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          DASV: Isaiah 29    

1 Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David laid siege!
     Year after year you celebrate the annual cycle of feasts.
2 I will bring distress on Ariel,
     there will be mourning and lamenting;
     she will be to me like Ariel [an altar hearth].
3 I will lay siege against you all around.
     I will besiege you with towers,
     and I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will be brought down,
     you will speak from the ground;
           your speech will come from the dust where you lie.
      Your voice will be like one who has a familiar spirit,
           coming out of the ground,
           and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5 But your foes will be as plentiful as dust,
     and your many tyrants will be blown away like chaff;
           it will happen suddenly, in an instant.
6 She will be punished by the LORD of hosts with thunder,
     with earthquake and great noise,
     with whirlwind and storm,
     and the flame of a devouring fire.
7 It will be like a vanishing dream,
     or a vision in the night;
      the horde of all the nations will fight against Ariel,
     all those who fight against her and her stronghold,
           and those who distress her.
8 It will be like when a hungry person dreams,
          and he eats,
           but then he wakes up with an empty stomach.
      Or like when a thirsty person dreams,
          and he drinks;
           but then he wakes up he is still faint from thirst.
      So it will be with the horde of all the nations,
          that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be shocked and awed.
     Blind yourself and be blind.
      They are drunk,
     but not from wine;
      they stagger,
     but not from strong drink.
10 For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep,
     and has closed your eyes, O prophets,
     and covered your heads, O seers.

11 To you this entire vision is like the words of a
sealed scroll, which is given to one who can read,
saying, "Read this," but he replies, "I cannot,
because it is sealed."
12 Then the scroll is given to one who cannot read,
saying, "Read this," but he replies, "I can't read."

13 The Lord says,
     These people draw near to me with their mouth
           and with their lips they honor me,
                but their heart is removed far from me,
     and their fear of me is merely human commands
           which they have been taught.
14 Therefore I will again do an astonishing work among this people,
     a truly amazing work;
           the wisdom of their wise will perish,
     and the understanding of their prudent will disappear.
15 Woe to those who attempt to hide their plans from the LORD,
     and whose deeds are done in the dark,
     and who boast,
           "Who can see us?"
           and "Who knows what we're up to?"
16 You turn things upside down!
     Should the potter be thought of as no better than the clay.
     Should the thing made say to him who made it,
           "He didn't make me."
     Should the thing formed say of him who formed it,
           "He has no understanding"?
17 In just a little while will Lebanon not be turned into a fruitful field,
     and the fruitful field will be thought of as a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll,
     and the eyes of the blind will see out of their gloom and darkness.
19 The oppressed also will again rejoice in the LORD,
     and the poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the tyrant will vanish,
     and the scoffer will be gone,
     and all those who are keen on doing wrong will be cut off,
21 those who convict a person based on a false testimony,
     and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
     and denies justice to the innocent.

22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham,
says about the house of Jacob:
     Jacob will no longer be ashamed,
     nor will his face grow pale.
23 But when he sees his children,
     the work of my hands among them,
      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 whose spirit goes astray will come to understanding,
     and those who grumble will receive instruction.

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