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The Siege of Jerusalem

29Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
   the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
   let the festivals run their round.
² Yet I will distress Ariel,
   and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
   and Jerusalem^* shall be to me like an Ariel.^*
3 And like David^* I will encamp against you;
   I will besiege you with towers
   and raise siege-works against you.
⁴ Then deep from the earth you shall speak,
   from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
   and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵ But the multitude of your foes^* shall be like fine dust,
   and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
⁶   you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
   with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
   all that fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
   shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸ Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating
   and wakes up still hungry,
or a thirsty person dreams of drinking
   and wakes up faint, still thirsty,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
   that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
   blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not from wine;
   stagger, but not from strong drink!
¹⁰ For the Lord has poured out upon you
   a spirit of deep sleep;
he has closed your eyes, you prophets,
   and covered your heads, you seers.

11 The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read, with the command, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot, for it is sealed.’ ¹²And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot read.’