Isaiah 29 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

What a disaster — Ariel, Ariel, the city where David made camp! Add year to year, let the festivals come around again —

then I will bring distress on Ariel. There will be mourning and grief, and she will become to me like a true ariel — an altar hearth.

I will set up camp against you on every side, I will close in on you with siege works, I will raise up assault ramps against you.

You will be brought low — speaking from the ground, your words muffled in the dirt. Your voice will come from the earth like a ghost, your speech will whisper up from the dust.

But the horde of your enemies will become like fine dust, the mob of the ruthless like chaff that blows away. Then suddenly, in an instant —

Yahweh of Armies will visit her with thunder and earthquake and deafening noise, with storm and tempest and flames of devouring fire.

And the horde of all the nations that wage war against Ariel — all who attack her and her fortress and press her hard — will become like a dream, a vision in the night.

It will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating, but wakes up with an empty stomach, or a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking, but wakes up faint and craving — that's what the horde of all the nations waging war against Mount Zion will be like.

Stop and be stunned! Blind yourselves and go blind! They are drunk — but not from wine. They stagger — but not from beer.

Because Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes — the prophets. He has covered your heads — the seers.

The entire vision has become to you like the words of a sealed scroll. Hand it to someone who can read and say, "Read this," and they answer, "I can't — it's sealed."

Or hand it to someone who can't read and say, "Read this," and they answer, "I don't know how to read."

The Master said: "Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and their reverence for me is just memorized human rules — "

"therefore, watch — I will do something astonishing with this people, astonishing upon astonishing. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the insight of their insightful will go into hiding."

What a disaster for those who go to great depths to hide their plans from Yahweh, whose actions happen in the dark, who say, "Who sees us? Who knows about us?"

How twisted your thinking is! Should the potter be regarded as the clay? Should what is made say of its maker, "He didn't make me"? Should what is shaped say of the one who shaped it, "He doesn't understand anything"?

Isn't it true that in just a little while Lebanon will be turned into a garden, and the garden will be considered a forest?

On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of darkness and gloom the eyes of the blind will see.

The humble will find more and more joy in Yahweh, and the poorest of people will celebrate in the One Like No Other in Israel.

Because the ruthless will come to nothing, the mocker will vanish, and all who stay up late scheming to do harm will be cut off —

those who trap people with words, who set snares for the one who brings justice at the gate, who use empty arguments to deny the rights of the innocent.

Therefore Yahweh — who ransomed Abraham — says this to the house of Jacob: "Jacob will no longer be ashamed, his face will no longer go pale."

Because when he sees his children, the work of my hands, among them, they will treat my name as set apart. They will set apart the One Like No Other in Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.

"Those who wander in spirit will come to understand, and those who grumble will accept what is taught."