Isaiah 29:22

Even when Abraham’s trouble was his own fault, the *Lord still rescued him (see Genesis 12:10-20).

Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah. But the ‘New Jerusalem’ is God’s future, perfect home for his people.
woe ~ a very sad cry because there is much pain to come.
Temple ~ special building in Jerusalem where Jews praised God and offered him prayers and gifts.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah. But the ‘New Jerusalem’ is God’s future, perfect home for his people.
Jews ~ people who belong to the countries called Judah and Israel; people who belong to the 12 tribes (large families) of Israel.
altar ~ special table where priests burned animals as gifts to God.
Lord ~ God’s name in the Bible. In the original language, it means ‘head over all’ and ‘God always’.'Mount Zion ~ the mountain in Jerusalem where God’s holy Temple was.
Jerusalem ~ at the time of David and Solomon, the capital of the country called Israel. During the time of Isaiah, Jerusalem was the capital of the country called Judah. But the ‘New Jerusalem’ is God’s future, perfect home for his people.
Temple ~ special building in Jerusalem where Jews praised God and offered him prayers and gifts.
Jews ~ people who belong to the countries called Judah and Israel; people who belong to the 12 tribes (large families) of Israel.
Assyrian ~ A person from the country called Assyria or anything that has a relationship with the country called Assyria.
BC ~ ‘Before Christ’ (for dates before the birth of Jesus Christ).
wine ~ a drink which people make from the juice of grapes.
grape ~ small sweet fruit of the vine; its juice makes wine.
vine ~ plant whose fruit makes wine.

'Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible. It contains 39 books, all from the time before Jesus was born.
document ~ piece of material on which to write.
Messiah ~ Old Testament title for Christ.

Old Testament ~ the first part of the Bible. It contains 39 books, all from the time before Jesus was born.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

The Sad People

Isaiah Chapter s 28 to 33

Gordon Churchyard

This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 29

A sad day for Ariel (Jerusalem)

v1 [There will be a] very sad [day in] Ariel. Ariel [is] the city that David camped all round. Add year to year. Continue to have your usual festivals (special times with big public parties).

v2 But I will bring trouble to the city called Ariel. And [the people in Ariel] will be miserable and [they will be] very sad. And [Ariel] will be my ‘ariel’ (place where I have a fire).

v3 And I will do [these things]. [I will] camp against you in a circle. [I will] put an army against you on every side. [I will] build things against you to attack you.

v4 Then you will become humble and you will speak from the ground. And from the dust, what you say will be hard to hear. Your voice will come from the ground. It will be like [the voice of] a dead person’s spirit. And from the dust your speech will be a whisper.

v5 And your many enemies will be like small bits of dust. And the crowds of cruel [soldiers] will be like chaff (dead bits of corn plants). [They will be like chaff] in the wind. Suddenly, in a moment, v6 the *LORD of Everything will visit you! [It will be like] *thunder, *earthquake and a very loud noise. [It will be like] a very strong wind and a terrible storm. And [it will be like] a flame of fire. [The flame] burns up everything.

v7 That will happen to all the nations that attack Ariel city. [It will happen to] everyone that fights against its [people]. And [it will happen to everyone that attacks] its very strong building. [It will happen to] all [the soldiers] that camp round Ariel city. They will be like a dream that people see in the night!

v8 It will be like a hungry man that dreams. [He dreams] that he is eating [something]. But look! He wakes up hungry! Or it will be like a man that needs to drink. He dreams that he is drinking. But look! He wakes up. And look! He is still weak, because he needs to drink! That will happen to the many [soldiers] that attack the mountain called Zion. [Those soldiers will come] from all the nations.

Notes

Verse 1 The *Hebrew word ‘ariel’ appears 5 times in verses 1-8. It means a ‘place where people burn things in a *temple’. It is also the ‘place where God (called ‘El’ in *Hebrew) has his fire’. But at the end of verse 2, the word has its normal meaning. That is, a place with a fire. Verse 8 shows to us that Isaiah used the word ‘Ariel’ to mean Zion, a name for Jerusalem. But here in verse 1, that is not yet clear to us. That is because David camped with his army near many cities. But David did camp outside Jerusalem. The story about that is in 2 Samuel 5:6-10.

‘Add year to year’ could mean that something will happen one year from now. Or it could mean that it will happen every year. A ‘festival’ was a special event in the *Jews’ religion. It was a time when people had big public parties. The usual annual festivals included the ones called Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. At those times, people remembered particular events from the past. Those were also the three times when the people harvested crops:

1) People started to harvest *barley at the time when they had the festival called Passover, in April. They used *barley to make bread.

2) People harvested wheat at the time when they had the festival called Pentecost, in May. They used wheat to make bread.

3) People harvested *grapes at the time when they had the festival called Tabernacles, in October. They used the *grapes to make wine.

Perhaps the trouble that Isaiah mentions in verse 2 came in 701 B.C. (‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth.) Isaiah Chapter s 36 and 37 describe what happened at that time. So perhaps Isaiah wrote chapter 29 in 703 or 702 B.C. Where we read ‘very sad [day]’, the *Hebrew has ‘hoy’. It is a word that people use to ask for other people’s attention. It is like ‘hi’ or ‘hey’ in English. But soon after he uses the word ‘hoy’, Isaiah tells the people this. There will be trouble. Therefore, most people translate ‘hoy’ as a word that the writer uses to warn about danger.

