Font Size
Isaiah 29-32
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Isaiah 29-32
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Siege of Jerusalem
29 Woe to Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
let the festivals run their round.(A)
2 Yet I will oppress Ariel,
and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
and you[a] shall be to me like an Ariel.[b](B)
3 And like David[c] I will encamp against you;
I will besiege you with towers
and raise siegeworks against you.(C)
4 Then deep from the earth you shall speak;
from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.(D)
5 But the multitude of your arrogant ones[d] shall be like fine dust
and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,(E)
6 you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a devouring fire.(F)
7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
all that fight against her and her stronghold and who distress her,
shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.(G)
8 Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating
and wakes up still hungry
or a thirsty person dreams of drinking
and wakes up faint, still thirsty,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
that fight against Mount Zion.(H)
9 Be astounded and stunned;
blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk but not from wine;
stagger but not from strong drink!(I)
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you
a spirit of deep sleep;
he has closed your eyes (the prophets)
and covered your heads (the seers).(J)
11 The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read with the command, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot, for it is sealed.”(K) 12 And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” they say, “We cannot read.”
13 The Lord said:
Because these people draw near with their mouths
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me
and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote,(L)
14 so I will again do
amazing things with this people,
shocking and amazing.
The wisdom of their wise shall perish,
and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.(M)
15 Woe to those who hide a plan too deep for the Lord,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”(N)
16 You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay?
Shall the thing made say of its maker,
“He did not make me,”
or the thing formed say of the one who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?(O)
Hope for the Future
17 Shall not Lebanon in a very little while
become a fruitful field
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?(P)
18 On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,
and freed from gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.(Q)
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.(R)
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—(S)
21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate
and undermine justice for the one in the right.(T)
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“No longer shall Jacob be ashamed;
no longer shall his face grow pale.(U)
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.(V)
24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.”(W)
The Futility of Reliance on Egypt
30 Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,
who carry out a plan but not mine;
who make an alliance but against my will,
adding sin to sin;(X)
2 who set out to go down to Egypt
without asking for my counsel,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt.(Y)
3 Therefore the protection of Pharaoh shall become your shame,
and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt your humiliation.(Z)
4 For though his officials are at Zoan
and his envoys reach Hanes,(AA)
5 everyone comes to shame
through a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
only shame and disgrace.(AB)
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negeb.
Through a land of trouble and distress,
of lioness and roaring[e] lion,
of viper and flying serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on the humps of camels
to a people that cannot profit them.(AC)
7 For Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;
therefore I have called her,
“Rahab who sits still.”[f](AD)
A Rebellious People
8 Go now, write it before them on a tablet,
and inscribe it on a scroll,
so that it may be for the time to come
as a witness forever.(AE)
9 For they are a rebellious people,
faithless children,
children who will not hear
the instruction of the Lord;(AF)
10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us smooth things;
prophesy illusions;(AG)
11 leave the way; turn aside from the path;
let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”(AH)
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:
Because you reject this word
and put your trust in oppression and deceit
and rely on them,(AI)
13 therefore this iniquity shall become for you
like a break in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
whose crash comes suddenly, in an instant;(AJ)
14 its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel
that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a sherd is found
for taking fire from the hearth
or dipping water out of the cistern.(AK)
15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:
In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.
But you refused(AL) 16 and said,
‘No! We will flee upon horses’—
therefore you shall flee!
and, ‘We will ride upon swift steeds’—
therefore your pursuers shall be swift!(AM)
17 A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
at the threat of five you shall flee
until you are left
like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
like a signal on a hill.(AN)
God’s Promise to Zion
18 Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.(AO)
19 O people in Zion, inhabitants of Jerusalem, you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you.(AP) 20 Though the Lord may give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself any longer, but your eyes shall see your Teacher.(AQ) 21 And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”(AR) 22 Then you will defile your silver-covered idols and your gold-plated images. You will scatter them like impure things; you will say to them, “Away with you!”(AS)
23 He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures,(AT) 24 and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage that has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water—on a day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover, the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day when the Lord binds up the injuries of his people and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.(AU)
