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Jerusalem Will Suffer

The Lord said:

29 Jerusalem, city of David,
the place of my altar,[a]
    you are in for trouble!
Celebrate your festivals
    year after year.
I will still make you suffer,
and your people will cry
    when I make an altar of you.[b]
I will surround you and prepare
    to attack from all sides.[c]
From deep in the earth,
you will call out for help
    with only a faint whisper.

Then your cruel enemies
will suddenly be swept away
    like dust in a windstorm.
I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    will come to your rescue
with a thundering earthquake
    and a fiery whirlwind.

Every brutal nation
that attacks Jerusalem
    and makes it suffer
will disappear like a dream
    when night is over.
Those nations that attack
    Mount Zion
will suffer from hunger
    and thirst.
They will dream of food and drink
but wake up weary and hungry
    and thirsty as ever.

Prophets Who Fool Themselves

Be shocked and stunned,
    you prophets!
Refuse to see.
Get drunk and stagger,
    but not from wine.
10 (A) The Lord has made you drowsy;
he put you into a deep sleep
    and covered your head.

11 Now his message is like a sealed letter to you. Some of you say, “We can't read it, because it's sealed.” 12 Others say, “We can't read it, because we don't know how to read.”

13 (B) The Lord has said:

“These people praise me
    with their words,
but they never really
    think about me.
They worship me by repeating
    rules made up by humans.
14 (C) So once again I will do things
    that shock and amaze them,
and I will destroy the wisdom
of those who claim to know
    and understand.”

15 You are in for trouble,
if you try to hide your plans
    from the Lord!
Or if you think what you do
    in the dark can't be seen.
16 (D) You have it all backwards.
A clay dish doesn't say
    to the potter,
“You didn't make me.
    You don't even know how.”

Hope for the Future

17 Soon the forest of Lebanon
will become a field with crops,
    thick as a forest.[d]
18 The deaf will be able to hear
    whatever is read to them;
the blind will be freed
    from a life of darkness.
19 The poor and the needy
    will celebrate and shout
because of the Lord,
    the holy God of Israel.

20 All who are cruel and arrogant
    will be gone forever.
Those who live by crime
    will disappear,
21 together with everyone
    who tells lies in court
and keeps innocent people
    from getting a fair trial.

22 The Lord who rescued Abraham
has this to say
    about Jacob's descendants:
“They will no longer
    be ashamed and disgraced.
23 When they see how great
    I have made their nation,
they will praise and honor me,
    the holy God of Israel.
24 Everyone who is confused
    will understand,
and all who have complained
    will obey my teaching.”

Footnotes

  1. 29.1 the place of my altar: One possible meaning for “ariel, ariel” of the Hebrew text. In Hebrew “ariel” can mean “God's hero” or “God's lion” or “God's altar.”
  2. 29.2 when … you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  3. 29.3 from all sides: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text. One ancient translation has “like David.”
  4. 29.17 with … forest: Or “and Mount Carmel will be covered with forests.”

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