Isaiah 29:9

9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.

Isaiah 29:9 in Other Translations

KJV
9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
ESV
9 Astonish yourselves and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! Be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink!
NLT
9 Are you amazed and incredulous? Don’t you believe it? Then go ahead and be blind. You are stupid, but not from wine! You stagger, but not from liquor!
MSG
9 Drug yourselves so you feel nothing. Blind yourselves so you see nothing. Get drunk, but not on wine. Black out, but not from whiskey.
CSB
9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunk, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with 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 Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night—
8 as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer.
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.”

Cross References 5

  • 1. ver 14; Jeremiah 4:9; Habakkuk 1:5
  • 2. S Isaiah 6:10
  • 3. Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 63:6; Jeremiah 13:13; Jeremiah 25:27
  • 4. S Leviticus 10:9; Isaiah 28:1; Isaiah 51:21-22
  • 5. S Psalms 60:3; S Isaiah 3:12
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