Isaiah 29:11

11 And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

Isaiah 29:11 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 29:11

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed
The prophecies of all the prophets contained in the Scriptures; or all the prophecies in the book of Isaiah, concerning the Messiah, were no more seen, known, and understood, both by the priests and the people, than if they had been in a book, written, rolled up, and sealed. And this was owing, not to the obscurity of these writings, or because they were really sealed up, but to the blindness and stupidity of the people, whose eyes were closed, and their heads covered; and the prophecies of the Scriptures were only so to them, "unto you", not unto others; not to the apostles of Christ, whose understandings were opened by him, to understand the things written concerning him, in the law, in the prophets, and in the psalms; but the Jewish rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, as well as the common people, understood them not, though they were the means of fulfilling many of them; and they were as ignorant of the prophecies concerning their own ruin and destruction, for their rejection of Christ; see ( Luke 24:27 Luke 24:44 Luke 24:45 ) ( Acts 3:17 Acts 3:18 ) ( 13:27 ) : which [men] deliver to one that is learned;
or, "that knows the book" F21; or "letters", as the Septuagint; see ( John 7:15 ) such were the Scribes, called (grammateiv) , or "letter men", men that could read well, and understood language: saying, Read this, I pray thee;
or read this now, as the Targum, and interpret it, and tell the meaning of it: and he saith, I cannot, for it [is] sealed;
which Kimchi says was an excuse invented, because he had no mind to read it, or otherwise he could have said, open, and I will read it; or he might have broke off the seal; but knowing there were difficult things, and things hard to be understood, in it, did not care to look into it, and read it, and attempt to explain it to others.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (rpoh edwy) "scienti librum", Montanus; (epistamenw grammata) , Sept.; "scienti literas", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Isaiah 29:11 In-Context

9 Be astonished, and wonder, waver, and stagger: be drunk, and not with wine: stagger, and not with drunkenness.
10 For the Lord hath mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, he will shut up your eyes, he will cover your prophets and princes, that see visions.
11 And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.
12 And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.
13 And the Lord said: Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify me, but their heart is far from me, and they have feared me with the commandment and doctrines of men:
The Douay-Rheims Bible is in the public domain.