Isaiah 29:10-14

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 

29:13 The sovereign master ⁶  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ⁷ 

they say wonderful things about me, ⁸ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ⁹ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ¹⁰ 

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹¹ 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹² 

[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]  ³ tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”

[29:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”

[29:13]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[29:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”