29
1 Hoy (woe, doom) to Ariel,* to Ariel, the city where Dovid dwelt!
Add ye shanah to shanah;
let chaggim (feasts) cycle around.
2 Yet I will distress Ariel,
and there shall be heaviness and sorrow;
and it shall be unto me as ariel (altar hearth).†
3 And I will besiege thee all around,
and will lay siege against thee with towers,
and I will raise metzurot (siegeworks) against thee.
4 And thou shalt be brought low, and shalt speak me'eretz (out of the ground),
and thy speech shall whisper out of the aphar,
and thy voice shall be, like an ov (mediumʼs that has a familiar spirit), out of the ground,
and thy speech shall whisper out of the aphar.
5 Moreover the multitude of thy foes shall be like fine dust,
and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as motz (chaff) that in passing bloweth away; indeed,
it shall be at an instant suddenly.
6 Thou shalt be visited [in punishment] by Hashem Tzva'os
with ra'am (thunder), and with earthquake, and a kol gadol,
with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring eish.
7 And the multitude of kol HaGoyim
that fight against Ariel,
even all that fight against her
and her metzadah, and that besiege her,
shall be as a chalom (dream)
of a chazon lailah (night vision).
8 It shall even be
as when a hungry man hath a chalom, and, hinei, he eateth;
but he awaketh, and his nefesh is empty;
or as when a thirsty man hath a chalom, and, hinei, he drinketh;
but he awaketh, and, hinei, he is faint,
and his nefesh still thirsts;
so shall the multitude of kol HaGoyim be,
that fight against Har Tziyon.
9 Pause, and wonder?
Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunken, but not with yayin;
they stagger, but not with strong drink.
10 For Hashem hath poured out upon you
the ruach tardemah (spirit of deep sleep),
and hath closed your eynayim; namely, that of the nevi'im
and your heads, you seers, hath He covered.
11 And the whole vision is become unto you as the devarim of a sefer that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, now; and he saith, I am not able; for it is sealed; 12 And the sefer is delivered to him that with the sefer has no da'as, saying, Read this, now; and he saith, I cannot read this. With sefer I have no da'as.
13 Therefore Adonoi says,
Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their peh,
and with their sfatayim do honor Me,
but have removed their lev far from Me,
and their fear toward Me
is mitzvat anashim melummadah (human commandments taught by rote);
14 Therefore, hineni, I will again do an astonishing work among this people,
even a marvellous work and a peleh (wonder);
for the chochmah of their chachamim shall perish,
and the binah (understanding) of their sages shall vanish.
15 Hoy (woe, doom) unto them that go to great depths to hide their etzah (plan) from Hashem,
and their ma'asim are in the dark,
and they say, Who seeth us?
And who knoweth us?
16 Surely you have things turned around.
Shall the Yotzer be esteemed as equal with the khomer (clay);
for shall the ma'aseh say of him that made it,
He made me not?
Or shall the thing formed say of Him that formed it,
He had no understanding?
17 Is it not yet a very little while,
and Levanon shall be turned into a carmel,
and the carmel shall be esteemed as a ya'ar (forest)?
18 And in that day shall the chereshim (deaf persons)
hear the devarim of the sefer,
and the eynayim of the ivrim
shall see out of obscurity, and out of choshech.
19 The anaviyim also shall increase their simchah in Hashem,
and the evyonei adam (needy of humankind) s
hall rejoice in the Kadosh Yisroel.
20 For the terrifying one is brought to naught,
and the scoffer is consumed,
and all that strive for avon are cut off;
21 That make an adam an offender with a devar,
and lay a snare for the mokhiach (reprover, defender) in the sha'ar (gate, court),
and turn aside the tzaddik from justice.
22 Therefore thus saith Hashem, who redeemed Avraham, concerning Bais Ya'akov:
Ya'akov shall not now be ashamed,
neither shall his face now grow fearfully pale.
23 But when he seeth his banim,
the ma'aseh of Mine hands, in his midst,
they shall set apart as kodesh Shmi (My Name),
and set apart as kodesh the Kadosh Ya'akov,
and shall fear the Elohei Yisroel.
24 They also that erred in ruach shall know binah (understanding),
and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
* 29:1 i.e., Yerushalayim † 29:2 See Ezek 43:15