29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you
a strong urge to sleep deeply. 1
He has shut your eyes (the prophets),
and covered your heads (the seers).
29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –
an absolutely extraordinary deed. 2
Wise men will have nothing to say,
the sages will have no explanations.” 3
1 tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.
2 tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.
3 tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”