The Siege of Jerusalem

1Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the feasts run their round.

2Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)

3And I will encamp against you all round,

and will besiege you with towers

and I will raise siege works against you.

4And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

5But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

And in an instant, suddenly,

6you will be visited by the LORD of hosts

with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

7And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.

8As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

9Astonish yourselves29:9 Or Linger awhile and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,29:9 Or They are drunk but not with wine;

stagger,29:9 Or they stagger but not with strong drink!

10For the LORD has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep,

and has closed your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

11And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this”, he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this”, he says, “I cannot read.”

13And the Lord said:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth

and honour me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

14therefore, behold, I will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,

whose deeds are in the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

16You turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

that the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

17Is it not yet a very little while

until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

18In that day the deaf shall hear

the words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

the eyes of the blind shall see.

19The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,

and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

20For the ruthless shall come to nothing

and the scoffer cease,

and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,

21who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.

22Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,

no more shall his face grow pale.

23For when he sees his children,

the work of my hands, in his midst,

they will sanctify my name;

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

24And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

and those who murmur will accept instruction.”