The Siege of Jerusalem
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Ah, Ariel, Ariel, the city 1where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts run their round.
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Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be moaning and lamentation, and she shall be to me like an Ariel.a
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2And I will encamp against you all around, and will besiege you 3with towers and I will raise siegeworks against you.
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4And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak, and from the dust your speech will be bowed down; your voice shall come from the ground like 5the voice of a ghost, and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
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But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like 6small dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. 7And in an instant, suddenly,
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8you will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
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And 9the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her, shall be 10like a dream, a vision of the night.
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11As when a hungry man dreams he is eating and awakes with his hunger not satisfied, or as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
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Astonish yourselvesb and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; 12stagger, but not with strong drink!
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13For the LORD has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and covered your heads (the seers).
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And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is 14sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot, for it is sealed."
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And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, "Read this," he says, "I cannot read."
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And the Lord said: "Because 15this people 16draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
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therefore, behold, 17I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and 18the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden."
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Ah, 19you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel, whose deeds are 20in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us? Who knows us?"
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21You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, "He did not make me"; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?
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Is it not yet a very little while 22until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
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In that day 23the deaf shall hear 24the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness 25the eyes of the blind shall see.
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26The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
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For the ruthless shall come to nothing and 27the scoffer cease, and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
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who by a word make a man out to be an offender, and 28lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and with an empty plea 29turn aside him who is in the right.
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Therefore thus says the LORD, 30who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no more be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)