1. “Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt!Add year to year;Let feasts come around.
2. Yet I will distress Ariel;There shall be heaviness and sorrow,And it shall be to Me as Ariel.
3. I will encamp against you all around,I will lay siege against you with a mound,And I will raise siegeworks against you.
4. You shall be brought down,You shall speak out of the ground;Your speech shall be low, out of the dust;Your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground;And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.
5. “Moreover the multitude of your foesShall be like fine dust,And the multitude of the terrible onesLike chaff that passes away;Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.
6. You will be punished by the Lord of hostsWith thunder and earthquake and great noise,With storm and tempestAnd the flame of devouring fire.
7. The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel,Even all who fight against her and her fortress,And distress her,Shall be as a dream of a night vision.
8. It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams,And look—he eats;But he awakes, and his soul is still empty;Or as when a thirsty man dreams,And look—he drinks;But he awakes, and indeed he is faint,And his soul still craves:So the multitude of all the nations shall be,Who fight against Mount Zion.”
9. Pause and wonder!Blind yourselves and be blind!They are drunk, but not with wine;They stagger, but not with intoxicating drink.
10. For the Lord has poured out on youThe spirit of deep sleep,And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets;And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
11. The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.”And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.”
12. Then the book is delivered to one who is illiterate, saying, “Read this, please.”And he says, “I am not literate.”