Berean Standard Bible

Isaiah 29:1-14

1Woe to you, O Ariel,1the city of Ariel where David camped!Year upon yearlet your festivals recur.2And I will constrain Ariel,and there will be mourning and lamentation;she will be like an altar hearth2 before Me.3I will camp in a circle around you;I will besiege you with towersand set up siege works against you.4You will be brought low,you will speak from the ground,and out of the dustyour words will be muffled.Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground;your speech will whisper out of the dust.

5But your many foes will be like fine dust,the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff.Then suddenly, in an instant,6you will be visited by the LORD of Hostswith thunder and earthquake and loud noise,with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.7All the many nationsgoing 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,8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating,then awakens still hungry;as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking,then awakens faint and parched.So will it be for all the many nationswho go to battle against Mount Zion.

9Stop and be astonished;blind yourselves and be sightless;be drunk, but not with wine;stagger, but not from strong drink.10For the LORD has poured out on youa spirit of deep sleep.He has shut your eyes, O prophets;He has covered your heads, O seers.

11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” 12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

13Therefore the Lord said:

“These people draw near to Me with their mouthsand honor Me with their lips,but their hearts are far from Me.Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.314Therefore I will again confound these peoplewith wonder upon wonder.The wisdom of the wise will vanish,and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.4”

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Notes

1. Isaiah 29:1 Or Altar Hearth or Lion of God; probably a nickname for Jerusalem; twice in this verse, twice in verse 2, and once in verse 7 ↩
2. Isaiah 29:2 Or like Ariel; see the footnote for verse 1. ↩
3. Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; LXX They worship Me in vain; they teach as doctrine the precepts of men. Cited in Matthew 15:8–9 and Mark 7:6–7 ↩
4. Isaiah 29:14 Hebrew; LXX I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will hide the intelligence of the intelligent. Cited in 1 Corinthians 1:19 ↩

Notes

Commentaries on Isaiah 29