Verse 2 Although the people would continue to have their usual festivals (verse 1), it would not prevent trouble. In the Bible, fire is a special description of God’s anger. And ‘ariel’ means a place where God has a fire. So the word ‘ariel’ is a good description of Jerusalem. That is because God’s anger against the people there will burn like a fire. That will make them very, very sad.

Verse 3 The old *Greek Bible and several English translations have this sentence. ‘I will camp against you like David.’ That is because the words for ‘circle’ and ‘David’ are similar in *Hebrew. And the word ‘David’ links with verse 1. Here we have translated a certain *Hebrew word as ‘an army’. But Bible students are not sure about what the word means. It may mean ‘a tall building’. Isaiah does not say whom God will use as his agent. Isaiah probably thought that it would be an army from Assyria. But Assyria is a secondary cause. As in all things, God is the primary cause. He says, ‘I will do these things.’ And then the *Hebrew words that mean ‘against you’ appear three times in this verse.

Verse 4 It is typical that Isaiah puts three or four things together with similar meanings. In the first two statements, he says that Ariel (Jerusalem city) will be less important. In the other two, he says that Ariel will be weaker. Christians do not believe that a dead person’s spirit can speak to us. But at the time when Isaiah was alive, some people did believe it. This verse has the phrases ‘from the ground’ and ‘from the dust’. They could give the idea to us that the people were dead. In that case, other people had buried them.

Verse 5 Bible students suggest two possible meanings for this verse:

• A heap of dust contains very many small bits of dust. Similarly, there will be a very great number of soldiers that are enemies of Judah’s people.

• Someone will turn the enemy’s soldiers into dust. That means to defeat them. And it means to destroy their army.

Quite probably, Isaiah meant that the enemy was King Sennacherib of Assyria. He attacked Jerusalem in 701 *B.C. Then both those possibilities are true. The word ‘chaff’ describes small dead bits of a corn plant from which people have taken the grain. The wind blows the bits everywhere. And similarly, God will remove the enemy’s soldiers.

The word ‘suddenly’ really starts the first sentence of verse 6.

Verse 6 ‘Visit’ is a special word in the Bible. It means more than ‘come to see’. When the *LORD visits, he does something. He does one out of these two things:

• He punishes the people whom he visits.

• Or, he *blesses (does good things to) the people whom he visits.

In Zechariah 10:3 the *Hebrew word for ‘visit’ appears twice. Once it has the first meaning and once it has the second meaning! Here the word only comes once, but it still has both meanings! It means that God will punish the enemies. He will destroy their army. But it also means that he will save his people in Ariel (Jerusalem city).

The *LORD of Everything is a special name for God. Isaiah often uses it.

Isaiah does not say that there will be *thunder (and all those other things). He says that the situation will be like them. They are descriptions of things that frighten people. Those things happen during great storms:

• Thunder is the loud noise that comes after lightning.

• An earthquake is when the ground shakes (not always in a storm).
• The great strong wind is one that goes round and round.
• The great storm probably also includes a great wind.

The flame of fire is lightning. It burns up everything that it strikes. The *Hebrew word for ‘burns up’ here means ‘eats’. That is because nothing seems to satisfy fire. And it destroys things completely. When God visits people to punish them, they become very frightened. It is as if they are in a very great storm.

Verse 7 Soldiers stand in very strong buildings when they defend their cities. Here the ‘strong building’ is probably a special description of God himself. King Sennacherib’s attack will be like a bad dream. In the morning, Sennacherib’s soldiers will have gone! In the morning, they will all be dead men (Isaiah 37:36 and 2 Kings 19:35).

Verse 8 Dreams are not real. The enemy’s army was real. But it would seem as if it was not! So when the people in Ariel city wake up, the enemy will have gone! Isaiah now identifies Ariel as Zion. Zion was a mountain in Jerusalem. People had built the *temple on that mountain. And people often used the name Zion to mean all Jerusalem city.

v9 [That event will] have a powerful effect on you, [so that you become stupid]. And it will astonish you! You will become blind, so that you cannot see anything! You will become [like] drunks, but wine will not [cause] it! You will fall over, but beer will not [cause] it!

v10 [Rather, it is] because of a spirit [that causes] deep sleep. The *LORD has brought that spirit onto you. He has shut the eyes of your *prophets. And he has covered the heads of your seers (people that see the future).

v11 All this *vision is for you. [It is] the words in a *scroll that is not open. Give the *scroll to someone that can read. And say [to that person], ‘Read this, please.’ But he will answer, ‘I cannot [read it]. Someone has shut it.’

v12 Or, give the *scroll to someone that cannot read. Say, ‘Read it, please.’ But he will answer, ‘I do not know how to read.’

v13 The *Lord says, ‘These people pray to me with their mouths. And they give honour to me with their lips. But [these people’s] hearts are a long way from me. And they use rules that men made to *worship me.

v14 So look! I will astonish these people again. [I will] surprise [them] again and again! [I will] destroy the wisdom of the wise man. The intelligence of the intelligent man will disappear.’

Notes

Verse 9 When the *LORD destroyed Sennacherib’s army (Isaiah 37:36), he (God) gave another chance to the leaders of Judah. After that event, the leaders of Judah should start to serve God again. But perhaps they would not listen to the *LORD. They may delay and hesitate. If so, Isaiah says that they will never make a sensible decision. Read Matthew 15:14 to discover what Jesus said about ‘blind’ leaders. Those leaders were not really blind. But they pretended not to see what God had done. And perhaps they were not drunks. But their decisions were stupid anyway.

