Discovery BoxIsaiah 29:11 
Context29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation 1 is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read 2 and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.”
Isaiah 29:18
Context29:18 At that time 3 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. 4
Isaiah 30:8
Context30:8 Now go, write it 5 down on a tablet in their presence, 6
inscribe it on a scroll,
so that it might be preserved for a future time
as an enduring witness. 7
Isaiah 34:4
Context34:4 All the stars in the sky will fade away, 8
the sky will roll up like a scroll;
all its stars will wither,
like a leaf withers and falls from a vine
or a fig withers and falls from a tree. 9
Isaiah 34:16
Context34:16 Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! 10
Not one of these creatures will be missing, 11
none will lack a mate. 12
For the Lord has issued the decree, 13
and his own spirit gathers them. 14
1 tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”
3 tn Or “In that day” (KJV).
4 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).
5 tn The referent of the third feminine singular pronominal suffix is uncertain. Perhaps it refers to the preceding message, which accuses the people of rejecting the Lord’s help in favor of an alliance with Egypt.
6 tn Heb “with them.” On the use of the preposition here, see BDB 86 s.v. II אֵת.
7 sn Recording the message will enable the prophet to use it in the future as evidence that God warned his people of impending judgment and clearly spelled out the nation’s guilt. An official record of the message will also serve as proof of the prophet’s authority as God’s spokesman.
8 tc Heb “and all the host of heaven will rot.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa inserts “and the valleys will be split open,” but this reading may be influenced by Mic 1:4. On the other hand, the statement, if original, could have been omitted by homoioarcton, a scribe’s eye jumping from the conjunction prefixed to “the valleys” to the conjunction prefixed to the verb “rot.”
9 tn Heb “like the withering of a leaf from a vine, and like the withering from a fig tree.”
10 tn Heb “Seek from upon the scroll of the Lord and read.”
sn It is uncertain what particular scroll is referred to here. Perhaps the phrase simply refers to this prophecy and is an admonition to pay close attention to the details of the message.
11 tn Heb “one from these will not be missing.” הֵנָּה (hennah, “these”) is feminine plural in the Hebrew text. It may refer only to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or may include all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).
12 tn Heb “each its mate they will not lack.”
13 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “for a mouth, it has commanded.” The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa and a few medieval
14 tn Heb “and his spirit, he gathers them.” The pronominal suffix (“them”) is feminine plural, referring to the birds mentioned in v. 15b or to all of the creatures listed in vv. 14b-15 (all of which are identified with feminine nouns).
