Isaiah 29:9–18

⁹Stop and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

They are drunk,^C but not with wine;

they stagger,^A but not with beer.ⁱ

¹⁰For the Lord has poured out on you

an overwhelming urge to^B sleep;ⁱ

he has shut your eyes (the prophets)

and covered your heads (the seers).^k

¹¹For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document.^l If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it,^C he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” ¹²And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it,^D he will say, “I can’t read.”

¹³The Lord said:

These people approach me with their speeches^m

to honor me with lip-service,^E

yet their hearts are far from me,

and human rules direct their worship of me.^F

¹⁴Therefore, I will again confound these people

with wonder after wonder.ⁿ

The wisdom of their wise will vanish,^o

and the perception of their perceptive will be hidden.

¹⁵Woe to those who go to great lengths

to hide their plans from the Lord.^p

They do their works in the dark,

and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”^q

¹⁶You have turned things around,

as if the potter were the same as the clay.

How can what is made say about its maker,

“He didn’t make me”?^r

How can what is formed

say about the one who formed it,

“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?

¹⁷Isn’t it true that in just a little while

Lebanon will become an orchard,

and the orchard will seem like a forest?^s

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear^a

the words of a document,

and out of a deep darkness

the eyes of the blind will see.