Bible Strands
Isaiah 29:1
Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Isaiah addresses the inhabitants of Jerusalem, identified as Ariel, at the beginning of their annual festival cycle.
The words — אֲרִיאֵל ('a.ri.'El) denotes "Ariel," and ה֚וֹי (Ho) is a direct pronouncement of impending disaster.
The thread — The mention of David's camp echoes 2 Samuel 5:9, while the warning against unrepentant ritual repetition aligns with the critiques in Amos 4:4 and Micah 6:6.
Why it lands — It demands the reader acknowledge that recurring religious observance cannot avert judgment when practiced without genuine repentance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 5:9 So David took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built it up all the way around, from the supporting terraces inward.
- Amos 4:4 “Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
- Micah 6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD when I bow before the God on high? Should I come to Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
- Isaiah 66:3 Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s blood; whoever offers frankincense is like one who blesses an idol. Indeed, they have chosen their own ways and delighted in their abominations.
- Ezekiel 43:15 The altar hearth shall be four cubits high, and four horns shall project upward from the hearth.
- Hosea 5:6 They go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.
- Hosea 8:13 Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me, and though they eat the meat, the LORD does not accept them. Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins: They will return to Egypt.
- Hosea 9:4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him, but will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat will be defiled. For their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the LORD.
- Isaiah 31:9 Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
- Hebrews 10:1 For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.