Isaiah 29

‘Ariel,

Jerusalem, the city where David

has put up his tents, you will suffer.

The years have come

and the years have gone,

and the people in the city

continue to celebrate.

₂But I will make the city suffer

and the people will cry and mourn.

Jerusalem will be full of blood

like an altar.

₃I will put up the tents of my soldiers

around the city and besiege them.

I will build towers and build ramps

against the walls of the city

so that the soldiers can get

into the city and attack the people.

₄The enemies will destroy the city

and the people in the city will die.

They will talk softly from the ground,

and people will think they are ghosts.

₅The cruel people who have oppressed

other people in the city

will become like sand, like chaff

that is blown away in the wind.

It will happen suddenly,

as fast as you can

close your eye and open it.

₆It is the Lord who rules over all who will do this.

He will punish the people in the city.

There will be thunder and earthquakes.

There will be a loud_noise and storms,

thunder and a lot of fires.

₇The people in the city

will think they are dreaming

when all the nations attack Jerusalem.

₈But these nations

who attack Mount_Zion will suffer.

They will be like a man

who is hungry and thirsty,

and he dreams that he is eating food,

but when he wakes up,

he is still hungry.

He dreams that he is drinking water,

but when he wakes up,

he is still thirsty and weak.’

₉Leaders of Jerusalem,

you do not know what to say,

and you are mute.

You are blind.

You have not drunk wine or beer

but you are drunk

and you walk like a man

who is going to fall down.

₁₀You are like that because the Lord

has made you like people

who are sleeping.

He has closed your eyes

and your minds,

so you can not think.

Your eyes were like prophets

and your heads were like seers.

₁₁Now you do not understand

what the Lord tells you.

It is like a book

that is closed and sealed.

You give it to someone who can read

and you say to him:

‘Please read what is written in the book.’

And he says: ‘I can not read it

because the book is sealed.’

₁₂Or you give the book to someone

who can not read and you say to him:

‘Please read this,’ and he says:

‘I can not read.’

‘These people come to Me and

they want to honour Me with their words

and the things they say.

But their hearts are far from Me,

and they do not love Me.

That is why they try to serve Me

with laws that people have made,

but those laws do not come from Me,

and I did not make them.

₁₄That is why I am going to do something

to these people that will shock them.

They will not know what has happened.

The wise people who think they know everything

will not understand.’

₁₅Some people think they can

make plans and hide them from the Lord

so that He will not know about them.

Those people will suffer,

and so will people who do something

in the dark and think that

the Lord can not see them.

They think the Lord does

not know what they are doing.

₁₆You are wrong.

You think that the potter is the clay.

The clay can not say to the potter:

‘You have not made me,

and you don't understand me.’

₁₇It will not be long

before everything will change.

The trees in the Lebanon Forest

will become fruit trees,

and on Mount Carmel

a lot of trees will grow,

and it will become a forest.

₁₈There are people who are deaf now,

but on that day they will hear

when someone reads the words

that are written in

the book that was sealed.

The blind people will see,

and they will not be

in the dark anymore.

₁₉The poor people

who are suffering now

will be happy because

the Lord will be with them.

He is the holy God of Israel.

₂₀There will be no more cruel people

who mock and do things that are wrong.

They will all die.

₂₁These are the people who say

that someone who

has done nothing wrong is guilty.

And when someone wants to punish

a person who has done wrong,

they want to stop him.

They want to punish people

who are living in the right way.

₂₂That is why the Lord who saved Abraham

is talking to the descendants of Jacob.

He says: ‘The Israelites

will not be ashamed anymore,

and they will know what to do.

₂₃Yes, when they see

how many of them there are,

they will honour my holy name.

They will honour and serve Me.

I am the holy God, the God of Israel.

₂₄Some people are confused now,

but all of them will understand.

Everyone who is not satisfied

and complains will be happy

to learn what is right.’