Discovery BoxIsaiah 29:10-12 
Context29:10 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).
29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation 2 is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read 3 and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 29:12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read 4 and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” 5
Isaiah 29:18-19
Context29:18 At that time 6 the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness. 7
29:19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight 8 in the Holy One of Israel. 9
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 “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”
4 tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”
5 tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”
6 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
7 tn Heb “and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.”
sn Perhaps this depicts the spiritual transformation of the once spiritually insensitive nation (see vv. 10-12, cf. also 6:9-10).
8 tn Or “will rejoice” (NIV, NCV, NLT).
9 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