Judgment on Assyria
27 See, the name of the Lord comes from far away,
his anger burning and his burden heavy;[g]
his lips are full of indignation,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;(AV)
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck—
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads them astray.(AW)
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Rock of Israel.(AX) 30 And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and tempest and hailstones.(AY) 31 The Assyrian will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord when he strikes with his rod.(AZ) 32 And every stroke of the staff of punishment[h] that the Lord lays upon him will be to the sound of timbrels and lyres with dancing;[i] with brandished arm he will fight with him.(BA) 33 For his burning place[j] has long been prepared, also for the king;[k] its pyre is made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.(BB)
Alliance with Egypt Is Futile
31 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
and who rely on horses,
who trust in chariots because they are many
and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but do not look to the Holy One of Israel
or consult the Lord!(BC)
2 Yet he is wise and can bring disaster;
he does not depart from his words
but will rise against the house of the evildoers
and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.(BD)
3 The Egyptians are human and not God;
their horses are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
the helper will stumble, and the one helped will fall,
and they will all perish together.(BE)
4 For thus the Lord said to me,
“As a lion or a young lion growls over its prey
and, when a band of shepherds is called out against it,
is not terrified by their shouting
or daunted at their noise,
so the Lord of hosts will come down
to fight upon Mount Zion and upon its hill.(BF)
5 Like birds hovering overhead, so the Lord of hosts
will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
he will spare and rescue it.”(BG)
6 Turn back to him whom you[l] have deeply betrayed, O people of Israel.(BH) 7 For on that day all of you shall throw away your idols of silver and idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.(BI)
8 “Then the Assyrian shall fall by a sword not of mortals,
and a sword not of humans shall devour him;
he shall flee from the sword,
and his young men shall be put to forced labor.(BJ)
9 His rock shall pass away in terror,
and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion
and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.(BK)
Government with Justice Predicted
32 See, a king will reign in righteousness,
and princes[m] will rule with justice.(BL)
2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a covert from the tempest,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.(BM)
3 Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed,
and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.(BN)
4 The minds of the rash will have good judgment,
and the tongues of stammerers will speak readily and distinctly.(BO)
5 A fool will no longer be called noble
nor a villain said to be honorable.(BP)
6 For fools speak folly,
and their minds plot iniquity:
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.(BQ)
7 The villainies of villains are evil;
they devise wicked devices
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.(BR)
8 But those who are noble plan noble things,
and by noble things they stand.(BS)
Complacent Women Warned of Disaster
9 Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, listen to my speech.(BT)
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent ones,
for the vintage will fail;
the fruit harvest will not come.(BU)
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip and make yourselves bare,
and put sackcloth on your loins.(BV)
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,[n]
for the fruitful vine,(BW)
13 for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the jubilant city.(BX)
14 For the palace will be forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
the joy of wild asses,
a pasture for flocks;(BY)
15 until a spirit from on high is poured out on us,
and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.(BZ)
The Peace of God’s Reign
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.(CA)
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.(CB)
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 The forest will disappear completely,[o]
and the city will be utterly laid low.(CC)
20 Happy will you be who sow beside every stream,
who let the ox and the donkey range freely.(CD)
Footnotes
- 29.2 Cn Compare Q ms: MT she
- 29.2 That is, altar hearth
- 29.3 Heb mss Gk: MT like a circle
- 29.5 Q ms Compare Gk: MT strangers
- 30.6 Cn: Heb from them
- 30.7 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 30.27 Meaning of Heb uncertain
- 30.32 Heb mss Syr: MT foundation
- 30.32 Cn: Heb and with battles
- 30.33 Or Topheth
- 30.33 Or Molech
- 31.6 Heb they
- 32.1 Gk: Heb and for princes
- 32.12 Gk: Heb on the lamenting breasts
- 32.19 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Isaiah 29-32
New International Version
Isaiah 29-32
New International Version
Woe to David’s City
29 Woe(A) to you, Ariel, Ariel,(B)
the city(C) where David settled!
Add year to year
and let your cycle of festivals(D) go on.
2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;(E)
she will mourn and lament,(F)
she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a](G)
3 I will encamp against you on all sides;
I will encircle(H) you with towers
and set up my siege works(I) against you.
4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
your speech will mumble(J) out of the dust.(K)
Your voice will come ghostlike(L) from the earth;
out of the dust your speech will whisper.(M)
5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust,(N)
the ruthless(O) hordes like blown chaff.(P)
Suddenly,(Q) in an instant,
6 the Lord Almighty will come(R)
with thunder(S) and earthquake(T) and great noise,
with windstorm and tempest(U) and flames of a devouring fire.(V)
7 Then the hordes of all the nations(W) that fight against Ariel,(X)
that attack her and her fortress and besiege her,
will be as it is with a dream,(Y)
with a vision in the night—
8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating,
but awakens(Z) hungry still;
as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking,
but awakens faint and thirsty still.(AA)
So will it be with the hordes of all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.(AB)
9 Be stunned and amazed,(AC)
blind yourselves and be sightless;(AD)
be drunk,(AE) but not from wine,(AF)
stagger,(AG) but not from beer.
