Isa 29
1
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities
are at an end.
2
And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and
it shall be to me as Ariel.
3
And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee,
and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.
4
Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall
be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the
python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter.
5
And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing
away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.
6
And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts
in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest,
and with the flame of devouring fire.
7
And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream
of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against
it.
8
And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty:
and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint
with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles,
that have fought against mount Sion.
9
Be astonished, and wander, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger,
and not with drunkenness.
10
For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your
eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.
11
And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which
when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he
shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.
12
And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to
him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.
13
And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with
their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with
the commandment and doctrines of men:
14
Therefore behold I will proceed to cause an admiration in this people, by a great
and wonderful miracle: for wisdom shall perish from their wise men, and the understanding
of their prudent men shall be hid.
15
Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works
are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?
16
This thought of yours is perverse: as if the clay should think against the potter,
and the work should say to the maker thereof: Thou madest me not: or the thing framed
should say to him that fashioned it: Thou understandest not.
17
Is it not yet a very little while, and Libanus shall be turned into charmel, and charmel
shall be esteemed as a forest?
18
And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness and
obscurity the eyes of the blind shall see.
19
And the meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor men shall rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel.
20
For he that did prevail hath failed, the scorner is consumed, and they are all cut
off that watched for iniquity:
21
That made men sin by word, and supplanted him that reproved them in the gate, and
declined in vain from the just.
22
Therefore thus saith the Lord to the house of Jacob, he that redeemed Abraham: Jacob
shall not now be confounded, neither shall his countenance now be ashamed:
23
But when he shall see his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him sanctifying
my name, and they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall glorify the God
of Israel:
24
And they that erred in spirit, shall know understanding, and they that murmured, shall
learn the law.