Isaiah 29:1-24 CEV

Isaiah 29:1-24 CEV [1] The LORD said: Jerusalem, city of David, the place of my altar, you are in for trouble! Celebrate your festivals year after year. [2] I will still make you suffer, and your people will cry when I make an altar of you. [3] I will surround you and prepare to attack from all sides. [4] From deep in the earth, you will call out for help with only a faint whisper. [5] Then your cruel enemies will suddenly be swept away like dust in a windstorm. [6] I, the LORD All-Powerful, will come to your rescue with a thundering earthquake and a fiery whirlwind. [7] Every brutal nation that attacks Jerusalem and makes it suffer will disappear like a dream when night is over. [8] Those nations that attack Mount Zion will suffer from hunger and thirst. They will dream of food and drink but wake up weary and hungry and thirsty as ever. [9] Be shocked and stunned, you prophets! Refuse to see. Get drunk and stagger, but not from wine. [10] The LORD has made you drowsy; he put you into a deep sleep and covered your head. [11] Now his message is like a sealed letter to you. Some of you say, "We can't read it, because it's sealed." [12] Others say, "We can't read it, because we don't know how to read." [13] The Lord has said: "These people praise me with their words, but they never really think about me. They worship me by repeating rules made up by humans. [14] So once again I will do things that shock and amaze them, and I will destroy the wisdom of those who claim to know and understand." [15] You are in for trouble, if you try to hide your plans from the LORD! Or if you think what you do in the dark can't be seen. [16] You have it all backwards. A clay dish doesn't say to the potter, "You didn't make me. You don't even know how." [17] Soon the forest of Lebanon will become a field with crops, thick as a forest. [18] The deaf will be able to hear whatever is read to them; the blind will be freed from a life of darkness. [19] The poor and the needy will celebrate and shout because of the LORD, the holy God of Israel. [20] All who are cruel and arrogant will be gone forever. Those who live by crime will disappear, [21] together with everyone who tells lies in court and keeps innocent people from getting a fair trial. [22] The LORD who rescued Abraham has this to say about Jacob's descendants: "They will no longer be ashamed and disgraced. [23] When they see how great I have made their nation, they will praise and honor me, the holy God of Israel. [24] Everyone who is confused will understand, and all who have complained will obey my teaching."

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