1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! Snatch away year after year; let the feasts come around.
2 Then I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; and it shall be to me as Ariel.
3 And I will encamp against you all around, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise siege works against you.
4 And you shall be brought down; you shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be like a medium out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5 And the multitude of your strangers shall be like fine dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away; yea, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.
6 You shall be visited by Jehovah of Hosts with thunder, and with earthquake and loud sounds, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
7 And the multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, shall be like a dream of a night vision.
8 It shall even be as when a hungry one dreams, and behold, he eats, but he awakes and his soul is still empty; or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks, but he awakes, and behold, he is still faint and his soul craves. So shall it be with the multitude of all the nations who fight against mount Zion.
9 Wait and wonder! Smear your eyes shut, blind! They have become drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For Jehovah has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; He has covered the prophets and your heads, the seers.
11 And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one who is literate saying, Please read this; and he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.
12 And the book is delivered to him who is not literate, saying, Please read this; and he says, I am not literate.
13 Therefore Jehovah said, Whereas this people draw near with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men;
14 therefore, behold, I will again do among this people something extraordinary and wonderful. For the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hidden.
15 Woe to those who are profound to hide their counsel from Jehovah! And their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? And, Who knows us?
16 O your perversity! Shall the former be esteemed as the potters clay; for shall the product say of him who made it, He did not make me? Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, He has had no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest.
18 And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of their gloom and darkness.
19 And the meek shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scorner is destroyed, and all who look after iniquity are cut off;
21 those who induce a man to sin by a word, and lay a snare for the judge in the gate, and turn aside the just for vanity.
22 Therefore thus says Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now become pale.
23 But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, they shall sanctify My name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.
24 Those who erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmured shall learn doctrine.