Isaiah 29 – NIV & NIRV

New International Version

Isaiah 29:1-24

Woe to David’s City

1Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David settled!

Add year to year

and let your cycle of festivals go on.

2Yet I will besiege Ariel;

she will mourn and lament,

she will be to me like an altar hearth.29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.

3I will encamp against you on all sides;

I will encircle you with towers

and set up my siege works against you.

4Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble out of the dust.

Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper.

5But your many enemies will become like fine dust,

the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.

Suddenly, in an instant,

6the Lord Almighty will come

with thunder and earthquake and great noise,

with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.

7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,

will be as it is with a dream,

with a vision in the night—

8as when a hungry person dreams of eating,

but awakens hungry still;

as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,

but awakens faint and thirsty still.

So will it be with the hordes of all the nations

that fight against Mount Zion.

9Be stunned and amazed,

blind yourselves and be sightless;

be drunk, but not from wine,

stagger, but not from beer.

10The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:

He has sealed your eyes (the prophets);

he has covered your heads (the seers).

11For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

13The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

Their worship of me

is based on merely human rules they have been taught.29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules

14Therefore once more I will astound these people

with wonder upon wonder;

the wisdom of the wise will perish,

the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”

15Woe to those who go to great depths

to hide their plans from the Lord,

who do their work in darkness and think,

“Who sees us? Who will know?”

16You turn things upside down,

as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!

Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,

“You did not make me”?

Can the pot say to the potter,

“You know nothing”?

17In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field

and the fertile field seem like a forest?

18In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,

and out of gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind will see.

19Once more the humble will rejoice in the Lord;

the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

20The ruthless will vanish,

the mockers will disappear,

and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—

21those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,

who ensnare the defender in court

and with false testimony deprive the innocent of justice.

22Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;

no longer will their faces grow pale.

23When they see among them their children,

the work of my hands,

they will keep my name holy;

they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob,

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24Those who are wayward in spirit will gain understanding;

those who complain will accept instruction.”

New International Reader’s Version

Isaiah 29:1-24

The Lord Will Judge Jerusalem

1Jerusalem, 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.

2The 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.

3I 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.

4You 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.”

5Jerusalem, 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,

6the 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.

7Armies 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.

8It 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.

9People 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.

10The 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.

11For 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.” 12Or 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.”

13The 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.

14So 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.”

15How 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?”

16They 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”?

17In a very short time, Lebanon will be turned into rich farm lands.

The rich farm lands will seem like a forest.

18At 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.

19Those 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.

20Those 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.

21Without 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.

22Long 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.

23You 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.

24I will give understanding to you

who find yourselves going astray.

You who are always speaking against others

will accept what I teach you.”