Isaiah 29
29God's altar, Jerusalem itself, is doomed! The city where David camped is doomed! Let another year or two come and go, with its feasts and festivals,H1945H740H740H7151H1732H2583H5595H8141H8141H5362H22822and then God will bring disaster on the city that is called "God's altar." There will be weeping and wailing, and the whole city will be like an altar covered with blood.H6693H740H8386H592H7403God will attack the city, surround it, and besiege it.H2583H1754H6696H4674H6965H46944Jerusalem will be like a ghost struggling to speak from under the ground, a muffled voice coming from the dust.H8213H1696H776H565H7817H6083H6963H178H776H565H6850H60835Jerusalem, all the foreigners who attack you will be blown away like dust, and their terrifying armies will fly away like straw. Suddenly and unexpectedlyH1995H2114H1851H80H1995H6184H4671H5674H6621H65976the LORD Almighty will rescue you with violent thunderstorms and earthquakes. He will send windstorms and raging fire;H6485H3068H6635H7482H7494H1419H6963H5492H5591H3851H398H7847then all the armies of the nations attacking the city of God's altar, all their weapons and equipment - everything - will vanish like a dream, like something imagined in the night.H1995H1471H6633H740H6638H4685H6693H2472H3915H23778All the nations that assemble to attack Jerusalem will be like a starving person who dreams he is eating and wakes up hungry, or like someone dying of thirst who dreams he is drinking and wakes with a dry throat.H7457H2492H398H6974H5315H7386H834H6771H2492H8354H6974H5889H5315H8264H1995H1471H6633H2022H67269Go ahead and be stupid! Go ahead and be blind! Get drunk without any wine! Stagger without drinking a drop!H4102H8539H8173H8173H7937H3196H5128H794110The LORD has made you drowsy, ready to fall into a deep sleep. The prophets should be the eyes of the people, but God has blindfolded them.H3068H5258H7307H8639H6105H5869H5030H7218H2374H368011The meaning of every prophetic vision will be hidden from you; it will be like a sealed scroll. If you take it to someone who knows how to read and ask him to read it to you, he will say he can't because it is sealed.H2380H1697H5612H2856H5414H3045H559H7121H559H3201H285612If you give it to someone who can't read and ask him to read it to you, he will answer that he doesn't know how.H5612H5414H3045H5612H559H7121H559H304513The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.H136H559H3282H5971H5066H6310H8193H3513H7368H3820H7368H3374H3925H4687H58214So I will startle them with one unexpected blow after another. Those who are wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless."H3254H6381H5971H6381H6382H2451H2450H6H998H995H564115Those who try to hide their plans from the LORD are doomed! They carry out their schemes in secret and think no one will see them or know what they are doing.H1945H6009H5641H6098H3068H4639H4285H559H7200H304516They turn everything upside down. Which is more important, the potter or the clay? Can something you have made say, "You didn't make me"? Or can it say, "You don't know what you are doing"?H2017H2803H3335H2563H4639H559H6213H6213H3336H559H3335H99517As the saying goes, before long the dense forest will become farmland, and the farmland will go back to forest.H4213H4592H3844H7725H3759H3759H2803H329318When that day comes, the deaf will be able to hear a book being read aloud, and the blind, who have been living in darkness, will open their eyes and see.H3117H2795H8085H1697H5612H5869H5787H7200H652H282219Poor and humble people will once again find the happiness which the LORD, the holy God of Israel, gives.H6035H3254H8057H3068H34H120H1523H6918H347820It will be the end of those who oppress others and show contempt for God. Every sinner will be destroyed.H6184H656H3887H3615H8245H205H377221God will destroy those who slander others, those who prevent the punishment of criminals, and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.H120H2398H1697H6983H3198H8179H5186H6662H841422So now the LORD, the God of Israel, who rescued Abraham from trouble, says, "My people, you will not be disgraced any longer, and your faces will no longer be pale with shame.H559H3068H6299H85H1004H3290H3290H954H6440H235723When you see the children that I will give you, then you will acknowledge that I am the holy God of Israel. You will honor me and stand in awe of me.H7200H3206H4639H3027H7130H6942H8034H6942H6918H3290H6206H430H347824Foolish people will learn to understand, and those who are always grumbling will be glad to be taught."H8582H7307H3045H998H7279H3925H3948
Columbus, OH
