Isaiah 29 - 33 — Legacy Standard Bible

Woe to Ariel

29Woe, O ¹Ariel, ²Ariel the city where David once ^acamped!Add year to year, ³^,^bobserve your feasts on schedule.²I will bring distress to ¹Ariel,And she will be a city of mourning and ^amoaning;And she will be like an Ariel to me.³And I will ^acamp against you ¹encircling you,And I will fortify siegeworks against you,And I will raise up fortifications against you.⁴Then you will ^abe brought low;From the earth you will speak,And from the dust where you are prostrateYour words will come.Your voice will also be like that of a ¹spirit from the ground,And your speech will whisper from the dust.⁵But it will be that the multitude of your ¹enemies will become like fine ^adust,And the multitude of the ^bruthless ones like the chaff which ²blows away;And it will happen ^cinstantly, suddenly.⁶From Yahweh of hosts you will be ^apunished with ^bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.⁷And it will be that the ^amultitude of all the nations who wage war against ¹Ariel,Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,Will be like a dream, a ^bvision of the night.⁸And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—And behold, he is eating;But he awakens, and his soul is empty,Or as when a thirsty man dreams—And behold, he is drinking,But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,And his soul is not quenched.^aThus the multitude of all the nations will beWho wage war against Mount Zion.⁹^aAstonish yourselves and be astonished,Blind yourselves and be blind;They ^bbecome drunk, but not with wine;They stagger, but not with strong drink.¹⁰For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep ^asleep;He has ^bshut your eyes, the prophets;And He has covered your heads, the seers.

¹¹The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed ¹^,^abook, which when they give it to the one who ²is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²Then the ¹book will be given to the one who ²does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I ³do not know how to read a book.”

¹³Then the Lord said, “Because ^athis people draw near with their mouthAnd honor Me with their lips,But they remove their hearts far from Me,And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,

¹⁴Therefore behold, I will once again deal ^amarvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;And ^bthe wisdom of their wise men will perish,And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”¹⁵Woe to those who deeply ^ahide their counsel from Yahweh,And whose ^bdeeds are done in a dark place,And they say, “^cWho sees us?” or “Who knows us?”¹⁶You turn things around!Shall the potter be considered ¹as equal with the clay,That ^awhat is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

¹⁷Is it not yet just a little while¹Before Lebanon will be turned into a ^afruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?¹⁸On that day the ^adeaf will hear ^bwords of a book,And out of ¹darkness and thick darkness the ^ceyes of the blind will see.¹⁹The ^aafflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,And the ^bneedy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.²⁰For the ^aruthless will come to an end and the ^bscoffer will be finished,Indeed ^call who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;²¹Who ¹cause a person to sin by a word,And ^aensnare him who reproves at the gate,And ²^,^bdefraud the one in the right with ³meaningless arguments.

²²Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed ^aAbraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob ^bshall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

²³But when ¹he sees his ^achildren, the ^bwork of My hands, in his midst,They will sanctify My name;Indeed, they will ^csanctify the Holy One of JacobAnd will stand trembling before the God of Israel.²⁴“Those who ^aerr in spirit will ^bknow discernment,And those who ¹criticize will ²^,^cgain learning.

Alliance with Egypt Condemned

30“Woe to the ^arebellious children,” declares Yahweh,“Who ^bexecute counsel, but not Mine,And ¹^,^cmake an alliance, but not of My Spirit,In order to add sin to sin,²Who ^ago down to Egypt—But did not ^bask ¹Me—^cTo find strength in the strong defense of PharaohAnd to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!³“Therefore the strong defense of Pharaoh will be ^ayour shameAnd the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, your dishonor.⁴“For ^atheir princes are at ZoanAnd their messengers reach Hanes.⁵“Everyone will be ^aashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,Who are ^bnot for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach.”

⁶The ¹oracle concerning the ^abeasts of the ^bNegev. Through a land of ^cdistress and anguish,From ²where come lioness and lion, viper and ^dflying fiery serpent,They ^ecarry their wealth on the ³backs of young donkeysAnd their treasures on ^fcamels’ humps,To a people who cannot profit them;

⁷Even Egypt, whose ^ahelp is vain and empty.Therefore, I have called ¹her“²^,^bRahab who has ceased.”⁸Now go, ^awrite it on a tablet before themAnd inscribe it on a scroll,That it may be in the time to come¹As a witness forever.⁹For this is a ^arebellious people, ^bfalse sons,Sons who are not willing to ^clistenTo the law of Yahweh,¹⁰Who say to the ^aseers, “You must not see,”And to those who have visions, “You must not ^bbehold visions for us of what is right,^cSpeak to us ¹pleasant words,Behold visions of illusions.¹¹“Get out of the way, ^aturn aside from the path,¹^,^bCease speaking before us about the Holy One of Israel.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “^aSince you have rejected this wordAnd have put your trust in ^boppression and deviousness and have relied on them,

¹³Therefore this ^ainiquity will be to youLike a ^bbreach about to fall,A bulge in a high wall,Whose breaking comes ^csuddenly in an instant,¹⁴Whose breaking is like the breaking of a ^apotter’s jar,¹So ruthlessly shatteredThat a potsherd will not be found among its piecesTo ²take fire from a hearthOr to scoop water from a cistern.”

