Isaiah 29:1

Ariel. A symbolic name here applied to Jerusalem or to one section of it. The word is of uncertain derivation and meaning, and may have been coined by Isaiah. It may have been a cryptic word comparable to Sheshach (Jer. 25:26), which stood for Babel (see on Jer. 51:41). There is a possibility that the name meant “altar of God” (see Eze. 43:15, 16, where the word is translated “altar”). Others have suggested the translation “lion of God.” This and the following chapters seem to refer to Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah and his abortive siege of Jerusalem. Before the Assyrian invasion God gave clear warnings of the terrors that lay ahead. The Jews were upbraided for their hypocrisy, stubbornness, and failure to understand the import of coming events.

Add ye year to year. The people were going about their affairs entirely without concern for the future, as if one year would follow another with no change in the pleasant routine of life. They went through the annual round of feasts and kept worshiping at the Temple, yet all the while engaging in crimes that threatened the nation with destruction (see ch. 1:4, 10-13, 21-23).

Let them kill sacrifices. Literally, “the feasts run their round.”