Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
Yet - rather, Then.
I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow. There is a play on like sounds in the Hebrew ( ta'ªniyaah (H8386) wa'ªniyaah (H592)), groaning and moaning.
As Ariel - either, 'the city shall be as a lion of God' - i:e., it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or, 'it shall be as the altar of burnt offering,' consuming with fire the besiegers (Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 31:9; Leviticus 10:2); or, best, as the next verse continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come until Isaiah 29:5, 'it shall be as a hearth of burning' - i:e., a scene of devastation by fire. The prophecy probably contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib's time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zechariah 14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isaiah 29:17-24).