¹⁵For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “In ¹repentance and ^arest you will be saved,In ^bquietness and trust is your might.”But you were not willing,

¹⁶And you said, “No, for we will flee on ^ahorses,”Therefore you shall flee!“And we will ride on swift horses,”Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.¹⁷^aOne thousand will flee at the threat of one man;You will flee at the threat of five,Until you are left as a ¹flag on a mountain topAnd as a ²standard on a hill.

Yahweh Is Gracious and Just

¹⁸Therefore Yahweh ^awaits with longing to be gracious to you,And therefore He is on ^bhigh to have compassion on you.For Yahweh is a ^cGod of justice;How blessed are all those who ^dwait for Him.

¹⁹¹O people in Zion, ^ainhabitant in Jerusalem, you will ^bweep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will ^canswer you. ²⁰The Lord has given you ^abread of distress and water of oppression; He, your Teacher will no longer ^bhide Himself, but your eyes will see your Teacher. ²¹And your ears will hear a word behind you, “¹This is the ^away, walk in it,” whenever you ^bturn to the right or to the left. ²²And you will defile your graven ^aimages overlaid with your silver, and your molten ^bimages plated with your gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing and say to ¹them, “^cBe gone!”

²³Then He will ^agive you rain for ¹the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be ²rich and fat; on that day ^byour livestock will graze in a roomy pasture. ²⁴Also the oxen and the donkeys which work the ground will eat salted fodder, which ¹has been ^awinnowed with shovel and fork. ²⁵And it will be that on every lofty mountain and on ^aevery lifted up hill there will be ¹streams running with water on the day of the great ^bslaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶^aAnd the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day ^bYahweh binds up the ^cfracture of His people and ^dheals the bruise ¹He has inflicted.

²⁷Behold, ^athe name of Yahweh comes from afar;^bBurning is His anger and heavy is His ¹smoke;His lips are filled with ^cindignationAnd His tongue is like a ^dconsuming fire;²⁸His ^abreath is like an overflowing torrent,Which ^breaches to the neck,To ^cshake the nations back and forth in a ¹sieve of worthlessness,And to put in the jaws of the peoples ^dthe bridle which staggers one to ruin.²⁹You will have ¹songs as in the night when you set yourself apart as holy for the festival,And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,To go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.³⁰And Yahweh will cause ¹His splendid voice to be heard,And the ²descending of His arm to be seen in raging anger,And in the flame of a consuming fireIn cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones.³¹For ^aat the voice of Yahweh ^bAssyria will be dismayed,When He strikes with the ^crod.³²And every ¹blow of the ²^,^aappointed staff,Which Yahweh will cause to rest upon him,Will be with the music of ^btambourines and lyres;And in battles, ^cwaving weapons He will fight them.³³For ¹^,^aTopheth has long been ready,Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.He has made it deep and large,²A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;The ^bbreath of Yahweh, like a torrent of ^cbrimstone, sets it afire.

Woe to Those Who Go down to Egypt

31Woe to those who go down to ^aEgypt for helpAnd ^brely on horses,And trust in chariots because they are manyAnd in horsemen because they are very mighty,But they do not have ^cregard for the ^dHoly One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!²Yet He also is ^awise and will ^bbring about an evil demiseAnd does ^cnot turn His words aside,But will arise against the house of ^devildoersAnd against the help of the ^eworkers of iniquity.³Now the Egyptians are ^amen and not God,And their ^bhorses are flesh and not spirit;So Yahweh will ^cstretch out His hand,And ^dhe who helps will stumble,And he who is helped will fall,And all of them will come to an end together.

⁴For thus says Yahweh to me, “As the ^alion or the young lion growls over its prey,Against which a multitude of shepherds is called out,And it will not be dismayed at their voice nor afflicted at their noise,So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage ^bwar on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

⁵Like ¹flying ^abirds so Yahweh of hosts will defend Jerusalem.He will ^bdefend and deliver it;He will pass over and provide a way of escape.

⁶^aReturn to Him against whom ¹you have ^bdeeply rebelled, O sons of Israel. ⁷For in that day every man will ^areject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your ^bhands have made for you as ^ca sin.

