Isaiah 29:2

2 I will torment Ariel, and the city will be filled with people grieving and mourning. The city will become like Ariel.

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 How horrible it will be for you Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped. Let year after year go by. Let your annual festivals go on.

2 I will torment Ariel, and the city will be filled with people grieving and mourning. The city will become like Ariel.

3 I will set up war camps all around you. I will blockade you with towers. I will put up mounds of dirt around you.

4 When you have fallen, you will speak as you lie on the ground. Your words will be muffled by the dust. Your voice will come out of the ground like that of a ghost. Your words will be whispered from the dust.

5 Your many enemies will be like fine dust. Your many foes will be like husks blown by the wind. All of this will happen suddenly, unexpectedly.