# Isaiah 29 đź“–: Woe to Ariel
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> [!info] Table of Contents
> [[#đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)]]
> [[#đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary]]
> [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]]
> [[#🧠Chapter Summary]]
> [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]]
> [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]]
> [[#đź’¬ Discussion Questions]]
> [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]]
> [[#đź”— Related Passages/Cross Reference]]
> [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]]
> [[#đź“‚ Internal Notes]]
## đź“ś Scripture Text (NET)
(The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005)
### Ariel is Besieged
[[#Verse 01.]] Ariel is as good as dead—
Ariel, the town David besieged!
Keep observing your annual rituals;
celebrate your festivals on schedule.
[[#Verse 02.]]Â I will threaten Ariel,
and she will mourn intensely
and become like an altar hearth before me.
[[#Verse 03.]]Â I will lay siege to you on all sides;
I will besiege you with troops;
I will raise siege works against you.
[[#Verse 04.]]Â You will fall;
while lying on the ground you will speak;
from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard.
Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld;
from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.
[[#Verse 05.]]Â But the horde of invaders will be like fine dust,
the horde of tyrants like chaff that is blown away.
It will happen suddenly, in a flash.
[[#Verse 06.]] Judgment will come from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
accompanied by thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
by a strong gale, a windstorm, and a consuming flame of fire.
[[#Verse 07.]]Â It will be like a dream, a night vision.
There will be a horde from all the nations that fight against Ariel,
those who attack her and her stronghold and besiege her.
[[#Verse 08.]]Â It will be like a hungry man dreaming that he is eating,
only to awaken and find that his stomach is empty.
It will be like a thirsty man dreaming that he is drinking,
only to awaken and find that he is still weak and his thirst unquenched.
So it will be for the horde from all the nations
that fight against Mount Zion.
### God’s People Are Spiritually Insensitive
[[#Verse 09.]]Â You will be shocked and amazed!
You are totally blind!
They are drunk, but not because of wine;
they stagger, but not because of beer.
[[#Verse 10.]] For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply.
He has shut your eyes (you prophets),
and covered your heads (you seers).
[[#Verse 11.]] To you this entire prophetic revelation is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”Â
[[#Verse 12.]] Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.”
[[#Verse 13.]] The Lord says,
“These people say they are loyal to me;
they say wonderful things about me,
but they are not really loyal to me.
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual.
[[#Verse 14.]] Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people—
an absolutely extraordinary deed.
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.”
[[#Verse 15.]] Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead,
who do their work in secret and boast,
“Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?”
[[#Verse 16.]]Â Your thinking is perverse!
Should the potter be regarded as clay?
Should the thing made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”?
Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?
### Changes Are Coming
[[#Verse 17.]]Â In just a very short time
Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
[[#Verse 18.]] At that time the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.
[[#Verse 19.]] The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.
[[#Verse 20.]]Â For tyrants will disappear,
those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated—
[[#Verse 21.]]Â those who bear false testimony against a person,
who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate
and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.
[[#Verse 22.]] So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, has said to the family of Jacob: “Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.
[[#Verse 23.]]Â For when they see their children,
whom I will produce among them,
they will honor my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob;
they will respect the God of Israel.
[[#Verse 24.]]Â Those who stray morally will gain understanding;
those who complain will acquire insight.
## đź“– Verse-by-Verse Commentary
###### Overall.
###### Verse 01.
###### Verse 02.
###### Verse 03.
###### Verse 04.
###### Verse 05.
###### Verse 06.
###### Verse 07.
###### Verse 08.
###### Verse 09.
###### Verse 10.
###### Verse 11.
###### Verse 12.
###### Verse 13.
###### Verse 14.
###### Verse 15.
###### Verse 16.
###### Verse 17.
###### Verse 18.
###### Verse 19.
###### Verse 20.
###### Verse 21.
###### Verse 22.
###### Verse 23.
###### Verse 24.
## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights
1. Ariel (29:1) is a name for Jerusalem. It may mean altar hearth or lion of God.
2. The city where David camped (29:1) identifies Ariel as Jerusalem, the city David captured.
3. Jesus quotes 29:13 when He confronts the Pharisees about their traditions (Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7).
4. Paul quotes 29:14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19: God will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
5. Paul echoes the potter and clay image in Romans 9:20-21.
6. A sealed scroll (29:11) could not be read by anyone, a picture of spiritual blindness.
7. The voice that whispers from the ground like a ghost (29:4) shows how low proud Jerusalem would be brought.
8. The dream of a hungry man who wakes still hungry (29:8) pictures the enemy's empty hopes against Zion.
9. Lebanon becoming an orchard (29:17) pictures a sweeping reversal of the world's order.
10. Verse 22 is one of the few places outside Genesis that mentions God redeeming Abraham.
## 🧠Chapter Summary
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter
Christ is the One who opened blind eyes and deaf ears (29:18; Matthew 11:5). He confronted those who honored God with their lips while their hearts were far away (29:13; Mark 7:6-7).
## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application
> [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way.
## đź’¬ Discussion Questions
1. The people honored God with their lips but their hearts were far away (29:13). How can we tell if our worship is only words?
2. The people acted as if the potter were no different from the clay (29:16). What does this say about trying to hide our plans from God?
3. God promises the deaf will hear and the blind will see (29:18). Where do you need God to open your eyes and ears?
## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember
- đź“– verse 13: These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
- đź“– verse 16: Can the clay say to the potter, He did not make me?
- đź“– verses 18-19: The deaf will hear, the blind will see, and the humble will rejoice in the Lord.
## đź”— Related Passages/Cross Reference
- đź”— [[Mark 07#Verse 06.|Mark 7:6-8]] - Jesus quotes Isaiah about lip service.
- đź”— [[Matthew 11#Verse 04.|Matthew 11:4-5]] - The blind see and the deaf hear.
- đź”— [[1 Corinthians 01#Verse 18.|1 Corinthians 1:18-25]] - God destroys the wisdom of the wise.
- đź”— [[Romans 09#Verse 19.|Romans 9:19-21]] - The potter and the clay.
- đź”— [[Romans 11#Verse 07.|Romans 11:7-8]] - God gave them a spirit of stupor.
## 🙏 Devotional Reflection
đź“ť SOAP: [[Isaiah 29 - SOAP|The World Is Perfectly Safe]]
## đź“‚ Internal Notes