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.

Woe [to] Ariel, Ariel, The city of the encampment of David! Add year to year, let festivals go round.

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].

And I have sent distress to Ariel, And it hath been lamentation and mourning, And it hath been to me as Ariel.

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.

And I encamped, O babbler, against thee, And I laid siege against thee — a camp. And I raised up against thee bulwarks.

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.

And thou hast been low, From the earth thou speakest, And from the dust makest thy saying low, And thy voice hath been from the earth, As one having a familiar spirit, And from the dust thy saying whisperest,

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.

And as small dust hath been The multitude of those scattering thee, And as chaff passing on the multitude of the terrible, And it hath been at an instant — suddenly.

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.

By Jehovah of Hosts thou art inspected, With thunder, and with an earthquake, And great noise, hurricane, and whirlwind, And flame of devouring fire.

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.

And as a dream, a vision of night, hath been The multitude of all the nations Who are warring against Ariel, And all its warriors, and its bulwark, Even of those distressing her.

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].

And it hath been, as when the hungry dreameth, And lo, he is eating, And he hath waked, and empty [is] his soul, And as when the thirsty dreameth, And lo, he is drinking, and he hath waked, And lo, he is weary, and his soul is longing, So is the multitude of all the nations Who are warring against 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.

Tarry and wonder, look ye, yea, look, Be drunk, and not with wine, Stagger, and not with strong drink.

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 poured out on you hath Jehovah a spirit of deep sleep, And He closeth your eyes — the prophets, And your heads — the seers — He covered.

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.”

And the vision of the whole is to you, As words of the sealed book, That they give unto one knowing books, Saying, 'Read this, we pray thee,' And he hath said, 'I am not able, for it [is] sealed;'

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.”

And the book is given to him who hath not known books, Saying, 'Read this, we pray thee,' And he hath said, 'I have not known books.'

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.

And the Lord saith: Because drawn near hath this people, with its mouth, And with its lips they have honoured Me, And its heart it hath put far off from Me, And their fear of Me is — A precept of men is taught!

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.

Therefore, lo, I am adding to do wonderfully with this people, A wonder, and a marvel, And perished hath the wisdom of its wise ones, And the understanding of its intelligent ones hideth itself.'

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!’

Woe [to] those going deep from Jehovah to hide counsel, And whose works have been in darkness. And they say, 'Who is seeing us? And who is knowing us?'

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!’”

Your perversion! as clay is the potter esteemed? That the work saith of its maker, 'He hath not made me?' And the framed thing said of its framer, 'He did not understand?'

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

Is it not yet a very little, And turned hath Lebanon to a fruitful field, And the fruitful field for a forest is reckoned?

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.

And heard in that day have the deaf the words of a book, And out of thick darkness, and out of darkness, The eyes of the blind do see.

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

And the humble have added joy in Jehovah, And the poor among men In the Holy One of Israel rejoice.

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.

For ceased hath the terrible one, And consumed hath been the scorner, And cut off have been all watching for iniquity,

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.

Causing men to sin in word, And for a reprover in the gate lay a snare, And turn aside into emptiness the righteous.

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.

Therefore, thus said Jehovah, Who ransomed Abraham, Concerning the house of Jacob: 'Not now ashamed is Jacob, Nor now doth his face become pale,

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.

For in his seeing his children, The work of My hand, in his midst, They sanctify My name, And have sanctified the Holy One of Jacob, And the God of Israel they declare fearful.

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.”

And the erring in spirit have known understanding, And murmurers learn doctrine!'