⁸And the ^aAssyrian will fall by a sword not of man,And a ^bsword not of man will devour him.So he will ¹^,^cflee from the sword,And his choice men will become ^dforced laborers.⁹“His ^arock will pass away because of terror,And his princes will be dismayed at the ^bstandard,”Declares Yahweh, whose ^cfire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

A King Will Reign Righteously

32Behold, a ^aking will reign righteouslyAnd princes will rule justly.²Each will be like a ^arefuge from the windAnd a shelter from the storm,Like ¹^,^bstreams of water in a dry country,Like the ^cshade of a ²huge rock in ³a weary land.³Then ^athe eyes of those who see will not be ¹blinded,And the ears of those who hear will pay attention.⁴And the heart of the ^ahasty will discern knowledge,And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.⁵No longer will the ^awicked fool be called noble,Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.⁶For a wicked fool speaks wicked folly,And his heart ^adoes wickedness:To do ^bungodliness and to speak error against Yahweh,In order to ^cmake the hungry person empty;He even causes the thirsty to lack a drink.⁷As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;He ^acounsels wicked schemesTo ^bwreak destruction on the afflicted with lying words,^cEven though the needy one speaks justly.⁸But ^athe noble man counsels noble plans;And by noble plans he rises up.⁹Rise up, you ^awomen who are at ease,And hear my voice;^bGive ear to my word,You complacent daughters.¹⁰Within a year and a few daysYou will quake, O complacent daughters;^aFor the grape harvest is ended,And the fruit gathering will not come.¹¹Tremble, you women who are at ease;^aQuake, you complacent daughters;^bStrip, undress, and put sackcloth on your waist,¹²^aBeat your breasts for the desirable fields, for the fruitful vine,¹³^aFor the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up,Indeed, against all the joyful houses and the ^bexultant city.¹⁴Because ^athe palace has been abandoned, the ¹populated ^bcity forsaken.²Hill and watchtower have become ^ccaves forever,A joy for ^dwild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,¹⁵Until the ^aSpirit is poured out upon us from on high,And the wilderness becomes a ^bfruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard is counted as a forest.¹⁶Then ^ajustice will dwell in the wilderness,And righteousness will live in the fruitful orchard.¹⁷And the ^awork of righteousness will be peace,And the service of righteousness, ^bquietness and security forever.¹⁸Then my people will live in a ^apeaceful abode,And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed ^bresting places;¹⁹And it will ^ahail when the ^bforest comes down,And ^cthe city will be utterly laid low.²⁰How ^ablessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,Who ¹let out freely the ox and the donkey.

The King in His Beauty

33Woe ^ato you, O destroyer,While you were not destroyed;And he ^bwho is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.As soon as you finish destroying, ^cyou will be destroyed;As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will ^ddeal treacherously with you.²O Yahweh, ^abe gracious to us; we have ^bhoped in You.Be ¹their ²^,^cstrength every morning,Our salvation also in the ^dtime of distress.³At the sound of the tumult ^apeoples flee;At the ^blifting up of Yourself nations scatter.⁴Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.⁵Yahweh is ^aexalted, for He dwells on high;He has ^bfilled Zion with justice and righteousness.⁶And He will be the ¹^,^astability of your times,A ^bwealth of salvation, wisdom, and ^cknowledge;The ^dfear of Yahweh is his treasure.⁷Behold, their brave men cry in ¹the streets;The ^amessengers of peace weep bitterly.⁸The highways are desolate, ¹the ^atraveler has ceased;He has ^bbroken the covenant, he has rejected the cities;He has no regard for man.⁹^aThe land mourns and languishes,^bLebanon is humiliated and withers;^cSharon is like a desert plain,And Bashan and Carmel ¹lose their foliage.¹⁰“Now ^aI will be on high,” says Yahweh,“Now I will be lifted up, now I will be lifted up.¹¹“You have ^aconceived ¹chaff, you will give birth to stubble;²My ^bbreath will consume you like a fire.¹²“The peoples will be burned to lime,^aLike cut thorns which are burned in the fire.¹³“You who are far away, ^ahear what I have done;And you who are near, ¹acknowledge My might.”¹⁴^aSinners in Zion are in dread;^bTrembling has seized the godless.“Who among us can sojourn with ^cthe consuming fire?Who among us can sojourn with ¹continual ^dburning?”¹⁵He who ^awalks righteously and speaks uprightly;He who rejects greedy gain of ¹oppression,And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshedAnd ^bshuts his eyes from looking upon evil;¹⁶He will dwell on the heights,^aHis refuge will be the strongholds of the cliffs;^bHis bread will be given him,His water will be sure.¹⁷Your eyes will behold ^athe King in His beauty;They will see ^ba far-distant land.¹⁸Your heart will meditate on ^aterror:“Where is ^bhe who counts?Where is he who weighs?Where is he who counts the towers?”¹⁹You will no longer see a fierce people,A people of ¹^,^aunintelligible speech ²which no one comprehends,Of a stammering tongue ³which no one understands.²⁰^aBehold Zion, the city of our appointed times;Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an ^babode at ease,^cA tent which will not be folded;Its stakes will never be pulled up,Nor any of its cords ever be torn apart.²¹But there the Mighty One, Yahweh, will be for usA place of ^arivers and wide canalsOn which no boat with oars will go,And on which no mighty ship will pass—²²For Yahweh is our ^ajudge,Yahweh is ^bour lawgiver,Yahweh is ^cour king;^dHe will save us—²³Your cords hang slack;They cannot hold the base of their mast firmly,Nor spread out the sail.Then the ^aprey of an abundant spoil will be divided;^bThe lame will take the plunder.²⁴And no one who dwells there will say, “I am ^asick”;The people who inhabit ¹there will be ^bforgiven their iniquity.