Verse 10 A ‘seer’ is another word for a *prophet. He ‘sees’ (understands) what God is saying. That is what a *prophet does. When someone covers a person’s head, the person cannot see anything. Some Bible students translate the end of the verse like this. ‘He has covered your leaders and your seers.’ That is because ‘head’ can mean ‘leader’. In Isaiah 6:9-10, the *LORD told Isaiah that those things would happen.

Verses 11-12 The people will not read what the *prophet wrote. Perhaps they cannot read it. A ‘scroll’ was a very long piece of paper. It was perhaps 30 metres long. People wrote on the paper. They rolled it up when they wanted to shut it. They attached a substance called wax to its end if the contents were private. Then only the proper person would unroll it to read it. Other people who could read would refuse to open it. And someone who could not read would not understand it anyway. People used scrolls before someone invented our type of book.

Verse 13 Here we have ‘pray to me’. The *Hebrew words for that mean ‘come near to me’. The same word for ‘come near’ is also in Exodus 28:43. The people do everything that they have to do in their religion. But they do not really mean what they are doing. We read ‘[these people’s] hearts are a long way from me’. The *Jews believed that people thought with their hearts. Therefore that sentence means ‘[these people] are not thinking about me’. ‘Lord’ is a word that means ‘master’. Here, God is the Master. ‘Worship’ means ‘to praise someone very much’. It also means ‘to love someone greatly’. The *Jews were God’s people, who lived in Judah and Israel.

Verse 14 Paul uses this verse in 1 Corinthians 1:19. God does not say in verse 14 what he will do to ‘astonish’ the people (to make them wonder). But in verses 15-24, God does say what will happen. Bad things will happen to bad leaders and good things will happen to poor people.

v15 [There will be a] very sad [day] for those people that [do these things]:

• They try hard to hide from the *LORD the advice that they give [to the king].

• They work in darkness.

• And they think that nobody knows them. [They think that] nobody sees them.

v16 You turn things the wrong way up. You confuse the potter (person that makes pots) with the material that he uses to make the pot! The thing that somebody made cannot say this to its maker: ‘You did not make me!’ The pot cannot say this to the person that made it: ‘You do not know anything!’

v17 In a very short time, [the country called] Lebanon will become a garden of fruit trees. And [the hill called] Carmel will be like a forest.

v18 At that time, deaf people will hear someone read words from a *scroll. And blind people will see. They will not remain in shadows and darkness.

v19 And the *LORD will make humble people happy again. And poor people will sing very joyful songs to the Holy [God] of Israel.

v20 [That will be] because cruel people will vanish. People that laugh [at God] will disappear. And [the *LORD] will *destroy everybody that is preparing to do evil things.

v21 Those [evil] people [do these things]:

• They make a man guilty with [just] a word.

• They set up a trap for the judge at the city gate.

• And by their lies, they do not let an innocent man get a fair decision.

v22 Therefore the *LORD, who rescued Abraham, says this to Jacob’s family. ‘Jacob (Jacob’s family) will not be ashamed again and his face (his family’s faces) will never become pale.

v23 [Jacob’s family] will see among them their children, whom my hands made. Then they will keep my name holy. They will give honour to the Holy [God] of Jacob. And they will greatly respect the God of Israel.

v24 Also, people whose minds are confused will understand [things]. And people that complain will be happy to learn [things].’

Notes

Verse 15 As in verse 1, the *Hebrew words mean ‘*Hoy for those people’. Isaiah uses the word ‘*Hoy’ to warn about danger. The people think that they can hide their deeds from the *LORD. But that is impossible! ‘In darkness’ does not mean ‘at night’. Here, it means ‘in secret’. In the *Hebrew Bible, the people ask questions. They say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows who we are?’ They hope that the answer is ‘Nobody’, as in our translation. But they have no wisdom or intelligence (verse 14). God knows everything, and nobody can change that. We have added ‘to the king’ in square brackets, []. It is for this reason. Some Bible students think that those people were advising the king of Judah. They were telling him to support Egypt’s leaders. They were advising him to do that rather than to support Assyria’s leaders. But Isaiah thought that it was wrong advice. The *Hebrew Bible does not have the words ‘to the king’.

Verse 16 A ‘potter’ is a person that makes pots. He makes the pots from a material called ‘clay’. It is a type of earth. The people here turn things the wrong way up. In other words, they think that the top is the lowest part. And they think that the lowest part is the top! They seem to think that the clay made the potter. But the potter used the clay to make the pot. And then there is something worse. Those people think that the maker knows nothing. That is even worse! Here again, as in verse 15, there are two questions in the *Hebrew Bible. The questions are these. ‘Can the pot say [this] to the potter (person that made it)?’ ‘Can the thing say [this] to its maker?’ The answer to both questions is ‘No!’ The *Hebrew word for ‘made’ is the one in Genesis 2:7. There we read this. ‘The *LORD God made a man from the dust of the ground.’ ‘God created man in his own image’ (Genesis 1:27). Man did not create God. The *Hebrew word for ‘created’ (Genesis 1:27) is a different *Hebrew word from ‘made’ (Genesis 2:7).

Isaiah is saying that these people imagine themselves to be greater than God. They are very wrong, because God made them!

Verse 17 Now it is the *LORD who will turn things round the other way up! On the mountains in Lebanon, forests grow. But God will change them into trees that give fruit. And at Carmel, fruit trees grow. But God will change them into forests. Carmel is a hill on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The hill is south from Lebanon. The *Hebrew word ‘carmel’ means ‘garden of fruit trees’. But we are not sure whether there were any fruit trees on the hill itself.

