Isaiah 29:9

9 Be shocked and stunned; blind yourselves; be blind! Be drunk, but not on wine; stagger, but not on account of beer!

Isaiah 29:9 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 29:9

Stay yourselves, and wonder
Stop a while, pause a little, consider within yourselves the case and circumstances of these people, and wonder at their stupidity. Kimchi thinks these words were spoken in the times of Ahaz, with respect to the men of Judah; and so Aben Ezra says, they are directed to the men of Zion; and it is generally thought that they are spoken to the more religious and sober part of them; though, by the following verse ( Isaiah 29:10 ) , it appears that the case was general, and that the people to whom this address is made were as stupid as others: cry ye out, and cry;
or, "delight yourselves" F19, as in the margin; take your pleasure, indulge yourselves in carnal mirth, gratify your sensual appetite in rioting and wantonness, and then "cry" and lament, as you will have reason to do. Kimchi says, his father rendered the words, "awake yourselves, and awake others"; that is, from that deep sleep they were fallen into, afterwards mentioned: they are drunken, but not with wine;
not with that only, for otherwise many of them were given to drunkenness in a literal sense, ( Isaiah 28:7 ) but they were like drunken men, as stupid, senseless, and secure, though in the utmost danger: they stagger, but not with strong drink;
unsteady in their counsels and resolutions, in their principles and practices, and stumble in their goings.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 (wevetvh) "oblectate vos", Cocceius; "delicias agunt", Junius & Tremellius; "deliciantur", Piscator.

Isaiah 29:9 In-Context

7 The horde of nations fighting against Ariel, and all who make war on her and her fortress and besiege her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 It will be like when a hungry person dreams of eating but wakes up and the mouth is empty. Or when a thirsty person dreams of drinking but wakes up and has a dry throat. So will it be for all the horde of nations who fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be shocked and stunned; blind yourselves; be blind! Be drunk, but not on wine; stagger, but not on account of beer!
10 The LORD has poured on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has shut your eyes, you prophets, and covered your heads, you seers.
11 This entire vision has become for you like the words of a sealed scroll. When they give it to one who can read, saying, "Read this," that one will say, "I can't, because it's sealed."
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