| Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur. | 1“What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. |
| 2I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to me like an Ariel. | 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. |
| 3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with earth ramps, and I will set up my siege towers against you. | 3I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it. |
| 4You 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; 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. |
| 5Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing 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 punished by the LORD of Armies with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming 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. |
| 7All the many nations 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. | 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. |
| 8It 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. | 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.” |
| 9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer. | 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 on you an overwhelming urge to sleep; he has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers). | 10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries. |
| 11For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read it, 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.” |
| 12And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it, he will say, "I can't read." | 12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.” |
| 13The Lord said: These people approach me with their speeches to honor me with lip-service--yet their hearts are far from me, and human rules direct their worship of me. | 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, I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise will vanish, and the perception of their perceptive will be 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.” |
| 15Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in the dark, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows 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!” |
| 16You 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"? How can what is formed say about the one who formed it, "He doesn't understand what he's doing"? | 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”? |
| 17Isn't it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will 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 document, and out of a deep 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 have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor 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 one will vanish, the scorner will disappear, and all those who lie in wait with evil intent will be killed-- | 20The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed. |
| 21those who, with their speech, accuse a person of wrongdoing, who set a trap for the one mediating at the city gate and without cause deprive the righteous of justice. | 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. |
| 22Therefore, the LORD who redeemed Abraham says this about the house of Jacob: Jacob will no longer be ashamed, and his face will no longer be 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 his children, the work of my hands within his nation, they will honor my name, they will honor 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. |
| 24Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction. | 24Then the wayward will gain understanding, and complainers will accept instruction. |
| The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | 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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