Isaiah 29:2

2 And I shall compass Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning; and Jerusalem shall be to me as Ariel. (And I shall surround Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning; and Jerusalem shall be like Ariel to me.)

Isaiah 29:2 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 29:2

Yet I will distress Ariel
Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters: and there shall be heaviness and sorrow;
on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city: and it shall be unto me as Ariel;
the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum,

``and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;''

so Jarchi and Kimchi.

Isaiah 29:2 In-Context

1 Woe! [to] Ariel, Ariel, the city which David overcame; year is added to year, solemnities be passed (the feasts have come and gone).

2 And I shall compass Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning; and Jerusalem shall be to me as Ariel. (And I shall surround Ariel, and it shall be sorrowful and mourning; and Jerusalem shall be like Ariel to me.)

3 And I shall compass as a round spear, either trundle, in thy compass, and I shall cast [an heap] (of) earth against thee, and I shall set strongholds, either engines, into thy besieging. (And I shall surround thee with my army, and I shall throw a heap of earth against thee, and I shall set up strongholds, or engines, to besiege thee.)

4 Thou shalt be made low, thou shalt speak (out) of [the] earth, and thy speech shall be heard from the earth; and thy voice shall be as the voice of a dead man raised (up) by conjuring, and thy speech shall oft grutch of the earth (and thy words shall grumble, or groan, out of the earth).

5 And the multitude of them that winnowed thee, shall be (made) as thin dust; and the multitude of them that had the mastery against thee, shall be (made) as [a] dead spark passing (away). And it shall be (that) suddenly,