Verse 18 In this verse, there are personal changes. The *scroll (book) in verse 11 is now open and people can read it. And more importantly, deaf people will hear it, when somebody reads it aloud! And blind people will be able to see! Paul refers to similar changes in Ephesians 5:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5. When God turns things round, then people change!

Verse 19 The humble and poor people here are people to whom the leaders have been cruel. The leaders have not only been cruel and unkind to them. The leaders have also made the poor people work very hard. Then the leaders have taken nearly everything that the poor people have earned. But God will change all that! Again, he will turn things round so that the lowest part is on the top. ‘Holy’ is a word that means ‘very, very good’. So God is a Holy God. Some translations say that he is the ‘Holy One of Israel’. ‘Holy’ also means ‘separate’. God is separate from man.

Notice that the English language has a word ‘underdog’. It means someone that is a servant to everybody. Everybody thinks that an underdog is worse than themselves. A good translation of this verse is, ‘And the *LORD will make the underdogs happy again’!

Verse 20 Here is the cause of all the changes in verses 17-19. The *LORD will *destroy three groups of people:

• the cruel people. They use their power to help themselves.

• the people that laugh at God. They do not believe in a moral law.
• the people that have evil plans. They make trouble for other people.

Verse 21 The phrase ‘with [just] a word’ means ‘by something that they say’. At the time when Isaiah was alive, the gate of the city (or town) was a special place. Today ‘the gate of the city’ would be ‘a court of law’. It was where the judge made his decisions. The trap made the judge decide wrongly. The trap was probably lies that the witness said. The result was that an innocent person did not get a fair decision.

Verse 22 There are two strange things in this verse:

• Isaiah refers to Abraham. Usually, the *prophets in the Bible do not do that. But Isaiah does it four times. The other three places are Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 51:2 and Isaiah 63:16. The *Hebrew word for ‘rescued’ really means ‘redeemed’ (bought back). But Bible students are not sure when God redeemed (bought back) Abraham. It refers to a time when God rescued Abraham from trouble. The story about that may not be in the Bible.

• ‘His (his family’s) face will never become pale.’ People’s faces become pale when they have trouble. Perhaps that is what it means here. The *Hebrew words for ‘Jacob’s family’ mean ‘the house of Jacob’. They were God’s people, who lived in Judah and Israel. Jacob’s family will never be ashamed again. Some translations have ‘Jacob will never lose face’. That is a special way to say the same thing.

Verse 23 ‘Children’ probably means ‘grandchildren and their children, for many years’. Some Bible students translate it like this. ‘Their children see what God has done. Then they will keep my name holy.’ ‘My name’ means ‘God himself’. Here we read the name ‘Holy [God] of Jacob’. This is the only place where that name appears in the Bible.

Verse 24 The *Hebrew words for ‘minds are confused’ mean ‘spirits wander about’. Something has confused those people. They do not understand what is happening. But God will change things completely. So then those people will become the opposite of what they were before (verses 18-20). Then everything will become clear. We read here about ‘people that complain’. It probably means ‘people that do not understand’. Therefore they say stupid things. But they will become happy to learn what is right.

Something to do

1. Study some Chapter s of Isaiah to discover what is typical of his style. Look for 3 ideas in one verse. An example of that is Isaiah 29:3. Or in some verses there are 4 ideas, as in Isaiah 29:4.

2. Read the story about how God saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib (Isaiah Chapter s 36 to 37).

3. Sometimes God sends storms to show that he is present. For more examples of such storms, read Isaiah 28:2 and also Psalms 18 and 29.

4. Read about the *scrolls that are not open, in Daniel 12:4 and Revelation 5:1-5.

5. Paul uses several verses from Isaiah Chapter s 28 to 29. Read some of these passages in Paul’s letters. Some places where Paul uses them are Romans 10:11; Romans 11:8; 1 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Corinthians 3:2 Corinthians 3:14-15.

6. Study the notes about ‘redeem’ (buy back) for Isaiah 43:1.

This publication is in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

heavens ~ another word for ‘skies’. It can also mean where God lives and the skies above us.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
lord ~ someone with authority. With a capital L, it is a name for God.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
thunder ~ noise in the sky during a storm. The sound of thunder follows lightning.
earthquake ~ when the ground moves.
temple ~ God’s house in Jerusalem. False gods also had temples.
Jews ~ God’s people that lived in Judah and Israel.
barley ~ a type of plant. People make bread from the seeds (called ‘grain’).
grape ~ the fruit that people use to make wine.
Greek ~ the language that people spoke in Greece.
bless ~ to do good things to someone; to be very good to people; or, to declare that something good will happen to someone.
prophet ~ a prophet told people what God had said to him. Sometimes the prophet told people what would happen in future times.
vision ~ what somebody sees, perhaps in their imagination. God sometimes gave messages to the prophets by means of visions.
prophet ~ a prophet told people what God had said to him. Sometimes the prophet told people what would happen in future times.
scroll ~ a very long piece of paper. This was the ancient form of a book.
lord ~ someone with authority. With a capital L, it is a name for God.
LORD ~ a special name for God that only his servants should use. It is not a translation. It represents the Hebrew word YHWH. It probably means that God is always alive.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.
worship ~ to tell God (or a false god) that he is wonderful; and also, to tell him that you love him.
destroy ~ to punish in a severe manner, usually by death or exile.
exile ~ people that an enemy takes to another country are ‘in exile’. They are away from home. We also call these people ‘exiles’. They have gone ‘into exile’.
hoy ~ a Hebrew word that asks for attention. Isaiah uses this word to warn about danger.
Hebrew ~ the language that Isaiah spoke.

