A question has come about the meaning of Isaiah’s word "Ariel" (29:1-2). It is a compound of ari, "lion," and el, "God," and so literally means the "lion of God." The boldness of a lion is seen in the translation of ariel in Isaiah 33:7 as "the valiant ones" (KJV, ASV). The word appears in 2 Samuel 23:20 and 1 Chronicles 11:22, where the KJV reads "two lionlike men of Moab," and the ASV has "two sons of Ariel of Moab." Ariel is also one of the names of Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1). Also, ariel (not as a proper name) means a fireplace, a place of burning, the alter (Ezekiel 43:15, 16, KJV), the hearth (Ezekiel 43:15, 16, ASV).

It appears that Isaiah, because of the sins of Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:14-22), used a play on words to bring home his lesson, using ariel in two different senses:

(1) Jerusalem, the city of David (2 Samuel 5:9), by David’s wars was considered lionlike and unconquerable, and so Isaiah shouts: "Ariel! Ariel! The Lion of God! The Lion of God!"

(2) But Jerusalem, though with such a complimentary name, would become a place of burning, an ariel in "distress" and "Mourning and lamentation" (ASV, Isaiah 29:1-2). Isaiah was writing about 725 B.C., and Jerusalem was burned in 586 (2 Kings 25:9).

What in most places is the "worst translation of all" (Guy Woods), the NWT in Isaiah 29:2 is the most accurate. The Jehovah Witnesses’ translators saw that Isaiah changed from Jerusalem’s being "the lion of God" in 29:1 to Jerusalem’s becoming a "place of burning" in 29:2. Consequently, the NWT in 29:2 had "the altar hearth of God."

Jesus also used a play on words to bring home his lesson in Matthew 16:18: