1 Woe be unto thee O Ariel, thou city that David won. Take ye yet some years, and let some feasts yet pass over: 2 then shall Ariel be besieged, so that she shall be heavy and sorrowful, and shall be unto me even as an altar of slaughter. 3 For I will lay siege to thee round about, and keep thee in with towers, and grave up dikes against thee. 4 And thou shalt be brought low, and speak out of the earth, and thy words shall go humbly out of the ground. Thy voice shall come out of the earth, like the voice of a witch, and thy talking shall groan out of the mire.
5 Moreover, the noise of thy enemies shall be like thin dust, and the multitude of tyrants shall be as the dry straw that cannot tarry: even suddenly and in haste shall their blast go. 6 Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of Hosts with thunder, earthquake, and with a great noise, with the whirlwind, tempest, and with the flame of a consuming fire. 7 And the multitude of all nations that fight against Ariel shall be as a dream seen by night; even so shall all they be that make war against it, and strongholds to overcome it. 8 In conclusion: it shall be even as when a hungry man dreameth that he is eating, and when he awaketh his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth that he is drinking, and when he awaketh he yet is faint, and his soul hath appetite. So is the multitude of all people that muster themselves against the hill of Zion.
9 Ponder these things once in your mind, and wonder: Blinded are they themselves, and the blind guides of others; they are drunken, but not with wine; they are unstable, but not through strong drink. 10 For the LORD shall give you a hard-sleeping spirit, and close your eyes. Your Prophets also, and heads which should see; them shall he cover.
11 And all visions shall be unto you, as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, "Read thou, in it." And he sayeth, "I cannot read it, for it is shut." 12 But if it be given to one that is not learned, saying, "Read thou, in it." Then sayeth he, "I cannot read."
13 Therefore thus sayeth the LORD, "Forsomuch as this people, when they be in trouble, do honor me with their mouth, and with their lips, whereas their heart nevertheless is far from me; and the fear which they owe unto me, that turn they to men's laws and doctrines; 14 therefore will I also show unto this people a marvelous, terrible, and great thing - Namely this: I will destroy the wisdom of their wise, and the understanding of their learned men shall perish."
15 Woe be unto them that seek so deep, to hide their imagination before the LORD, which rehearse their counsels in the darkness, and say, "Who seeth us, or who knoweth us?" 16 Doubtless, your destruction is, in reputation, as the potter's clay. And doth the work say of him that made it, "He made me not?" And doth an earthen vessel say of the potter, "He understandeth not?"
17 See ye not that it is hard at hand, that Lebanon shall be turned into a low field, and that the low field shall be as the wood? 18 And in that day, shall deaf men hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see, even out of the cloud and out of darkness. 19 The meek-spirited shall hold a merry feast in the LORD, and the poor among them that be lowly shall rejoice in the holy one of Israel. 20 Then shall the furious people cease, and the mockers shall be put away, and all they that do wrong shall be plucked out, 21 such as labour to draw men unto sin; and that deceive him which reproveth them in the gate; and such as turn good persons to vanity.
22 And therefore the LORD, even the defender of Abraham, sayeth thus unto the house of Jacob: "Now shall not Jacob be ashamed, nor his face confounded, 23 when he seeth among his children - whom my hands have made - such as hallow my name among them: that they may sanctify the holy one of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. 24 They also which have been of an erroneous spirit shall come to understanding, and they that have been scornful shall learn doctrine."