Isaiah 29:10-20

10 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.”
12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[a]
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”
15 Woe to those who go to great depths to hide their plans from the LORD, who do their work in darkness and think, “Who sees us? Who will know?”
16 You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?
17 In a very short time, will not Lebanon be turned into a fertile field and the fertile field seem like a forest?
18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 Once more the humble will rejoice in the LORD; the needy will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20 The ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who have an eye for evil will be cut down—

Isaiah 29:10-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 29

This chapter contains a prophecy concerning the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem by the Romans; the character and condition of the people of the Jews, previous to it; the calling of the Gentiles, by the preaching of the Gospel; the ruin of antichrist, and the conversion of the Jews, in the latter day. The siege and destruction of Jerusalem are described in Isa 29:1-6 the disappointment of their enemies, notwithstanding their taking and destroying it, Isa 29:7,8 the stupidity, judicial blindness, and hardness of the Jews, which brought on their ruin, are predicted, Isa 29:9,10 the ignorance of their learned, as well as of their unlearned men, with respect to the Scripture, and the prophecies of it, Isa 29:11,12 their hypocrisy and formality in worship, Isa 29:13 a blast upon all their wisdom and prudence, who thought to be wiser than the Lord, and too many for him, whose folly and atheism are exposed, Isa 29:14-16, and a great change both in Judea and the Gentile world, by the removal of the Gospel from the one to the other, Isa 29:17 the effects of which are, deaf sinners hear the word, dark minds are enlightened, and joy increased among the meek and poor, Isa 29:18,19 the fall of the Jews, or else of antichrist, is foretold, Isa 29:20,21 and the chapter is closed with a promise and prophecy of the conversion of the seed of Abraham and Jacob, Isa 29:22-24.

Cross References 35

  • 1. S Judges 4:21; John 1:5
  • 2. Psalms 69:23; S Isaiah 6:9-10; Isaiah 44:18; Romans 11:8*; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11
  • 3. Micah 3:6
  • 4. S 1 Samuel 9:9
  • 5. S Isaiah 28:7
  • 6. S Isaiah 8:16; Daniel 8:26; Daniel 12:9; Matthew 13:11; Revelation 5:1-2
  • 7. Jeremiah 14:11; Haggai 1:2; Haggai 2:14
  • 8. S Psalms 50:16
  • 9. S Psalms 119:70; Isaiah 58:2; Jeremiah 12:2; Ezekiel 33:31
  • 10. Matthew 15:8-9*; Mark 7:6-7*; Colossians 2:22
  • 11. S Job 10:16; Habakkuk 1:5
  • 12. S Job 5:13; Jeremiah 8:9; Jeremiah 49:7
  • 13. Isaiah 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 1:19*
  • 14. S Genesis 3:8; S Isaiah 28:15
  • 15. S Job 8:3; Psalms 10:11-13; Psalms 94:7; Isaiah 47:10; Isaiah 57:12; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9
  • 16. S 2 Kings 21:16; S Job 22:13
  • 17. S Job 10:9; S Isaiah 10:15
  • 18. S Genesis 2:7
  • 19. Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:8; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:20-21*
  • 20. S Job 9:12
  • 21. S Isaiah 10:25
  • 22. S Isaiah 2:13
  • 23. Psalms 84:6; Psalms 107:33
  • 24. Isaiah 32:15
  • 25. S Isaiah 28:5
  • 26. Mark 7:37
  • 27. S Psalms 107:14
  • 28. S Psalms 146:8; S Isaiah 32:3; Isaiah 35:5; Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22
  • 29. Psalms 25:9; Psalms 37:11; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 5:5; Matthew 11:29
  • 30. S Psalms 72:4; S Isaiah 3:15; S Isaiah 14:30; Matthew 11:5; Luke 7:22; James 1:9; James 2:5
  • 31. ver 23; Isaiah 1:4; S Isaiah 5:19; S Isaiah 12:6; Isaiah 30:11
  • 32. S Isaiah 9:4; S Isaiah 13:11
  • 33. Isaiah 34:12
  • 34. S 2 Chronicles 36:16; Isaiah 28:22
  • 35. S Job 15:35; Psalms 7:14; Isaiah 32:7; Isaiah 33:11; Isaiah 59:4; Ezekiel 11:2; Micah 2:1; Nahum 1:11

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew; Septuagint "They worship me in vain;" / "their teachings are merely human rules"
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