Isaiah 29 is the twenty-ninth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Book of the Prophets. The Jerusalem Bible groups chapters 28-35 together as a collection of "poems on Israel and Judah".[1]
Isaiah 29 | |
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Book | Book of Isaiah |
Hebrew Bible part | Nevi'im |
Order in the Hebrew part | 5 |
Category | Latter Prophets |
Christian Bible part | Old Testament |
Order in the Christian part | 23 |
The original text was written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 24 verses.
Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).[2]
Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BC or later):
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; Q; 6th century).[3]
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.[4] Isaiah 29 is a part of the Prophecies about Judah and Israel (Isaiah 24–35). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.
This part contains two oracles which can be 'paired with complete ease'.[5]
The Lord acting in judgment | Reducing the city to dust (1–4) | Inducing coma in those who have chosen blindness (9–12) |
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The Lord acting in transformation | Dispersing the foe in an eleventh-hour rescue (5–8) | Performing a supernatural act of changing hearts and imparting new wisdom (13-14) |
The name given to Jerusalem in verses 1-7 is "Ariel": God will bring distress upon Ariel, and will make her like "an ariel". The Encyclopedia Judaica suggests that the word is derived from a root, ari, meaning "to burn", similar to the Arabic word ʿiratun, meaning "hearth", such that Isaiah expects that Jerusalem will "become like the altar, i.e., a scene of holocaust" [8] (compare verse 6).
"Dwelt": Robert Lowth's nineteenth century version, Brenton's Septuagint Translation,[9] and the New English Translation render "dwelt" (ḥā·nāh) as "besieged", recalling the events of 2 Samuel 5:6–7 when David and his men captured the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites.
The word tar·dê·māh, translated as "deep sleep", reflects the deep sleep which the Lord God caused to fall on AdaminGenesis 2:21.[13]
Jesus Christ quoted verse 13 as noted in Matthew 15:7–9 and Mark 7:6–7.
The poem in this part can be divided into 3 sections (just as the theme of the opening three 'woes') offering 'a meditation on the theme of transformation'.[15]
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that "[this] clause is suspicious, both from its position in the original, and from its contents. There is no incident in the biblical history of Abraham to which the expression "redeem" is specially appropriate; there is, however, a late Jewish legend about his being delivered from a fiery death prepared for him by his heathen relations (Book of Jubilees, chapter 12). The words may be a late interpolation."[18]