Isaiah 29:10-12

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you

a strong urge to sleep deeply. ¹ 

He has shut your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ²  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ³  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 29:12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read ⁴  and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” ⁵ 

Isaiah 44:20

44:20 He feeds on ashes; ⁶ 

his deceived mind misleads him.

He cannot rescue himself,

nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’ ⁷ 

Isaiah 44:2

44:2 This is what the Lord, the one who made you, says –

the one who formed you in the womb and helps you:

“Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob,

Jeshurun, ⁸  whom I have chosen!

Isaiah 2:10-11

2:10 Go up into the rocky cliffs,

hide in the ground.

Get away from the dreadful judgment of the Lord, ⁹ 

from his royal splendor!

2:11 Proud men will be brought low,

arrogant men will be humiliated; ¹⁰ 

the Lord alone will be exalted ¹¹ 

in that day.

[29:10]  ¹ tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.

[29:11]  ² tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ³ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[29:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”

[29:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”

[44:20]  ⁶ tn Or perhaps, “he eats on an ash heap.”

[44:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is it not a lie in my right hand?”

[44:2]  ⁸ sn Jeshurun is a poetic name for Israel; it occurs here and in Deut 32:15; 33:5, 26.

[2:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the dread of the Lord,” that is, from the dread that he produces in the objects of his judgment.” The words “get away” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the eyes of the pride of men will be brought low, and the arrogance of men will be brought down.” The repetition of the verbs שָׁפַל (shafal) and שָׁחָח (shakhakh) from v. 9 draws attention to the appropriate nature of the judgment. Those proud men who “bow low” before idols will be forced to “bow low” before God when he judges their sin.

[2:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “elevated”; CEV “honored.”