| International Standard Version | New Living Translation |
| 1"How terrible it will be for you, Aruel, Aruel, the city where David encamped! Year after year, let your festivals run their cycle. | 1“What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. |
| 2Then I'll besiege Aruel, and there will be sorrow and mourning; she will become to me like an altar fireplace. | 2Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means— an altar covered with blood. |
| 3Then I'll encamp against you like David, and I'll lay siege to you with towers, raise siege works against you, | 3I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it. |
| 4and you will be brought down. You will speak from the ground, and your speech will mumble from the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the ground, and your speech will whisper from the dust. | 4Then deep from the earth you will speak; from low in the dust your words will come. Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave. |
| 5"But the hordes of your enemies will become like fine dust, and the hordes of tyrants like flying chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, | 5“But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust. Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind. Suddenly, in an instant, |
| 6you will be visited by the LORD of the Heavenly Armies— with thunder, an earthquake, and great noise, with a windstorm, a tempest, and flames from a devouring fire. | 6I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire. |
| 7Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel, all that attack her and her fortification and besiege her, will become like a dream, with its visions in the night— | 7All the nations fighting against Jerusalem will vanish like a dream! Those who are attacking her walls will vanish like a vision in the night. |
| 8as when a hungry man dreams— he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams— he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion. | 8A hungry person dreams of eating but wakes up still hungry. A thirsty person dreams of drinking but is still faint from thirst when morning comes. So it will be with your enemies, with those who attack Mount Zion.” |
| 9"Act stupid! Be astonished! Act blind, and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger around, but not from strong drink. | 9Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor! |
| 10For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep— he has closed your eyes, you prophets, he has covered your heads, you seers!" | 10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries. |
| 11"And this entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book. When people give it to someone who can read, and say, 'Read this, please,' he answers, 'I cannot, because it is sealed.' | 11All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” |
| 12Or when they give the book to someone who cannot read, and say, 'Read this, please,' he answers, 'I don't know how to read.'" | 12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.” |
| 13Then the Lord said: "Because these people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, worship of me has become merely like rules taught by human beings. | 13And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. |
| 14Therefore, watch out! "As for me, I will once again do amazing things with this people, wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the insights of their discerning men will stay hidden." | 14Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.” |
| 15"How terrible it will be for you who go to great depths to hide your plans from the LORD, you whose deeds have been done in the dark, and who say, 'Who can see us? Who has recognized us?' | 15What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The LORD can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!” |
| 16He has turned the tables on you — as if the potter were thought to be like heat. Can what is made say of the one who made it, 'He did not make me?' Or can what is formed say of the ones who formed it, 'He has no skill?' | 16How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? |
| 17"In a very little while, will not Lebanon be turned into a garden of fruit, and the garden of fruit seem like a forest? | 17Soon—and it will not be very long— the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. |
| 18On that day the deaf will hear the words of a scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see. | 18In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. |
| 19The humble will again experience joy in the LORD, and the poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. | 19The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the LORD. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. |
| 20For the ruthless will vanish, and mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down— | 20The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed. |
| 21those who make a person appear to be the offender in a lawsuit, who set a trap for someone who is making his defense in court, and push aside the innocent with specious arguments. | 21Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent. |
| 22"Therefore, this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: 'No longer will Jacob be ashamed; no longer will his face grow pale. | 22That is why the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel, “My people will no longer be ashamed or turn pale with fear. |
| 23For when he sees in his midst his children, the work of my hands, they will keep my name holy; they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel. | 23For when they see their many children and all the blessings I have given them, they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in awe of the God of Israel. |
| 24Moreover, those who go astray in spirit will gain understanding, and those who complain will accept instruction.'" | 24Then the wayward will gain understanding, and complainers will accept instruction. |
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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