Isaiah: New *Heavens and a New Earth

The Sad People

Isaiah Chapter s 28 to 33

Gordon Churchyard

This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

Words in boxes are from the Bible.

Tap the * before a word to show an explanation.

The words in brackets, […], are not in the *Hebrew Bible. They make the book easier to understand in English. Isaiah wrote his book in the *Hebrew language.

Chapter 29

A sad day for Ariel (Jerusalem)

v1 [There will be a] very sad [day in] Ariel. Ariel [is] the city that David camped all round. Add year to year. Continue to have your usual festivals (special times with big public parties).

v2 But I will bring trouble to the city called Ariel. And [the people in Ariel] will be miserable and [they will be] very sad. And [Ariel] will be my ‘ariel’ (place where I have a fire).

v3 And I will do [these things]. [I will] camp against you in a circle. [I will] put an army against you on every side. [I will] build things against you to attack you.

v4 Then you will become humble and you will speak from the ground. And from the dust, what you say will be hard to hear. Your voice will come from the ground. It will be like [the voice of] a dead person’s spirit. And from the dust your speech will be a whisper.

v5 And your many enemies will be like small bits of dust. And the crowds of cruel [soldiers] will be like chaff (dead bits of corn plants). [They will be like chaff] in the wind. Suddenly, in a moment, v6 the *LORD of Everything will visit you! [It will be like] *thunder, *earthquake and a very loud noise. [It will be like] a very strong wind and a terrible storm. And [it will be like] a flame of fire. [The flame] burns up everything.

v7 That will happen to all the nations that attack Ariel city. [It will happen to] everyone that fights against its [people]. And [it will happen to everyone that attacks] its very strong building. [It will happen to] all [the soldiers] that camp round Ariel city. They will be like a dream that people see in the night!

v8 It will be like a hungry man that dreams. [He dreams] that he is eating [something]. But look! He wakes up hungry! Or it will be like a man that needs to drink. He dreams that he is drinking. But look! He wakes up. And look! He is still weak, because he needs to drink! That will happen to the many [soldiers] that attack the mountain called Zion. [Those soldiers will come] from all the nations.

Notes

Verse 1 The *Hebrew word ‘ariel’ appears 5 times in verses 1-8. It means a ‘place where people burn things in a *temple’. It is also the ‘place where God (called ‘El’ in *Hebrew) has his fire’. But at the end of verse 2, the word has its normal meaning. That is, a place with a fire. Verse 8 shows to us that Isaiah used the word ‘Ariel’ to mean Zion, a name for Jerusalem. But here in verse 1, that is not yet clear to us. That is because David camped with his army near many cities. But David did camp outside Jerusalem. The story about that is in 2 Samuel 5:6-10.

‘Add year to year’ could mean that something will happen one year from now. Or it could mean that it will happen every year. A ‘festival’ was a special event in the *Jews’ religion. It was a time when people had big public parties. The usual annual festivals included the ones called Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. At those times, people remembered particular events from the past. Those were also the three times when the people harvested crops:

1) People started to harvest *barley at the time when they had the festival called Passover, in April. They used *barley to make bread.

2) People harvested wheat at the time when they had the festival called Pentecost, in May. They used wheat to make bread.

3) People harvested *grapes at the time when they had the festival called Tabernacles, in October. They used the *grapes to make wine.

Perhaps the trouble that Isaiah mentions in verse 2 came in 701 B.C. (‘B.C.’ means ‘years Before Christ came to the Earth.) Isaiah Chapter s 36 and 37 describe what happened at that time. So perhaps Isaiah wrote chapter 29 in 703 or 702 B.C. Where we read ‘very sad [day]’, the *Hebrew has ‘hoy’. It is a word that people use to ask for other people’s attention. It is like ‘hi’ or ‘hey’ in English. But soon after he uses the word ‘hoy’, Isaiah tells the people this. There will be trouble. Therefore, most people translate ‘hoy’ as a word that the writer uses to warn about danger.

Verse 2 Although the people would continue to have their usual festivals (verse 1), it would not prevent trouble. In the Bible, fire is a special description of God’s anger. And ‘ariel’ means a place where God has a fire. So the word ‘ariel’ is a good description of Jerusalem. That is because God’s anger against the people there will burn like a fire. That will make them very, very sad.

Verse 3 The old *Greek Bible and several English translations have this sentence. ‘I will camp against you like David.’ That is because the words for ‘circle’ and ‘David’ are similar in *Hebrew. And the word ‘David’ links with verse 1. Here we have translated a certain *Hebrew word as ‘an army’. But Bible students are not sure about what the word means. It may mean ‘a tall building’. Isaiah does not say whom God will use as his agent. Isaiah probably thought that it would be an army from Assyria. But Assyria is a secondary cause. As in all things, God is the primary cause. He says, ‘I will do these things.’ And then the *Hebrew words that mean ‘against you’ appear three times in this verse.

Verse 4 It is typical that Isaiah puts three or four things together with similar meanings. In the first two statements, he says that Ariel (Jerusalem city) will be less important. In the other two, he says that Ariel will be weaker. Christians do not believe that a dead person’s spirit can speak to us. But at the time when Isaiah was alive, some people did believe it. This verse has the phrases ‘from the ground’ and ‘from the dust’. They could give the idea to us that the people were dead. In that case, other people had buried them.

