Isaiah 29:1-4

Woe to David’s City

1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David settled! Add year to year and let your cycle of festivals go on.

2 Yet I will besiege Ariel; she will mourn and lament, she will be to me like an altar hearth.^[a]

3 I will encamp against you on all sides; I will encircle you with towers and set up my siege works against you.

4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.

Isaiah 29:1-4 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 29

This chapter contains a prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem by the Romans; the character and condition of the people of the Jews, previous to it; the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel; the ruin of antichrist, and the conversion of the Jews, in the latter day. The siege and destruction of Jerusalem are described in Isa 29:1-6 the disappointment of their enemies, notwithstanding their taking and destroying it, Isa 29:7,8 the stupidity, judicial blindness, and hardness of the Jews, which brought on their ruin, are predicted, Isa 29:9,10 the ignorance of their learned, as well as of their unlearned men, with respect to the Scripture, and the prophecies of it, Isa 29:11,12 their hypocrisy and formality in worship, Isa 29:13 a blast upon all their wisdom and prudence, who thought to be wiser than the Lord, and too many for him, whose folly and atheism are exposed, Isa 29:14-16, and a great change both in Judea and the Gentile world, by the removal of the Gospel from the one to the other, Isa 29:17 the effects of which are, deaf sinners hear the word, dark minds are enlightened, and joy increased among the meek and poor, Isa 29:18,19 the fall of the Jews, or else of antichrist, is foretold, Isa 29:20,21 and the chapter is closed with a promise and prophecy of the conversion of the seed of Abraham and Jacob, Isa 29:22-24.

Cross References

• 1. Isaiah 22:12-13; S Isaiah 28:1
• 2. ver 2,7; 2 Samuel 5:9
• 3. S 2 Samuel 5:7
• 4. S Isaiah 1:14
• 5. S ver 1
• 6. S Isaiah 3:26; Lamentations 2:5
• 7. Ezekiel 43:15
• 8. Luke 19:43-44
• 9. S 2 Kings 25:1
• 10. Isaiah 8:19
• 11. Isaiah 47:1; Isaiah 52:2
• 12. S Leviticus 19:31
• 13. Isaiah 26:16

Footnotes

• [a] The Hebrew for "altar hearth" sounds like the Hebrew for "Ariel."