10 The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep:(AH)
He has sealed your eyes(AI) (the prophets);(AJ)
he has covered your heads (the seers).(AK)
11 For you this whole vision(AL) is nothing but words sealed(AM) in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says:
“These people(AN) come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,(AO)
but their hearts are far from me.(AP)
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[b](AQ)
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;(AR)
the wisdom of the wise(AS) will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.(AT)”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
to hide(AU) their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
“Who sees us?(AV) Who will know?”(AW)
16 You turn things upside down,
as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!(AX)
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed(AY) it,
“You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,(AZ)
“You know nothing”?(BA)
17 In a very short time,(BB) will not Lebanon(BC) be turned into a fertile field(BD)
and the fertile field seem like a forest?(BE)
18 In that day(BF) the deaf(BG) will hear the words of the scroll,
and out of gloom and darkness(BH)
the eyes of the blind will see.(BI)
19 Once more the humble(BJ) will rejoice in the Lord;
the needy(BK) will rejoice in the Holy One(BL) of Israel.
20 The ruthless(BM) will vanish,(BN)
the mockers(BO) will disappear,
and all who have an eye for evil(BP) will be cut down—
21 those who with a word make someone out to be guilty,
who ensnare the defender in court(BQ)
and with false testimony(BR) deprive the innocent of justice.(BS)
22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed(BT) Abraham,(BU) says to the descendants of Jacob:
“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;(BV)
no longer will their faces grow pale.(BW)
23 When they see among them their children,(BX)
the work of my hands,(BY)
they will keep my name holy;(BZ)
they will acknowledge the holiness of the Holy One(CA) of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 Those who are wayward(CB) in spirit will gain understanding;(CC)
those who complain will accept instruction.”(CD)
Woe to the Obstinate Nation
30 “Woe(CE) to the obstinate children,”(CF)
declares the Lord,
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine,
forming an alliance,(CG) but not by my Spirit,
heaping sin upon sin;
2 who go down to Egypt(CH)
without consulting(CI) me;
who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection,(CJ)
to Egypt’s shade for refuge.(CK)
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame,
Egypt’s shade(CL) will bring you disgrace.(CM)
4 Though they have officials in Zoan(CN)
and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
5 everyone will be put to shame
because of a people(CO) useless(CP) to them,
who bring neither help(CQ) nor advantage,
but only shame and disgrace.(CR)”
6 A prophecy(CS) concerning the animals of the Negev:(CT)
Through a land of hardship and distress,(CU)
of lions(CV) and lionesses,
of adders and darting snakes,(CW)
the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’(CX) backs,
their treasures(CY) on the humps of camels,
to that unprofitable nation,
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.(CZ)
Therefore I call her
Rahab(DA) the Do-Nothing.
8 Go now, write it on a tablet(DB) for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,(DC)
that for the days to come
it may be an everlasting witness.(DD)
9 For these are rebellious(DE) people, deceitful(DF) children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.(DG)
10 They say to the seers,(DH)
“See no more visions(DI)!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,(DJ)
prophesy illusions.(DK)
11 Leave this way,(DL)
get off this path,
and stop confronting(DM) us
with the Holy One(DN) of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One(DO) of Israel says:
“Because you have rejected this message,(DP)
relied on oppression(DQ)
and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
like a high wall,(DR) cracked and bulging,
that collapses(DS) suddenly,(DT) in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery,(DU)
shattered so mercilessly
that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
for taking coals from a hearth
or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15 This is what the Sovereign(DV) Lord, the Holy One(DW) of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest(DX) is your salvation,
in quietness and trust(DY) is your strength,
but you would have none of it.(DZ)
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee(EA) on horses.’(EB)
Therefore you will flee!
You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
at the threat of one;
at the threat of five(EC)
you will all flee(ED) away,
till you are left(EE)
like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
like a banner(EF) on a hill.”
18 Yet the Lord longs(EG) to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.(EH)
For the Lord is a God of justice.(EI)
Blessed are all who wait for him!(EJ)
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.(EK) How gracious he will be when you cry for help!(EL) As soon as he hears, he will answer(EM) you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread(EN) of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers(EO) will be hidden(EP) no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice(EQ) behind you, saying, “This is the way;(ER) walk in it.” 22 Then you will desecrate your idols(ES) overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold;(ET) you will throw them away like a menstrual(EU) cloth and say to them, “Away with you!(EV)”
23 He will also send you rain(EW) for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich(EX) and plentiful.(EY) In that day(EZ) your cattle will graze in broad meadows.(FA) 24 The oxen(FB) and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder(FC) and mash, spread out with fork(FD) and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter,(FE) when the towers(FF) fall, streams of water will flow(FG) on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26 The moon will shine like the sun,(FH) and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the Lord binds up the bruises of his people and heals(FI) the wounds he inflicted.
