Woe to the City of David
1 Woe to Ariel!
Ariel, the city where David encamped!
Add another year to your recurring feasts,
2 then I will afflict Ariel with suffering,
and there will be mourning and lamentation.
She shall be to me as an altar hearth.
3 I will encamp against you, surrounding you
and laying siege against you with posted troops.
I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will be brought down,
and will speak from the ground.
Your speech will be a mumble from the dust.
Your voice will be like a ghost out of the ground,
and your speech will whisper from 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 You will be visited by the Lord of Hosts
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,
all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her
will be like a dream, a vision in the night.
8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, he eats;
but he awakes, and his hunger is not satisfied;
or like when a thirsty man dreams, he drinks;
but he awakes, and 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 the Lord has poured out on you
a spirit of deep sleep
and has closed your eyes, O prophets,
and he has covered your heads, O 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 cannot, for it is sealed,” 12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please,” and he says, “I cannot read.”
13 The Lord said,
“These people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
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 I will proceed to do amazing things among this people,
wonder upon 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 the Lord,
and whose deeds 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?”
Sanctification to the Godly
17 In a very little while
will Lebanon not be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?
18 On that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book,
and the eyes of the blind will see from obscurity and from darkness.
19 The humble also will increase their joy in the Lord,
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 watching for the opportunity to do evil are cut off—
21 who, by a word, indict a man,
and lay a snare for the judge at the gate,
and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
22 Therefore the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob:
“Jacob shall no longer be ashamed,
nor shall his face grow pale.
23 But when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in their midst,
they will honor my name.
Yes, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who erred in spirit will understand,
and those who complained will accept instruction.”