Isaiah 29:9

9 If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused. If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded. You are drunk, but not from wine. You stagger, but not from liquor.

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 The armies from all the nations will go to war against Ariel. They will go to war against it, blockade it, and torment it. All of this will be like a dream, like a vision in the night.
8 They will be like hungry people who dream that they're eating and wake up to find they're hungry. They will be like thirsty people who dream that they're drinking and wake up to find they're lightheaded and parched with thirst. This is what will happen to the armies from all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.
9 If you confuse yourselves, you will be confused. If you blind yourselves, you will be blinded. You are drunk, but not from wine. You stagger, but not from liquor.
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."
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