We cannot read it because] we do not know how to read.”

If you give it to someone who doesn't know how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I don't know how to read.”

13 [So] the Lord says, “These people say that they belong to me. They honor me by what they say [MTY], but they do not think [IDM] about what I [desire]. When they worship me, all they do is recite rules that people have made and that they have memorized.

The Lord says, “These people come and praise me with their words, and honor me with lip service, but their thoughts are miles away. Their worship of me only consists of them following rules people have taught them.

14 Therefore, again I will do something to amaze these people; I will perform many miracles. And [I will show that] the people [who tell others that they] are wise are not really wise, and [I will show that] the people [who tell others that they] are intelligent are not really intelligent.

So once again I will surprise these people with miracle upon miracle. The wisdom of the wise will die, and the insight of the insightful will disappear.”

15 Terrible things will happen to those who try to conceal from me, Yahweh, the [evil] things that they plan to do; they do those things in the darkness and they think, ‘Yahweh certainly cannot [RHQ] see us; he cannot [RHQ] know what we are doing!’

Tragedy is coming to people who take such trouble to hide their plans from the Lord. They work in the dark and say to themselves, “Nobody can see us, can they? Nobody will know, will they?”

16 They are extremely foolish! [They act as though] they were the potters and I was the clay! Something that was created should certainly never [RHQ] say to the one who made it, ‘You did not make me!’ A jar should never say, ‘The potter who made me did not know what he was doing!’”

How perverse you are! It's as if the clay was thought of as making the potter! Should something made say to its maker, “You didn't make me”? Can the pot tell the potter, “You don't understand anything”?

17 Soon [the forests in] Lebanon will become fertile fields, and abundant crops will grow in those fields, and that will happen very soon.

It won't be long and the forests of Lebanon will be turned into a productive field, and a productive field will seem like a forest.

18 At that time, deaf people will [be able to hear]; [they will be able to] hear when someone reads from a book; and blind people will [be able to see]; [they will be able to] see things when it is gloomy and [even] when it is dark.

At that time the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and the eyes of the blind will see through the gloomy darkness what's written there.

19 Yahweh will enable humble people to be very joyful again. Poor people will rejoice about what the Holy One of Israel [has done].

The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.

20 There will be no more people who ridicule [others] and no more arrogant people. And those who plan to do evil things will be executed.

Cruel people will no longer exist, the scornful will vanish, and those looking to do evil will be destroyed—

21 Those who testify falsely in order to persuade judges to punish innocent people will vanish/disappear. Similar things will happen to those who by lying in court [persuade judges to] make unjust decisions.

those who say things to trick others into sin, those who trap people by legal arguments in court, those who lie to mislead the innocent.

22 That is why Yahweh, who rescued Abraham, says about the people of Israel, “My people will no longer be ashamed; no longer will they show on their faces that they are ashamed.

So this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “You don't need to be ashamed anymore; your faces won't grow pale with fright any longer.

23 When they see that I have blessed them by giving them many children and doing many other things for them, they will realize that I am the Holy One of Israel, and they will revere me, the God to whom they, the descendants of Jacob, belong.

When you see all your children and everything I've done for you, then you will regard my character as holy, and you will respect the Holy One of Jacob. You will have reverence for the God of Israel.

24 When that happens, those who have not been able to think well will think clearly, and those who complain [about what I am doing] will accept what I am teaching them.”

Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”