27 See, the Name(FJ) of the Lord comes from afar,
with burning anger(FK) and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,(FL)
and his tongue is a consuming fire.(FM)
28 His breath(FN) is like a rushing torrent,(FO)
rising up to the neck.(FP)
He shakes the nations in the sieve(FQ) of destruction;
he places in the jaws of the peoples
a bit(FR) that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;(FS)
your hearts will rejoice(FT)
as when people playing pipes(FU) go up
to the mountain(FV) of the Lord,
to the Rock(FW) of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice(FX)
and will make them see his arm(FY) coming down
with raging anger(FZ) and consuming fire,(GA)
with cloudburst, thunderstorm(GB) and hail.(GC)
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;(GD)
with his rod he will strike(GE) them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
with his punishing club(GF)
will be to the music of timbrels(GG) and harps,
as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.(GH)
33 Topheth(GI) has long been prepared;
it has been made ready for the king.
Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
with an abundance of fire and wood;
the breath(GJ) of the Lord,
like a stream of burning sulfur,(GK)
sets it ablaze.(GL)
Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt
31 Woe(GM) to those who go down to Egypt(GN) for help,
who rely on horses,(GO)
who trust in the multitude of their chariots(GP)
and in the great strength of their horsemen,
but do not look to the Holy One(GQ) of Israel,
or seek help from the Lord.(GR)
2 Yet he too is wise(GS) and can bring disaster;(GT)
he does not take back his words.(GU)
He will rise up against that wicked nation,(GV)
against those who help evildoers.
3 But the Egyptians(GW) are mere mortals and not God;(GX)
their horses(GY) are flesh and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,(GZ)
those who help will stumble,
those who are helped(HA) will fall;
all will perish together.(HB)
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“As a lion(HC) growls,
a great lion over its prey—
and though a whole band of shepherds(HD)
is called together against it,
it is not frightened by their shouts
or disturbed by their clamor(HE)—
so the Lord Almighty will come down(HF)
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5 Like birds hovering(HG) overhead,
the Lord Almighty will shield(HH) Jerusalem;
he will shield it and deliver(HI) it,
he will ‘pass over’(HJ) it and will rescue it.”
6 Return,(HK) you Israelites, to the One you have so greatly revolted(HL) against. 7 For in that day(HM) every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold(HN) your sinful hands have made.(HO)
8 “Assyria(HP) will fall by no human sword;
a sword, not of mortals, will devour(HQ) them.
They will flee before the sword
and their young men will be put to forced labor.(HR)
9 Their stronghold(HS) will fall because of terror;
at the sight of the battle standard(HT) their commanders will panic,(HU)”
declares the Lord,
whose fire(HV) is in Zion,
whose furnace(HW) is in Jerusalem.
The Kingdom of Righteousness
32 See, a king(HX) will reign in righteousness
and rulers will rule with justice.(HY)
2 Each one will be like a shelter(HZ) from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,(IA)
like streams of water(IB) in the desert(IC)
and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.
3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,(ID)
and the ears(IE) of those who hear will listen.
4 The fearful heart will know and understand,(IF)
and the stammering tongue(IG) will be fluent and clear.
5 No longer will the fool(IH) be called noble
nor the scoundrel be highly respected.
6 For fools speak folly,(II)
their hearts are bent on evil:(IJ)
They practice ungodliness(IK)
and spread error(IL) concerning the Lord;
the hungry they leave empty(IM)
and from the thirsty they withhold water.
7 Scoundrels use wicked methods,(IN)
they make up evil schemes(IO)
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy(IP) is just.(IQ)
8 But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds(IR) they stand.(IS)
The Women of Jerusalem
9 You women(IT) who are so complacent,
rise up and listen(IU) to me;
you daughters who feel secure,(IV)
hear what I have to say!
10 In little more than a year(IW)
you who feel secure will tremble;
the grape harvest will fail,(IX)
and the harvest of fruit will not come.
11 Tremble,(IY) you complacent women;
shudder, you daughters who feel secure!(IZ)
Strip off your fine clothes(JA)
and wrap yourselves in rags.(JB)
12 Beat your breasts(JC) for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vines(JD)
13 and for the land of my people,
a land overgrown with thorns and briers(JE)—
yes, mourn(JF) for all houses of merriment
and for this city of revelry.(JG)
14 The fortress(JH) will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;(JI)
citadel and watchtower(JJ) will become a wasteland forever,
the delight of donkeys,(JK) a pasture for flocks,(JL)
15 till the Spirit(JM) is poured on us from on high,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,(JN)
and the fertile field seems like a forest.(JO)
16 The Lord’s justice(JP) will dwell in the desert,(JQ)
his righteousness(JR) live in the fertile field.
17 The fruit of that righteousness(JS) will be peace;(JT)
its effect will be quietness and confidence(JU) forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful(JV) dwelling places,
in secure homes,(JW)
in undisturbed places of rest.(JX)
19 Though hail(JY) flattens the forest(JZ)
and the city is leveled(KA) completely,
20 how blessed you will be,
sowing(KB) your seed by every stream,(KC)
and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.(KD)
Footnotes
- Isaiah 29:2 The Hebrew for altar hearth sounds like the Hebrew for Ariel.
- Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.