1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year
to year; let the feasts come around; 2 then I will distress Ariel, and
there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth*1 .
3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you
with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you. 4 You will
be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will
mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar
spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5 But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the
multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in
an instant, suddenly. 6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with
thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm,
and with the flame of a devouring fire. 7 The multitude of all the nations that
fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and
who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night. 8 It will
be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his
hunger isn’t satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but
he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The
multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.
9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but
not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For Yahweh has
poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the
prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers. 11 All vision has
become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one
who is educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t, for it
is sealed:” 12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying,
“Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t read.” 13 The Lord said,
“Because this people draws near with their mouth and with
their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their
fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
14 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
will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.”
15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose works
are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?” 16 You
turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing
made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed
say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding?”
17 Isn’t it yet a very
little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the
fruitful field will be regarded as a forest? 18 In that day, the
deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of
obscurity and out of darkness. 19 The humble also will increase their joy
in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and
all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—21 who cause a person to be
indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the
gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony. 22 Therefore thus
says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall
no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale. 23 But when he
sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will
sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will
stand in awe of the God of Israel. 24 They also who err in spirit will
come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”
1 or, Ariel
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