Isaiah

29 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 a 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 be 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?

17 Is it not yet a very little while, And Lebanon shall be turned into garden land,—And garden land for a forest be reckoned?

18 Therefore in that day shall the deaf hear the words of a book,—And out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see;

19 And again shall the humbled in Yahweh have joy,—And the needy of mankind in the Holy One of Israel exult;

20 For the tyrant hath vanished And the scoffer is no more, Yea cut off are all who watch for iniquity:—

21 Who bring a man into condemnation with a rumour, And for him that decideth in the gate lay a snare,—And have driven away for a thing of nought one who was righteous.

22 Therefore Thus saith Yahweh concerning the house of Jacob, [even he saith it] who redeemed Abraham,—Not now shall Jacob turn pale, And not now shall their faces whiten;

23 For when he seeth his children, the work of my hands, in his midst They will hallow my Name,—Yea they will hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And the God of Israel will they regard with awe.

24 Then will they who erred in spirit comprehend, And the murmurers accept instruction.