| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“What sorrow awaits Ariel, the City of David. Year after year you celebrate your feasts. | 1Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur. |
| 2Yet I will bring disaster upon you, and there will be much weeping and sorrow. For Jerusalem will become what her name Ariel means— an altar covered with blood. | 2And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me. |
| 3I will be your enemy, surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls. I will build siege towers and destroy it. | 3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you. |
| 4Then deep from the earth you will speak; from low in the dust your words will come. Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave. | 4You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust. |
| 5“But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust. Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind. Suddenly, in an instant, | 5But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, |
| 6I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, will act for you with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and storm and consuming fire. | 6you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire. |
| 7All the nations fighting against Jerusalem will vanish like a dream! Those who are attacking her walls will vanish like a vision in the night. | 7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night, |
| 8A hungry person dreams of eating but wakes up still hungry. A thirsty person dreams of drinking but is still faint from thirst when morning comes. So it will be with your enemies, with those who attack Mount Zion.” | 8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion. |
| 9Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor! | 9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink. |
| 10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries. | 10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. |
| 11All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them. When you give it to those who can read, they will say, “We can’t read it because it is sealed.” | 11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” |
| 12When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, “We don’t know how to read.” | 12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.” |
| 13And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote. | 13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men. |
| 14Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.” | 14Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.” |
| 15What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their evil deeds in the dark! “The LORD can’t see us,” they say. “He doesn’t know what’s going on!” | 15Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?” |
| 16How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? | 16You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”? |
| 17Soon—and it will not be very long— the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops. | 17In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest? |
| 18In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. | 18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see. |
| 19The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the LORD. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. | 19The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. |
| 20The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed. | 20For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down— |
| 21Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear. A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent. | 21those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice. |
| 22That is why the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says to the people of Israel, “My people will no longer be ashamed or turn pale with fear. | 22Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale. |
| 23For when they see their many children and all the blessings I have given them, they will recognize the holiness of the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in awe of the God of Israel. | 23For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel. |
| 24Then the wayward will gain understanding, and complainers will accept instruction. | 24Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.” |
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