Isaiah 29:1-24
The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem
Jerusalem, how terrible it will be for you!
Ariel, you are the city where David made his home.
The years will come and go.
Keep on celebrating your regular feasts.
The Lord says, “Ariel, I will surround you.
Jerusalem, I will get ready to attack you.
Your people will mourn.
They will sing songs of sadness.
I will make you like the front of an altar
covered with blood.
I will be like an army camped against you on all sides.
I will surround you with towers in order to attack you.
I will build my ramps all around you and set up my ladders.
You will be brought down to the grave.
You will speak from deep down inside the ground.
Your words will be barely heard out of the dust.
Your voice will sound like the voice of a ghost
coming from under the ground.
Your words will sound like a whisper out of the dust.”
Jerusalem, all your enemies will become like fine dust.
Their terrifying armies will become like straw
that the wind blows away.
All of a sudden, in an instant,
the Lord who rules over all will come.
He will come with thunder, earthquakes and a lot of noise.
He’ll bring windstorms and rainstorms with him.
He’ll send a blazing fire that will burn up everything.
Armies from all the nations will fight against Ariel.
They will attack it and its fort.
They’ll surround it completely.
But suddenly those armies will disappear like a dream.
They will vanish like a vision in the night.
It will be as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but wakes up still hungry.
It will be as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but wakes up weak and still thirsty.
In the same way, the armies from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion will disappear.
People of Jerusalem, be shocked and amazed.
Make yourselves blind so you can’t see anything.
Get drunk, but not from wine.
Be unsteady on your feet, but not because of beer.
The Lord has made you fall into a deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets.
He has covered the heads of your seers so they can’t see.
For you, this whole vision is like words that are sealed up in a scroll. Suppose you give it to someone who can read. And suppose you say, “Please read this for us.” Then they’ll answer, “I can’t. It’s sealed up.” Or suppose you give the scroll to someone who can’t read. And suppose you say, “Please read this for us.” Then they’ll answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
The Lord says,
“These people worship me only with their words.
They honor me by what they say.
But their hearts are far away from me.
Their worship doesn’t mean anything to me.
They teach nothing but human rules that they have been taught.
So once more I will shock these people
with many wonderful acts.
I will destroy the wisdom of those who think they are so wise.
I will do away with the cleverness of those who think they are so smart.”
How terrible it will be for people who try hard
to hide their plans from the Lord!
They do their work in darkness.
They think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
They turn everything upside down.
How silly they are to think that potters are like the clay they work with!
Can what is made say to the one who made it,
“You didn’t make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,
“You don’t know anything”?
In a very short time, Lebanon will be turned into rich farm lands.
The rich farm lands will seem like a forest.
At that time those who can’t hear will hear what is read from the scroll.
Those who are blind will come out of gloom and darkness.
They will be able to see.
Those who aren’t proud will once again find their joy in the Lord.
And those who are in need will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.
Those who don’t show any pity will vanish.
Those who make fun of others will disappear.
All those who look for ways to do what is evil will be cut off.
Without any proof, they claim that a person is guilty.
In court they try to trap
the one who speaks up for others.
By using dishonest witnesses they keep people who aren’t guilty
from being treated fairly.
Long ago the Lord saved Abraham from trouble. Now he says to Jacob’s people,
“You will not be ashamed anymore.
Your faces will no longer grow pale with fear.
You will see your children living among you.
I myself will give you those children.
Then you will honor my name.
You will recognize how holy I am.
I am the Holy One of Jacob.
You will have great respect for me.
I am the God of Israel.
I will give understanding to you
who find yourselves going astray.
You who are always speaking against others
will accept what I teach you.”
Isaiah 30:1-18
The Lord Will Judge His Stubborn People
“How terrible it will be for these stubborn children of mine!”
announces the Lord.
“How terrible for those who carry out plans that did not come from me!
Their agreement with Egypt did not come from my Spirit.
So they pile up one sin on top of another.
They go down to Egypt
without asking me for advice.
They look to Pharaoh to help them.
They ask Egypt to keep them safe.
But looking to Pharaoh will only bring them shame.
Asking Egypt for help will bring them dishonor.
Their officials have gone to the city of Zoan.
Their messengers have arrived in Hanes.
But the people of Judah will be put to shame.
That’s because they are trusting in a nation that is useless to them.
Egypt will not bring them any help or advantage.
Instead, it will bring them shame and dishonor.”
Here is a prophecy the Lord gave me about the animals in the Negev Desert.
Judah’s messengers carry their riches on the backs of donkeys.
They carry their treasures on the humps of camels.
They travel through a land of danger and suffering.
It’s a land filled with lions.
Poisonous snakes are also there.
The messengers travel to a nation
that can’t do them any good.
They travel to Egypt, whose help is totally useless.
That’s why I call it Rahab the Do-Nothing.
The Lord said to me, “Go now.
Write on a tablet for the people of Judah
what I am about to say.
Also write it on a scroll.
In days to come
it will be a witness that lasts forever.
That’s because these people of Judah refuse to obey me.
They are children who tell lies.
They will not listen to what I want to teach them.
They say to the seers,
‘Don’t see any more visions!’
They say to the prophets,
‘Don’t give us any more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things.
Prophesy things we want to hear even if they aren’t true.
Get out of our way!
Get off our path!
Keep the Holy One of Israel away from us!’ ”
So the Holy One of Israel speaks. He says,
“You have turned your backs on what I have said.
You have depended on telling people lies.
You have crushed others.
Those sins are like cracks in a high wall.
They get bigger and bigger.
Suddenly the wall breaks apart.
Then it quickly falls down.
It breaks into small pieces like a clay pot.
It breaks up completely.
Not one piece is left big enough
for taking coals from a fireplace.
Not one piece is left for dipping water out of a well.”
The Lord and King is the Holy One of Israel. He says,
“You will find peace and rest
when you turn away from your sins and depend on me.
You will receive the strength you need
when you stay calm and trust in me.
But you do not want to do what I tell you to.
You said, ‘No. We’ll escape on horses.’
So you will have to escape!
You said, ‘We’ll ride off on fast horses.’
So those who chase you will use faster horses!
When one of them dares you to fight,
a thousand of you will run away.
When five of them dare you,
all of you will run away.
So few of you will be left that you will be
like a flagpole on top of a mountain.
You will be like only one banner on a hill.”
But the Lord wants to have mercy on you.
So he will rise up to give you his tender love.
The Lord is a God who is always fair.
Blessed are all those who wait for him to act!
