Isaiah 29:9

9 Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger, but not from strong drink!

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 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, all that fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
8 Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating and wakes up still hungry, or a thirsty person dreams of drinking and wakes up faint, still thirsty, so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor, blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not from wine; stagger, but not from strong drink!
10 For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep; he has closed your eyes, you prophets, and covered your heads, you seers.
11 The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read, with the command, "Read this," they say, "We cannot, for it is sealed."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.