CHAPTER 29
And I will constrain
Ariel,
and there will be
mourning
and sorrow;
she will be
like an altar hearth
before me.
I will camp
in a circle
around you;
I will besiege you
with towers
and set up
siege works
against you.
You will be brought low,
you will speak
from the ground,
and out of the dust
your words
will be muffled.
Your voice
will be
like a spirit
from the ground;
your speech
will whisper
out of the dust.
But your many
foes
will be
like fine
dust,
the multitude
of the ruthless
like blowing
chaff.
Then suddenly,
in an instant,
you will be visited
by
the LORD
of Hosts
with thunder
and earthquake
and loud
noise,
with windstorm
and tempest
and flame
of consuming
fire.
All
the many
nations
going out to battle
against
Ariel—
even all
who war against her,
laying siege
and attacking her—
will be
like a dream,
like a vision
in the night,
as when
a hungry man
dreams
he is eating,
then wakes
and is still hungry.
And like
a thirsty man
dreams
he is drinking,
then awakens
faint
and parched,
so
it will be
for all
the many
nations
who go to battle
against
Mount
Zion.
Stop
and be astonished;
blind yourselves
and be sightless;
be drunk,
but not
with wine;
stagger,
but not
from strong drink.
For
the LORD
has poured out
on you
a spirit
of deep sleep;
He has shut
your eyes,
O prophets,
and covered
your heads,
O seers.
And the entire
vision
will be
to you
like the words
sealed
in a scroll.
If it
is handed
to
a reader,
he will say,
“I cannot read it,
because
it
is sealed.”
Therefore
the Lord
said:
“These
people
draw near to Me
with their mouths
and honor Me
with their lips,
but their hearts
are far
from Me.
Their worship
of Me
is but
rules
taught
by men.
Therefore
I will again
confound
these
people
with wonder
upon wonder.
The wisdom
of the wise
will perish,
and the intelligence
of the intelligent
will be hidden.
Woe
to those who dig deep
to hide
their plans
from the LORD.
In darkness
they do their works
and say,
“Who
sees us,
and who
will know?”
You have turned things upside down,
as if
the potter
were regarded
as clay.
Shall
what is formed
say
to him who formed it,
“He did not
make me”?
Can the pottery
say
of the potter,
“He has no
understanding”?
In just
a very
short
time,
will not Lebanon
become
an orchard,
and the orchard
seem
like a forest?
On that
day
the deaf
will hear
the words
of the scroll,
and out of
the deep darkness
the eyes
of the blind
will see.
The humble
will increase
their joy
in the LORD,
and the poor
among men
will rejoice
in the Holy One
of Israel.
For
the ruthless
will vanish,
the mockers
will disappear,
and all
who look
for evil
will be cut down—
those who indict
a man
with a word,
who ensnare
the mediator
at the gate,
and with empty charges
deprive the righteous
of justice.
Therefore,
the LORD
who
redeemed
Abraham
says
of
the house
of Jacob:
“No
longer
will Jacob
be ashamed
and no
more
will his face
grow pale.
For
when he sees
his children,
the work
of My hands
among him,
they will honor
My name,
they will sanctify
the Holy
One of Jacob,
and
they will stand in awe
of the God
of Israel.
Then the wayward
in spirit
will come
to understanding,
and those who grumble
will accept
instruction.”