| Holman Christian Standard Bible | NET Bible |
| 1Woe to Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped! Continue year after year; let the festivals recur. | 1Ariel is as good as dead--Ariel, the town David besieged! Keep observing your annual rituals, celebrate your festivals on schedule. |
| 2I will oppress Ariel, and there will be mourning and crying, and she will be to Me like an Ariel. | 2I will threaten Ariel, and she will mourn intensely and become like an altar hearth before me. |
| 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 lay siege to you on all sides; I will besiege you with troops; I will raise siege works against you. |
| 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. | 4You will fall; while lying on the ground you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation. |
| 5Your many foes will be like fine dust, and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, | 5But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust, the horde of tyrants like chaff that is blown away. It will happen suddenly, in a flash. |
| 6you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise, storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire. | 6Judgment will come from the LORD who commands armies, accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise, by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of 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. | 7It will be like a dream, a night vision. There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel, those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her. |
| 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. | 8It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating, only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty. It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking, only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched. So it will be for the horde from all the nations that fight against Mount Zion. |
| 9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with beer. | 9You will be shocked and amazed! You are totally blind! They are drunk, but not because of wine; they stagger, but not because of beer. |
| 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 strong urge to sleep deeply. He has shut your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers). |
| 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." | 11To you this entire prophetic revelation is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read and say, "Read this," he responds, "I can't, 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." | 12Or when they hand the scroll to one who can't read and say, "Read this," he says, "I can't read." |
| 13The Lord said: Because these people approach Me with their mouths to honor Me with lip-service-- yet their hearts are far from Me, and their worship consists of man-made rules learned by rote-- | 13The sovereign master says, "These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual. |
| 14therefore I will again confound these people with wonder after wonder. The wisdom of their wise men will vanish, and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden. | 14Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people--an absolutely extraordinary deed. Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations." |
| 15Woe to those who go to great lengths to hide their plans from the LORD. They do their works in darkness, and say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?" | 15Those who try to hide their plans from the LORD are as good as dead, who do their work in secret and boast, "Who sees us? Who knows what we're doing?" |
| 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"? | 16Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? Or should the pottery say about the potter, "He doesn't understand"? |
| 17Isn't it true that in just a little while Lebanon will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest? | 17In just a very short time Lebanon will turn into an orchard, and the orchard will be considered a forest. |
| 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. | 18At that time the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll, and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. |
| 19The humble will have joy after joy in the LORD, and the poor people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. | 19The downtrodden will again rejoice in the LORD; the poor among humankind will take delight 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-- | 20For tyrants will disappear, those who taunt will vanish, and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated-- |
| 21those 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. | 21those who bear false testimony against a person, who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges. |
| 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. | 22So this is what the LORD, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob: "Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment. |
| 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 children, whom I will produce among them, they will honor my name. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; they will respect the God of Israel. |
| 24Those who are confused will gain understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction. | 24Those who stray morally will gain understanding; those who complain will acquire insight. |
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