Chapter 29

  Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! add you year to year; let the feasts come round:  

  then will I distress Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation; and she shall be to me as Ariel.  

  I will encamp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with posted troops, and I will raise siege works against you.  

  You shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust; and your voice shall be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.  

  But the multitude of your foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the awesome ones as chaff that passes away: yes, it shall be in an instant suddenly.  

  She shall be visited of Yahweh of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.  

  The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, shall be as a dream, a vision of the night.  

  It shall be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against Mount Zion.  

  Stay you and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.  

  For Yahweh has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, has he covered.  

  All vision is become to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I can't, for it is sealed:  

  and the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you; and he says, I am not learned.  

  The Lord said, Because this people draw near [to me], and with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught [them];  

  therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.  

  Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and who knows us?  

  You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him who made it, He didn't make me; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?  

  Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?  

  In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness.  

  The humble also shall increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.  

  For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who watch for iniquity are cut off;  

  that make a man an offender in [his] cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nothing.  

  Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.  

  But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name; yes, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel.  

  They also who err in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmur shall receive instruction.