Isaiah 29:12

12 Then you give the book to someone who can't read, saying, "Please read this." He answers, "I can't read."

Isaiah 29:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 29:12

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned
Or that knows not a book or letters, as before, and so consequently cannot read, having never been put to school, or learned to read:

saying, Read this, I pray thee;
or "now" F23, at once, immediately:

and he saith, I am not learned;
he does not excuse himself on account of its being sealed, but on account of his want of learning; which shows the former was but an excuse. In short, the sum of it is this, that neither the learned nor unlearned, among the Jews, cared to read their Bibles, or to search the Scriptures, and the prophecies in them, concerning the Messiah, and that neither of them understood them; these things were hid from the wise and prudent, as well as from the ignorant and unlearned of the people, in common, and were only made known to a few babes and sucklings. There was great ignorance of the Scriptures in the times of Christ, to which these passages truly belong, ( Matthew 11:25 Matthew 11:26 ) ( 22:29 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F23 (an) "nunc", Pagninus, Montanus.

Isaiah 29:12 In-Context

10 The LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.) He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers. )
11 To you all these visions will be like words in a book that is closed and sealed. You give this book to someone who can read, saying, "Please read this." He answers, "I can't read it. It's sealed."
12 Then you give the book to someone who can't read, saying, "Please read this." He answers, "I can't read."
13 The Lord says, "These people worship me with their mouths and honor me with their lips. But their hearts are far from me, and their worship of me is [based on] rules made by humans.
14 That is why I am going to do something completely amazing for these people once again. The wisdom of their wise people will disappear. The intelligence of their intelligent people will be hidden."
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