Verse 5 Bible students suggest two possible meanings for this verse:

• A heap of dust contains very many small bits of dust. Similarly, there will be a very great number of soldiers that are enemies of Judah’s people.

• Someone will turn the enemy’s soldiers into dust. That means to defeat them. And it means to destroy their army.

Quite probably, Isaiah meant that the enemy was King Sennacherib of Assyria. He attacked Jerusalem in 701 *B.C. Then both those possibilities are true. The word ‘chaff’ describes small dead bits of a corn plant from which people have taken the grain. The wind blows the bits everywhere. And similarly, God will remove the enemy’s soldiers.

The word ‘suddenly’ really starts the first sentence of verse 6.

Verse 6 ‘Visit’ is a special word in the Bible. It means more than ‘come to see’. When the *LORD visits, he does something. He does one out of these two things:

• He punishes the people whom he visits.

• Or, he *blesses (does good things to) the people whom he visits.

In Zechariah 10:3 the *Hebrew word for ‘visit’ appears twice. Once it has the first meaning and once it has the second meaning! Here the word only comes once, but it still has both meanings! It means that God will punish the enemies. He will destroy their army. But it also means that he will save his people in Ariel (Jerusalem city).

The *LORD of Everything is a special name for God. Isaiah often uses it.

Isaiah does not say that there will be *thunder (and all those other things). He says that the situation will be like them. They are descriptions of things that frighten people. Those things happen during great storms:

• Thunder is the loud noise that comes after lightning.

• An earthquake is when the ground shakes (not always in a storm).
• The great strong wind is one that goes round and round.
• The great storm probably also includes a great wind.

The flame of fire is lightning. It burns up everything that it strikes. The *Hebrew word for ‘burns up’ here means ‘eats’. That is because nothing seems to satisfy fire. And it destroys things completely. When God visits people to punish them, they become very frightened. It is as if they are in a very great storm.

Verse 7 Soldiers stand in very strong buildings when they defend their cities. Here the ‘strong building’ is probably a special description of God himself. King Sennacherib’s attack will be like a bad dream. In the morning, Sennacherib’s soldiers will have gone! In the morning, they will all be dead men (Isaiah 37:36 and 2 Kings 19:35).

Verse 8 Dreams are not real. The enemy’s army was real. But it would seem as if it was not! So when the people in Ariel city wake up, the enemy will have gone! Isaiah now identifies Ariel as Zion. Zion was a mountain in Jerusalem. People had built the *temple on that mountain. And people often used the name Zion to mean all Jerusalem city.

v9 [That event will] have a powerful effect on you, [so that you become stupid]. And it will astonish you! You will become blind, so that you cannot see anything! You will become [like] drunks, but wine will not [cause] it! You will fall over, but beer will not [cause] it!

v10 [Rather, it is] because of a spirit [that causes] deep sleep. The *LORD has brought that spirit onto you. He has shut the eyes of your *prophets. And he has covered the heads of your seers (people that see the future).

v11 All this *vision is for you. [It is] the words in a *scroll that is not open. Give the *scroll to someone that can read. And say [to that person], ‘Read this, please.’ But he will answer, ‘I cannot [read it]. Someone has shut it.’

v12 Or, give the *scroll to someone that cannot read. Say, ‘Read it, please.’ But he will answer, ‘I do not know how to read.’

v13 The *Lord says, ‘These people pray to me with their mouths. And they give honour to me with their lips. But [these people’s] hearts are a long way from me. And they use rules that men made to *worship me.

v14 So look! I will astonish these people again. [I will] surprise [them] again and again! [I will] destroy the wisdom of the wise man. The intelligence of the intelligent man will disappear.’

Notes

Verse 9 When the *LORD destroyed Sennacherib’s army (Isaiah 37:36), he (God) gave another chance to the leaders of Judah. After that event, the leaders of Judah should start to serve God again. But perhaps they would not listen to the *LORD. They may delay and hesitate. If so, Isaiah says that they will never make a sensible decision. Read Matthew 15:14 to discover what Jesus said about ‘blind’ leaders. Those leaders were not really blind. But they pretended not to see what God had done. And perhaps they were not drunks. But their decisions were stupid anyway.

Verse 10 A ‘seer’ is another word for a *prophet. He ‘sees’ (understands) what God is saying. That is what a *prophet does. When someone covers a person’s head, the person cannot see anything. Some Bible students translate the end of the verse like this. ‘He has covered your leaders and your seers.’ That is because ‘head’ can mean ‘leader’. In Isaiah 6:9-10, the *LORD told Isaiah that those things would happen.

Verses 11-12 The people will not read what the *prophet wrote. Perhaps they cannot read it. A ‘scroll’ was a very long piece of paper. It was perhaps 30 metres long. People wrote on the paper. They rolled it up when they wanted to shut it. They attached a substance called wax to its end if the contents were private. Then only the proper person would unroll it to read it. Other people who could read would refuse to open it. And someone who could not read would not understand it anyway. People used scrolls before someone invented our type of book.

