Study Desk

Woe to Ariel,^[a] Ariel, the city where David camped!^(a) Continue year after year; let the festivals recur.

I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to Me like an Ariel.^[b]

I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you.

You will be brought down; you will speak from the ground, and your words will come from low in the dust. Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;^(b) your speech will whisper from the dust.

Your many foes^[c] will be like fine dust,^(c) and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,^(d)

you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.^(e)

All the many nations^(f) going out to battle against Ariel— all the attackers, the siege works against her, and those who oppress her— will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.^(g)

It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating, then wakes and is still hungry; and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking, then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water. So it will be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.

Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk,^[d] but not with wine; they stagger,^[e] but not with beer.^(h)

For the Lord has poured out on you an overwhelming urge to^[f] sleep;⁽ⁱ⁾ He has shut your eyes—the prophets, and covered your heads—the seers.^(j)

For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document.^(k) If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it,^[g] he will say, "I can't read it, because it is sealed."

And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it,^[h] he will say, "I can't read."

The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths^(l) to honor Me with lip-service^[i]— yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote—

therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder.^(m) The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,⁽ⁿ⁾ and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the Lord .^(o) They do their works in darkness, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"^(p)

You have turned things around, as if the potter were the same as the clay. How can what is made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"?^(q) How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn't understand what he's doing"?

Isn't it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest?^(r)

On that day the deaf will hear^(s) the words of a document, and out of a deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

The humble will have joy after joy in the Lord , and the poor people will rejoice^(t) in the Holy One of Israel.^(u)

For the ruthless one will vanish, the scorner will disappear,^(v) and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed—

those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap at the gate for the mediator, and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.^(w)

Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham^(x) says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed and his face will no longer be pale.

For when he sees his children, the work of My hands within his nation, they will honor My name, they will honor the Holy One of Jacob^(y) and stand in awe of the God of Israel.^(z)

Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.

Woe to the rebellious children!^(a) This is the Lord 's declaration. They carry out a plan,^(b) but not Mine; they make an alliance, but against My will, piling sin on top of sin.

They set out to go down to Egypt^(c) without asking My advice, in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shadow.^(d)

But Pharaoh's protection will become your shame, and refuge in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.^(e)

For though his^[a] princes are at Zoan^(f) and his messengers reach as far as Hanes,

everyone will be ashamed because of a people who can't help. They are of no benefit, they are no help; they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.^(g)

An oracle^(h) about the animals of the Negev:^[b] Through a land of trouble and distress, of lioness and lion, of viper and flying serpent,⁽ⁱ⁾ they carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who will not help them.

Egypt's help is completely worthless; therefore, I call her: Rahab Who Just Sits.^(j)

Go now, write it on a tablet in their presence and inscribe it on a scroll; it will be for the future, forever and ever.

They are a rebellious people, deceptive children,^(k) children who do not want to obey the Lord 's instruction.

They say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy the truth to us. Tell us flattering things.^(l) Prophesy illusions.

Get out of the way! Leave the pathway. Rid us of the Holy One of Israel."^(m)

Therefore the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message and have trusted in oppression and deceit, and have depended on them,

this iniquity⁽ⁿ⁾ of yours will be like a spreading breach, a bulge in a high wall whose collapse will come in an instant—suddenly!

Its collapse will be like the shattering of a potter's jar,^(o) crushed to pieces, so that not even a fragment of pottery will be found among its shattered remains— no fragment large enough to take fire from a hearth or scoop water from a cistern."

For the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel, has said: "You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. But you are not willing."

You say, "No! We will escape on horses"— therefore you will escape!— and, "We will ride on fast horses"— but those who pursue you will be faster.^(p)

One thousand will flee at the threat of one,^(q) at the threat of five you will flee, until you alone remain like a solitary pole on a mountaintop or a banner on a hill.

Therefore the Lord is waiting to show you mercy, and is rising up to show you compassion,^(r) for the Lord is a just God. All who wait patiently for Him are happy.

For you people will live on Zion in Jerusalem and will never cry again. He will show favor to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears, He will answer you.

The Lord will give you meager bread and water during oppression,^(s) but your Teacher^[c] will not hide Himself^[d] any longer. Your eyes will see your Teacher,^[e]

and whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: "This is the way. Walk in it."^(t)

Then you will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-plated images. You will throw them away like menstrual cloths, and call them filth.

Then He will send rain for your seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food, the produce of the ground, will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.^(u)

The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder scattered with winnowing shovel^(v) and fork.

Streams flowing with water will be on every high mountain and every raised hill on the day of great slaughter when the towers fall.

The moonlight will be as bright as the sunlight, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter^(w)—like the light of seven days—on the day^(x) that the Lord bandages His people's injuries and heals the wounds He inflicted.^(y)

Look, Yahweh^[f] comes from far away, His anger burning and heavy with smoke.^[g] His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a consuming fire.

His breath is like an overflowing torrent^(z) that rises to the neck.^(aa) He comes to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction and to put a bridle on the jaws of the peoples to lead them astray.^(ab)

Your singing will be like that on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the Lord , to the Rock of Israel.^(ac)

And the Lord will make the splendor of His voice heard and reveal His arm^(ad) striking in angry wrath and a flame of consuming fire, in driving rain, a torrent, and hailstones.

Assyria will be shattered by the voice of the Lord . He will strike with a rod.

