Isaiah 29 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Tragedy is coming to you Ariel, Ariel the city where David lived! Year after year you have your festivals.
1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around;
2 But I'm going to cause trouble for Ariel; the city will cry and mourn, it will be like an altar hearth to me.
2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.
3 I will surround you, I will besiege you with towers and build ramps to attack you.
3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will be brought down, you will speak from where you're lying on the ground, mumbling in the dust. Your words will come like a ghost from the grave; your voice will be a whisper from the dust.
4 You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5 But then all your enemies will become like fine dust; all your cruel oppressors like chaff that's blown away. Then suddenly, in no time at all,
5 But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
6 the Lord Almighty will arrive with thunder, earthquake, and tremendous noise, with whirlwind, storm, and flames of fire that burn everything up.
6 She will be visited by Yahweh of Armies with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.
7 The nations besieging Ariel, attacking its fortifications and tormenting the people, they will all disappear as if it was a dream!
7 The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 It will be like someone hungry dreaming that they're eating but who wakes up still hungry. It will be like someone thirsty dreaming of drinking but who wakes up still weak and thirsty. This is what it will be like for all your enemies, the ones attacking Mount Zion.
8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn’t satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.
9 Be shocked and amazed! Make yourselves blind so you can't see! Get drunk, but not from wine! Stagger around, but not from beer!
9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For the Lord has made you very sleepy, and he has shut the eyes and covered the heads of those who speak for God and see visions.
10 For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.
11 This entire vision is like words in a scroll that is sealed shut. If you give it to someone who knows how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I can't read it because it's sealed shut.”
11 All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t, for it is sealed;”
12 If you give it to someone who doesn't know how to read and say, “Please read it,” they'll say, “I don't know how to read.”
12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, “Read this, please;” and he says, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord says, “These people come and praise me with their words, and honor me with lip service, but their thoughts are miles away. Their worship of me only consists of them following rules people have taught them.
13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;
14 So once again I will surprise these people with miracle upon miracle. The wisdom of the wise will die, and the insight of the insightful will disappear.”
14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.”
15 Tragedy is coming to people who take such trouble to hide their plans from the Lord. They work in the dark and say to themselves, “Nobody can see us, can they? Nobody will know, will they?”
15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”
16 How perverse you are! It's as if the clay was thought of as making the potter! Should something made say to its maker, “You didn't make me”? Can the pot tell the potter, “You don't understand anything”?
16 You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay, that the thing made should say about him who made it, “He didn’t make me;” or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?
17 It won't be long and the forests of Lebanon will be turned into a productive field, and a productive field will seem like a forest.
17 Isn’t it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?
18 At that time the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and the eyes of the blind will see through the gloomy darkness what's written there.
18 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
19 The humble will be even happier in the Lord, and the poor will find their joy in the Holy One of Israel.
19 The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 Cruel people will no longer exist, the scornful will vanish, and those looking to do evil will be destroyed—
20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off—
21 those who say things to trick others into sin, those who trap people by legal arguments in court, those who lie to mislead the innocent.
21 who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for one who reproves in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.
22 So this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, says to the descendants of Jacob: “You don't need to be ashamed anymore; your faces won't grow pale with fright any longer.
22 Therefore Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale.
23 When you see all your children and everything I've done for you, then you will regard my character as holy, and you will respect the Holy One of Jacob. You will have reverence for the God of Israel.
23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the middle of him, 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 Those who've gone astray will understand their mistakes; those who grumble will learn how to receive instruction.”