Verse 13 Here we have ‘pray to me’. The *Hebrew words for that mean ‘come near to me’. The same word for ‘come near’ is also in Exodus 28:43. The people do everything that they have to do in their religion. But they do not really mean what they are doing. We read ‘[these people’s] hearts are a long way from me’. The *Jews believed that people thought with their hearts. Therefore that sentence means ‘[these people] are not thinking about me’. ‘Lord’ is a word that means ‘master’. Here, God is the Master. ‘Worship’ means ‘to praise someone very much’. It also means ‘to love someone greatly’. The *Jews were God’s people, who lived in Judah and Israel.

Verse 14 Paul uses this verse in 1 Corinthians 1:19. God does not say in verse 14 what he will do to ‘astonish’ the people (to make them wonder). But in verses 15-24, God does say what will happen. Bad things will happen to bad leaders and good things will happen to poor people.

v15 [There will be a] very sad [day] for those people that [do these things]:

• They try hard to hide from the *LORD the advice that they give [to the king].

• They work in darkness.

• And they think that nobody knows them. [They think that] nobody sees them.

v16 You turn things the wrong way up. You confuse the potter (person that makes pots) with the material that he uses to make the pot! The thing that somebody made cannot say this to its maker: ‘You did not make me!’ The pot cannot say this to the person that made it: ‘You do not know anything!’

v17 In a very short time, [the country called] Lebanon will become a garden of fruit trees. And [the hill called] Carmel will be like a forest.

v18 At that time, deaf people will hear someone read words from a *scroll. And blind people will see. They will not remain in shadows and darkness.

v19 And the *LORD will make humble people happy again. And poor people will sing very joyful songs to the Holy [God] of Israel.

v20 [That will be] because cruel people will vanish. People that laugh [at God] will disappear. And [the *LORD] will *destroy everybody that is preparing to do evil things.

v21 Those [evil] people [do these things]:

• They make a man guilty with [just] a word.

• They set up a trap for the judge at the city gate.

• And by their lies, they do not let an innocent man get a fair decision.

v22 Therefore the *LORD, who rescued Abraham, says this to Jacob’s family. ‘Jacob (Jacob’s family) will not be ashamed again and his face (his family’s faces) will never become pale.

v23 [Jacob’s family] will see among them their children, whom my hands made. Then they will keep my name holy. They will give honour to the Holy [God] of Jacob. And they will greatly respect the God of Israel.

v24 Also, people whose minds are confused will understand [things]. And people that complain will be happy to learn [things].’

Notes

Verse 15 As in verse 1, the *Hebrew words mean ‘*Hoy for those people’. Isaiah uses the word ‘*Hoy’ to warn about danger. The people think that they can hide their deeds from the *LORD. But that is impossible! ‘In darkness’ does not mean ‘at night’. Here, it means ‘in secret’. In the *Hebrew Bible, the people ask questions. They say, ‘Who sees us? Who knows who we are?’ They hope that the answer is ‘Nobody’, as in our translation. But they have no wisdom or intelligence (verse 14). God knows everything, and nobody can change that. We have added ‘to the king’ in square brackets, []. It is for this reason. Some Bible students think that those people were advising the king of Judah. They were telling him to support Egypt’s leaders. They were advising him to do that rather than to support Assyria’s leaders. But Isaiah thought that it was wrong advice. The *Hebrew Bible does not have the words ‘to the king’.

Verse 16 A ‘potter’ is a person that makes pots. He makes the pots from a material called ‘clay’. It is a type of earth. The people here turn things the wrong way up. In other words, they think that the top is the lowest part. And they think that the lowest part is the top! They seem to think that the clay made the potter. But the potter used the clay to make the pot. And then there is something worse. Those people think that the maker knows nothing. That is even worse! Here again, as in verse 15, there are two questions in the *Hebrew Bible. The questions are these. ‘Can the pot say [this] to the potter (person that made it)?’ ‘Can the thing say [this] to its maker?’ The answer to both questions is ‘No!’ The *Hebrew word for ‘made’ is the one in Genesis 2:7. There we read this. ‘The *LORD God made a man from the dust of the ground.’ ‘God created man in his own image’ (Genesis 1:27). Man did not create God. The *Hebrew word for ‘created’ (Genesis 1:27) is a different *Hebrew word from ‘made’ (Genesis 2:7).

Isaiah is saying that these people imagine themselves to be greater than God. They are very wrong, because God made them!

Verse 17 Now it is the *LORD who will turn things round the other way up! On the mountains in Lebanon, forests grow. But God will change them into trees that give fruit. And at Carmel, fruit trees grow. But God will change them into forests. Carmel is a hill on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The hill is south from Lebanon. The *Hebrew word ‘carmel’ means ‘garden of fruit trees’. But we are not sure whether there were any fruit trees on the hill itself.

Verse 18 In this verse, there are personal changes. The *scroll (book) in verse 11 is now open and people can read it. And more importantly, deaf people will hear it, when somebody reads it aloud! And blind people will be able to see! Paul refers to similar changes in Ephesians 5:8 and 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5. When God turns things round, then people change!

Verse 19 The humble and poor people here are people to whom the leaders have been cruel. The leaders have not only been cruel and unkind to them. The leaders have also made the poor people work very hard. Then the leaders have taken nearly everything that the poor people have earned. But God will change all that! Again, he will turn things round so that the lowest part is on the top. ‘Holy’ is a word that means ‘very, very good’. So God is a Holy God. Some translations say that he is the ‘Holy One of Israel’. ‘Holy’ also means ‘separate’. God is separate from man.

Notice that the English language has a word ‘underdog’. It means someone that is a servant to everybody. Everybody thinks that an underdog is worse than themselves. A good translation of this verse is, ‘And the *LORD will make the underdogs happy again’!

