Isaiah 29:1-16 - Woe To Jerusalem

¹ Alas for Ariel, Ariel, The city against which, David encamped, - Add ye a year to a year. Let the festivals, come round; ² Yet will I bring Ariel into straits, - And she shall become a bewailing and wailing, Yea she shall become to me a veritable Hearth of God. ³ And I will encamp round about against thee, - And lay siege against thee with a fort, And raise against thee siege-works; ⁴ And thou shalt be brought low - Out of the earth, shalt thou speak, And out of the dust, shalt thou lower thine utterance, - And as one that hath a familiar spirit, Out of the earth, shall come thy voice, And out of the dust, thy speech shall chirp;

⁵ Then shall be as fine dust the multitude of thy foreigners, - And as chaff that passeth away, the multitude of tyrants; And it shall come to pass, in a twinkling, Suddenly, ⁶ From Yahweh of hosts, shalt thou be visited, With thunder, and with earthquake and a great noise, hurricane and storm and flame of fire devouring; ⁷ And it shall be like the dream of a night vision, With the multitude of all the nations who have been making war against Ariel, - Even with all who have been making war against her and her stronghold and who have been laying siege to her; ⁸ Yea it shall be As when the hungry man dreameth and lo! he is eating, But he awaketh, and his soul, is empty, Or as when the thirsty man dreameth and lo! he is drinking, But he awaketh and lo! he is faint and his soul, is craving, So, shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that have come forth to war against Mount Zion.

⁹ Stand ye stock still and stare, Besmear your eyes and be blind, - They are drunken but not with wine, They reel, but not with strong drink; ¹⁰ For Yahweh, hath poured out upon you, a spirit of deep sleep, Yea hath tightly shut your eyes - the prophets, - And, your heads - the seers, hath he covered,

¹¹ And so all vision hath become unto you as the words of a writing that is sealed, Which is delivered unto one acquainted with writing, saying, Pray thee read this, And he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed; ¹² And then the writing is delivered to one unacquainted with writing, saying, Pray thee read this, And he saith I am not acquainted with writing.

¹³ Wherefore My Lord hath said, - Because this people, hath drawn near with their mouth, And with their lips, have honoured me, But their heart, have they moved far from me, And so their reverence of me hath become A commandment of men in which they have been schooled, ¹⁴ Therefore, behold me! again dealing wonderfully with this people, doing wonderfully a wonderful thing, - So shall perish, the wisdom of their wise men, And the intelligence of their intelligent men, shall vanish!

¹⁵ Alas! for them who would fain have been too deep for Yahweh by giving secret counsel, - and therefore in the dark, have been their doings, and they have said Who can see us? and - Who can understand us? ¹⁶ Your perverseness! As if like clay, the potter could he reckoned; For shall, the thing made say of him that made it, he made me not? Or hath the thing fashioned ever said of him that fashioned it, He hath no understanding.