Isaiah 29:2

2 And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth ^[a] before 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 you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.

2 And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.

3 I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.

4 You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.

5 But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

Footnotes

• [a]. Or like Ariel; see the footnote for verse 1.