And every stroke of the appointed^[h] staff that the Lord brings down on him will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres; He will fight against him with brandished weapons.

Indeed! Topheth has been ready^(ae) for the king for a long time now. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the Lord ,^(af) like a torrent of brimstone, kindles it.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help^(a) and who depend on horses! They trust in the abundance of chariots and in the large number of horsemen.^(b) They do not look^(c) to the Holy One of Israel and they do not seek the Lord 's help.

But He also is wise and brings disaster.^(d) He does not go back on what He says;^(e) He will rise up against the house of wicked men and against the allies of evildoers.

Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the Lord raises His hand to strike, the helper will stumble and the one who is helped will fall; both will perish together.

For this is what the Lord said to me: As a lion or young lion growls over its prey^(f) when a band of shepherds is called out against it, and is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their noise, so the Lord of Hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.^(g)

Like hovering birds, so the Lord of Hosts will protect Jerusalem^(h)— by protecting it, He will rescue it, by sparing it, He will deliver it.

Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.⁽ⁱ⁾

For on that day, every one of you will reject the silver and gold idols that your own hands have sinfully made.^(j)

Then Assyria will fall, but not by human sword; a sword will devour him, but not one made by man.^(k) He will flee from the sword; his young men will be put to forced labor.^(l)

His rock^[a] will pass away because of fear,^(m) and his officers will be afraid because of the signal flag.⁽ⁿ⁾ This is the Lord 's declaration—whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.^(o)

Indeed, a king will reign righteously, and rulers will rule justly.^(a)

Each will be like a shelter from the wind, a refuge from the rain,^(b) like streams of water^(c) in a dry land and the shade of a massive rock in an arid land.

Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.^(d)

The reckless mind will gain knowledge, and the stammering tongue^(e) will speak clearly and fluently.

A fool will no longer be called a noble,^(f) nor a scoundrel said to be important.

For a fool speaks foolishness and his mind plots iniquity. He lives in a godless way and speaks falsely about the Lord . He leaves the hungry empty and deprives the thirsty of drink.^(g)

The scoundrel's weapons are destructive; he hatches plots to destroy the needy with lies, even when the poor says what is right.

But a noble person plans noble things; he stands up for noble causes.

Stand up, you complacent women;^(h) listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters.

In a little more than a year you overconfident ones will shudder, for the vintage will fail and the harvest will not come.

Shudder, you complacent ones; tremble, you overconfident ones! Strip yourselves bare⁽ⁱ⁾ and put sackcloth around your waists.

Beat your breasts in mourning^(j) for the delightful fields and the fruitful vines,^(k)

for the ground of my people growing thorns and briers,^(l) indeed, for every joyous house in the joyful city.

For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become barren places forever, the joy of wild donkeys, and a pasture for flocks,

until the Spirit from heaven is poured out on us.^(m) Then the desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.⁽ⁿ⁾

Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the orchard.

The result of righteousness will be peace;^(o) the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever.

Then my people will dwell in a peaceful place, in safe and secure dwellings.

But hail will level the forest,^[a](p) and the city will sink into the depths.^(q)

Those who sow seed are happy beside abundant waters;^(r) they let ox and donkey range freely.^(s)

Woe, you destroyer never destroyed, you traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, they will betray you.^(a)

Lord , be gracious to us! We wait for You.^(b) Be our strength every morning and our salvation in time of trouble.^(c)

The peoples flee at the thunderous noise;^(d) the nations scatter when You rise in Your majesty.

Your spoil will be gathered as locusts are gathered; people will swarm over it like an infestation of locusts.

The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

There will be times of security for you— a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of the Lord is Zion's treasure.^(e)

Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets; the messengers of peace weep bitterly.^(f)

The highways are deserted; travel has ceased. An agreement has been broken,^(g) cities^[a] despised, and human life disregarded.

The land mourns and withers;^(h) Lebanon is ashamed and decayed. Sharon is like a desert; Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

"Now I will rise up,"⁽ⁱ⁾ says the Lord . "Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

You will conceive chaff;^(j) you will give birth to stubble. Your breath is fire that will consume you.

The peoples will be burned to ashes, like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.

You who are far off, hear what I have done; you who are near,^(k) know My strength."

The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the ungodly: "Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire?^(l) Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?"

The one who lives righteously and speaks rightly,^(m) who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots^[b] and shuts his eyes to avoid endorsing evil^[c](n)—

he will dwell on the heights; his refuge will be the rocky fortresses, his food provided, his water assured.

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;^(o) you will see a vast land.^(p)

Your mind will meditate on the past terror: "Where is the accountant?^[d] Where is the tribute collector?^[e] Where is the one who spied out our defenses?"^[f]

You will no longer see the barbarians, a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend— who stammer in a language that is not understood.^(q)

Look at Zion, the city of our festival times. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture,^(r) a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up nor will any of its cords be loosened.^(s)

For the majestic One, our Lord , will be there,^(t) a place of rivers and broad streams where ships that are rowed will not go, and majestic vessels will not pass.^(u)

For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our lawgiver,^(v) the Lord is our King. He will save us.^(w)

Your ropes are slack; they cannot hold the base of the mast or spread out the flag. Then abundant spoil will be divided, the lame will plunder it,

and none there will say, "I am sick." The people who dwell there will be forgiven^(x) their iniquity.^(y)