1Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the town where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let the festivals come round in order;
2Yet will I distress Ariel, and there shall be groaning and wailing: and it shall be unto me like Ariel.
3And I will encamp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with hostile posts, and I will raise up entrenchments against thee.
4And brought down low, shalt thou speak [as though] out of the earth, and out of the dust shall come forth thy speech; and like one of a familiar spirit out of the earth shall be thy voice, and out of the dust shalt thou whisper forth thy speech.
5And like the small dust shall be the multitude of thy barbarian enemies, and like the passing chaff the multitude of tyrants; and [this] shall be at unawares, suddenly.
6From the Lord of hosts shall the visitation come with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the devouring flame of fire.
7And as a dream of a night-vision shall be the multitude of all the nations that go to war against Ariel, even all that fight against her and raise towers against her, and that distress her.
8And it shall even be as when a hungry man dreameth, that, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, that, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul yet longeth: so shall it be with the multitude of all the nations, that go to war against mount Zion.
9Stay but still and wonder; turn your eyes away, and be blinded; they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10For the Lord hath poured out over you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: [over] the prophets, and your chiefs, the seers, hath he cast a vail.
11And the vision of every thing is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12And the book is then delivered to one that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read.
13And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is but the acquired precept of men;
14Therefore, behold, I will do yet farther a marvelous work with this people, doing wonder on wonder; so that the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.
15Woe unto those that seek to hide deeply their counsel from the Lord, so that their works may be in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
16Oh your perverseness! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? that the work shall say of its maker, He hath not made me? or shall the thing framed say of its framer, He had no understanding?
17Lo! but yet a very little while more, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest!
18And on that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and out of obscurity, and out of darkness, shall the eyes of the blind see.
19And the sufferers shall have abundant joy in the Lord, and the needy among men shall be glad in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the tyrant is no more, and consumed is the scorner, and cut off are all that watch for injustice;
21That cause mankind to sin by [their] word; and lay a snare for him that reproveth [them] in the gate; and pervert through fraud the cause of the just.
22Therefore thus hath said the Lord unto the house of Jacob, he who hath redeemed Abraham, Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, and not now shall his face be made pale.
23For when he seeth his children, the work of my hands in the midst of him, how they sanctify my name: then will they sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel will they reverence.
24They also that were erring in spirit shall acquire understanding, and they that murmured shall obtain instruction.