Isaiah 29

Woe, city of Ariel, which David warred against! Gather produce year upon year, for you shall eat together with Moab.

For I will press Ariel hard, and her strength and her wealth shall be mine.

And I will encircle you as David did, and I will throw up a rampart around you, and set towers around you.

And your words shall be brought low to the ground, and into the ground your words shall sink; and your voice shall be like those who speak out of the ground, and toward the ground your voice shall grow faint.

And the wealth of the impious shall be like dust from a wheel, and like chaff being carried away; and it shall be like an instant, in a moment.

For there shall be a visitation from the Lord Sabaoth, with thunder and earthquake and a great sound, a driving tempest and a devouring flame of fire.

And the wealth of all the nations shall be like one dreaming in sleep — all who campaigned against Ariel, and all who made war against Jerusalem, and all who are gathered against her and afflict her.

And they shall be like those who drink and eat in sleep, and when they have risen up their dream is empty; and just as a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking, and having risen up is still thirsty, and his soul hoped in vain — so shall be the wealth of all the nations that campaigned against Mount Zion.

Grow faint and be astonished, and be dazed as with drink — not from strong drink nor from wine.

For the Lord has given you a spirit of stupor to drink, and he will close their eyes, and those of their prophets and of their rulers, who see hidden things.

And all these words shall be to you like the words of this sealed book, which if they give it to a man who knows letters, saying, 'Read these things,' he will say, 'I cannot read it, for it has been sealed.'

And this book shall be given into the hands of a man who does not know letters, and one will say to him, 'Read this,' and he will say, 'I do not know letters.'

And the Lord said: This people draws near to me; with their lips they honor me, but their heart is far removed from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching commandments of men and teachings.

Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I will remove them; and I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and hide the understanding of the intelligent.

Woe to those who devise counsel deeply and not through the Lord! Woe to those who devise counsel in secret! And their works shall be in darkness, and they say, 'Who has seen us? And who will know us, or what we do?'

Shall you not be reckoned as the potter's clay? Shall the thing formed say to the one who formed it, 'You did not form me'? Or the thing made to the one who made it, 'You did not make me with understanding'?

Yet a little while, and Lebanon shall be changed to be like Mount Chermel, and Mount Chermel shall be reckoned as a forest.

And in that day the deaf shall hear words of a book, and those in the darkness and those in the gloom — the eyes of the blind shall see.

And the poor shall exult in the Lord with gladness, and those among men who have despaired shall be filled with gladness.

The lawless one has failed, and the arrogant one has perished, and those who act lawlessly for evil have been utterly destroyed.

And those who by a word make men sin, and who will set a stumbling block for all who reprove at the gates, and they turned the righteous aside by unjust things.

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the house of Jacob, whom he set apart from Abraham: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall Israel now change his countenance.

But when their children see my works, for my sake they shall sanctify my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

And those who wander in spirit shall know understanding, and those who murmur shall learn to obey, and stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace.