1. Ah, Ariel, Ariel,the city where David encamped!Add year to year;let the feasts run their round.
2. Yet I will distress Ariel,and there shall be moaning and lamentation,and she shall be to me like an Ariel.
3. And I will encamp against you all around,and will besiege you with towersand I will raise siegeworks against you.
4. And 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 the voice of a ghost,and from the dust your speech shall whisper.
5. But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff. And in an instant, suddenly,
6. you will be visited by the Lord of hostswith thunder and with earthquake and great noise,with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
7. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8. As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eatingand awakes with his hunger not satisfied,or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinkingand awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,so shall the multitude of all the nations bethat fight against Mount Zion.
9. Astonish yourselves and be astonished;blind yourselves and be blind!Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!
10. For the Lord has poured out upon youa spirit of deep sleep,and has closed your eyes (the prophets),and covered your heads (the seers).
11. And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12. And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
13. And the Lord said:“Because this people draw near with their mouthand honor me with their lips,while their hearts are far from me,and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14. therefore, behold, I will againdo wonderful things with this people,with wonder upon wonder;and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
15. Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,whose deeds are in the dark,and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”