Leviticus 19:14

19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block in front of a blind person. ¹  You must fear ²  your God; I am the Lord.

Job 29:15

29:15 I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame;

Proverbs 28:10

28:10 The one who leads the upright astray in an evil way

will himself fall into his own pit, ³ 

but the blameless will inherit what is good. ⁴ 

Isaiah 56:10

56:10 All their watchmen ⁵  are blind,

they are unaware. ⁶ 

All of them are like mute dogs,

unable to bark.

They pant, ⁷  lie down,

and love to snooze.

Matthew 15:14

15:14 Leave them! They are blind guides. ⁸  If someone who is blind leads another who is blind, ⁹  both will fall into a pit.”

Revelation 2:14

2:14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who follow the teaching of Balaam, ¹⁰  who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block ¹¹  before the people ¹²  of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “You shall not curse a deaf [person] and before a blind [person] you shall not put a stumbling block.”

² tn Heb “And you shall fear.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV) regard the Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) as adversative in force here (“but”).

³ sn The image of falling into a pit (a figure of speech known as hypocatastasis, involving implied comparison) is meant to say that the evil to which he guides people will ultimately destroy him.

⁴ sn This proverb is teaching that those who corrupt others will be destroyed, usually by their own devices, but those who manage to avoid being corrupted will be rewarded. According to this proverb the righteous can be led astray (e.g., 26:27).

⁵ sn The “watchmen” are probably spiritual leaders, most likely prophets and priests, responsible for giving the people moral direction.

⁶ tn Heb “they do not know”; KJV “they are all ignorant”; NIV “they all lack knowledge.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew text has הֹזִים (hozim), which appears to be derived from an otherwise unattested verbal root הָזָה (hazah). On the basis of alleged cognates, BDB 223 s.v. הָזָה offers the definition “dream, rave” while HALOT 243 s.v. הזה lists “pant.” In this case the dog metaphor of the preceding lines continues. The reference to dogs at the beginning of v. 11 favors the extension of the metaphor. The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has חזים (“seers”) here. In this case the “watchmen” are directly identified as prophets and depicted as lazy.

⁸ tc ‡ Most mss, some of which are significant, read “They are blind guides of the blind” (א¹ C L W Z Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). The shorter reading is read by א*^,2 B D 0237 Epiph. There is a distinct possibility of omission due to homoioarcton in א*; this manuscript has a word order variation which puts the word τυφλοί (tufloi, “blind”) right before the word τυφλῶν (tuflwn, “of the blind”). This does not explain the shorter reading, however, in the other witnesses, of which B and D are quite weighty. Internal considerations suggest that the shorter reading is original: “of the blind” was likely added by scribes to balance this phrase with Jesus’ following statement about the blind leading the blind, which clearly has two groups in view. A decision is difficult, but internal considerations here along with the strength of the witnesses argue that the shorter reading is more likely original. NA²⁷ places τυφλῶν in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

⁹ tn Grk “If blind leads blind.”

¹⁰ sn See Num 22-24; 31:16.

¹¹ tn That is, a cause for sinning. An alternate translation is “who instructed Balak to cause the people of Israel to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols…”

¹² tn Grk “sons,” but the expression υἱοὶ ᾿Ισραήλ (Juioi Israhl) is an idiom for the people of Israel as an ethnic entity (see L&N 11.58).

¹³ tn Due to the actual events in the OT (Num 22-24; 31:16), πορνεῦσαι (porneusai) is taken to mean “sexual immorality.” BDAG 854 s.v. πορνεύω 1 states, “engage in illicit sex, to fornicate, to whore…W. φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα ‘eat meat offered to idols’ Rv 2:14, 20.”