Isaiah 29:5

³ I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.

⁴ You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.

But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,

⁶ you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.

⁷ All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
KJV: Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
WEB: But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.
ASV: But the multitude of thy foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be in an instant suddenly.
DARBY: And the multitude of thine enemies shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away; and it shall be in an instant, suddenly.
BLB: The multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff passing away; and it will come to pass in an instant, suddenly,

ÅB: Men så skal dine fienders mengde bli som fint støv, og voldsmennenes flokk som fykende agner, og det skal skje i et øyeblikk, med ett.
OTB: Men mengden av dine fiender skal bli som fint støv, og de nådeløse hordene som agner som blåser bort; det skal skje plutselig, i et øyeblikk.
B1930: Men så skal dine fienders mengde bli som fint støv, og voldsmennenes flokk som fykende agner, og det skal skje i et øieblikk, med ett.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
Read in context
Isaiah 37:36
Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
Read in context
Isaiah 30:13
this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly— in an instant!
Read in context
Isaiah 31:3
But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.
Read in context
Isaiah 17:13–14
The nations rage like the rush of many waters. He rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven before the wind like chaff on the hills, like tumbleweeds before a gale.
Read in context
Isaiah 25:5
like heat in a dry land. You subdue the uproar of foreigners. As the shade of a cloud cools the heat, so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
Read in context
Psalms 76:5–6
The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep. No men of might could lift a hand.
Read in context
Psalms 35:5
May they be like chaff in the wind, as the angel of the LORD drives them away.
Read in context