Verse 20 Here is the cause of all the changes in verses 17-19. The *LORD will *destroy three groups of people:

• the cruel people. They use their power to help themselves.

• the people that laugh at God. They do not believe in a moral law.
• the people that have evil plans. They make trouble for other people.

Verse 21 The phrase ‘with [just] a word’ means ‘by something that they say’. At the time when Isaiah was alive, the gate of the city (or town) was a special place. Today ‘the gate of the city’ would be ‘a court of law’. It was where the judge made his decisions. The trap made the judge decide wrongly. The trap was probably lies that the witness said. The result was that an innocent person did not get a fair decision.

Verse 22 There are two strange things in this verse:

• Isaiah refers to Abraham. Usually, the *prophets in the Bible do not do that. But Isaiah does it four times. The other three places are Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 51:2 and Isaiah 63:16. The *Hebrew word for ‘rescued’ really means ‘redeemed’ (bought back). But Bible students are not sure when God redeemed (bought back) Abraham. It refers to a time when God rescued Abraham from trouble. The story about that may not be in the Bible.

• ‘His (his family’s) face will never become pale.’ People’s faces become pale when they have trouble. Perhaps that is what it means here. The *Hebrew words for ‘Jacob’s family’ mean ‘the house of Jacob’. They were God’s people, who lived in Judah and Israel. Jacob’s family will never be ashamed again. Some translations have ‘Jacob will never lose face’. That is a special way to say the same thing.

Verse 23 ‘Children’ probably means ‘grandchildren and their children, for many years’. Some Bible students translate it like this. ‘Their children see what God has done. Then they will keep my name holy.’ ‘My name’ means ‘God himself’. Here we read the name ‘Holy [God] of Jacob’. This is the only place where that name appears in the Bible.

Verse 24 The *Hebrew words for ‘minds are confused’ mean ‘spirits wander about’. Something has confused those people. They do not understand what is happening. But God will change things completely. So then those people will become the opposite of what they were before (verses 18-20). Then everything will become clear. We read here about ‘people that complain’. It probably means ‘people that do not understand’. Therefore they say stupid things. But they will become happy to learn what is right.

Something to do

1. Study some Chapter s of Isaiah to discover what is typical of his style. Look for 3 ideas in one verse. An example of that is Isaiah 29:3. Or in some verses there are 4 ideas, as in Isaiah 29:4.

2. Read the story about how God saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib (Isaiah Chapter s 36 to 37).

3. Sometimes God sends storms to show that he is present. For more examples of such storms, read Isaiah 28:2 and also Psalms 18 and 29.

4. Read about the *scrolls that are not open, in Daniel 12:4 and Revelation 5:1-5.

5. Paul uses several verses from Isaiah Chapter s 28 to 29. Read some of these passages in Paul’s letters. Some places where Paul uses them are Romans 10:11; Romans 11:8; 1 Corinthians 1:19; 1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Corinthians 3:2 Corinthians 3:14-15.

6. Study the notes about ‘redeem’ (buy back) for Isaiah 43:1.

r plants that need it. The most skilled gardeners know how to use the walls for these purposes.

There is a long list of the plants in the garden. Some of these plants yield fruits. Most are plants that people have selected for their beautiful smells or for medicine. Some do not usually grow in Israel. It seems that, even then, people were importing plants for their own gardens.

Water is essential for every garden. In a dry country, like Israel, it is very important. Nothing will grow without a good supply of water. Here, the supply of water is so good that it seems to flow from Lebanon! But this garden does not depend on a supply from elsewhere. It has its own supplies of water! It has wells and fountains! It has plentiful water, and that water is fresh!

So this is a description of a woman who has great skills. She will provide well for her family. She will work carefully to make their life together successful. All these things seem to be a secret, like a garden behind a wall. But there is a surprise for us. The woman does not want this garden to be secret! She wants the young man to enter the garden. In other words, she wants them to share married life together. And she wants the benefits of their love to be like a beautiful *perfume that everyone can smell. Everyone should enjoy such a beautiful place!

Chapter 5; Verse 1

Of course, the man is very pleased that the young woman has invited him into her life. And he is very pleased with everything that her love brings. He was right in 4:10-11. There is honey, wine and milk for him. And there are many beautiful smells, too!

The group of other people speak now. This is the first time that they have spoken since 1:4. Perhaps they have smelt the beautiful smells, as the woman requested in 4:16. And they are pleased. They tell the man and woman to enjoy the love that they have for each other.

The second occasion when the young woman had to look for the young man

The young woman

v2 I slept but, in a dream, I awoke.

Listen! My lover is knocking.

‘Open to me, my special young woman, my *dear,

my *dove, my perfect young woman.

My head is wet with *dew.

My hair is damp because of the night.’

v3 I have taken off my dress,

I do not want to put it on again.

I have washed my feet.

I do not want to make them dirty.

v4 My lover put his hand through the opening.

I was excited because he was near.

v5 I got up to open (the door) for my lover.

*Myrrh was falling off my hands.

Liquid *myrrh was falling from my fingers.

It fell onto the handles of the lock.

v6 I opened for my lover.

But my lover had left. He had gone.

I was so sad because he had gone.

I looked for him but I could not find him.

I called for him but he did not answer.

v7 The guards found me as they walked round the city.

They hit me and they bruised me.

There were guards on the wall.

They took away my coat.

v8 Make a promise to me, women in Jerusalem.

If you find my lover,