24 They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction.”
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Amos 4:4–5; 2 Samuel 5:9; Micah 6:6–7; Hosea 5:6; Ezekiel 43:15–16
- 2 Isaiah 5:25–30; Revelation 19:17–18; Zephaniah 1:7–8; Ezekiel 39:17; Isaiah 34:6
- 3 Luke 19:43–44; Ezekiel 21:22; 2 Kings 24:11–12; 2 Kings 18:17; Matthew 22:7
- 4 Isaiah 8:19; Psalm 44:25; Isaiah 3:8; Isaiah 51:23; Isaiah 2:11–21
- 5 1 Thessalonians 5:3; Isaiah 37:36; Isaiah 30:13; Isaiah 31:3; Isaiah 17:13–14
- 6 Mark 13:8; Matthew 24:7; Revelation 11:19; Revelation 16:18; 1 Samuel 2:10
- 7 Job 20:8; Zechariah 12:9; Micah 4:11–12; Psalm 73:20; Zechariah 14:12–15
- 8 Isaiah 44:12; Psalm 73:20; Isaiah 10:7–16; 2 Chronicles 32:21
- 9 Isaiah 51:21–22; Revelation 17:6; Isaiah 19:14; Isaiah 33:13–14; Isaiah 49:26
- 10 Romans 11:8; Isaiah 44:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:9–12; Isaiah 6:9–10; Acts 28:26–27
- 11 Matthew 13:11; Daniel 12:4; Isaiah 8:16; Daniel 12:9; Matthew 11:25
- 12 John 7:15–16; Isaiah 29:18; Hosea 4:6; Isaiah 28:12–13; Jeremiah 5:4
- 13 Jeremiah 12:2; Ezekiel 33:31–33; Mark 7:2–13; Matthew 15:2–9; Jeremiah 3:10
- 14 Habakkuk 1:5; 1 Corinthians 1:19–24; Isaiah 28:21; Jeremiah 49:7; John 9:39–41
- 15 Ezekiel 8:12; Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 30:1; Psalm 94:7–9; Zephaniah 1:12
- 16 Romans 9:19–21; Isaiah 64:8; Isaiah 45:9–11; Psalm 94:8–9; Jeremiah 18:1–10
- 17 Isaiah 32:15; Matthew 19:30; Hebrews 10:37; Ezekiel 20:46–47; Psalm 84:6
- 18 Matthew 11:5; Isaiah 35:5; Proverbs 20:12; Ephesians 1:17–19; Psalm 119:18
- 19 James 2:5; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 11:29; Matthew 5:5; Psalm 25:9
- 20 Micah 2:1; Isaiah 28:14–22; Luke 16:14; Isaiah 29:5; Isaiah 59:4
- 21 Amos 5:10–12; James 5:6; Acts 3:14; Jeremiah 26:2–8; Luke 11:53–54
- 22 Isaiah 45:17; Jeremiah 30:10; Isaiah 51:2; 1 Peter 1:18–19; Joel 2:27
- 23 Isaiah 19:25; Ephesians 2:10; Isaiah 45:11; Isaiah 8:13; Isaiah 5:16
- 24 Isaiah 28:7; Hebrews 5:2; Luke 15:17–19; Revelation 20:2–3; 1 Timothy 1:13–15
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." And again: "They bless with their mouth, but curse with their heart." And again it saith, "They loved Him with their mouth, and lied to Him with their tongue; but their heart was not right with Him, neither …
As also Isaiah says: "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me: howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching the doctrines and the commandments of men." He does not call the law given by Moses commandments of men, but the traditions of the elders themselves which they had invented, and in upholding which …
But He fulfills what the holy prophets truly predicted regarding Him: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nought the prudence of the prudent." For He does not destroy and bring to nought His own gift in them, but what they arrogate to themselves, and do not hold of Him.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Have ye not heard the prophet, saying (or rather God by the prophet), "This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me?" Therefore, lest this be our case too, wipe thou out the letters, or rather the impressions, which the devil hath engraven in thy soul; and bring me a heart set free from worldly …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… a son; and if a son, then an heir through God." And "like as Christ was raised up from the dead by (dia) the glory of God the Father." ^ Isaiah, moreover, says, "Woe unto them that make deep counsel and not through the Lord;" and many proofs of the use of this phrase in the case of the Spirit …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)