Isaiah 29:9–18

⁹Astonish yourselves² and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,³ but not with wine;

^rstagger,⁴ but not with strong drink!

^10sFor the Lord has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep,

and has closed your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

¹¹And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is ^tsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” ¹²And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

¹³And the Lord said:

“Because ^uthis people ^vdraw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

¹⁴therefore, behold, ^wI will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and ^xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

¹⁵Ah, ^yyou who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,

whose deeds are ^zin the dark,

and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”

^16aYou turn things upside down!

Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

that the thing made should say of its maker,

“He did not make me”;

or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

“He has no understanding”?

¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while

^buntil Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?

¹⁸In that day ^cthe deaf shall hear

^dthe words of a book,

and out of their gloom and darkness

^ethe eyes of the blind shall see.