and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.
Parallel translations
- WEB You will grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You will only be oppressed and robbed always, and there will be no one to save you.
- KJV And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.
- NKJV And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you.
- NASB and you will be groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you.
- NLT You will grope around in broad daylight like a blind person groping in the darkness, but you will not find your way. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, and no one will come to save you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel will grope helplessly like the blind, oppressed and robbed with no one to rescue them.
Overview
Spiritual and mental blindness leaves them stumbling even at noonday. Continual oppression with no deliverer marks the depth of the curse. The absence of any savior highlights, by contrast, the desperate human need for the Deliverer God would ultimately send in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Isa 59:10Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.
- Job 5:14They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.
- Judg 13:1Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
- Judg 3:14The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
- Ps 106:40–42So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.
- Judg 10:8who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
- Judg 4:2–3So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
- Judg 6:1–6Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,
- Lam 5:17Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
- Rom 11:7–10What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
- Zeph 1:17I will bring such distress on mankind that they will walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the LORD. Their blood will be poured out like dust and their flesh like dung.
- 2 Cor 4:3–4And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
- 1 Sam 13:5–7Now the Philistines assembled to fight against Israel with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
- Job 12:25They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.
- Ps 69:23–24May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.
- 1 Sam 13:19–22And no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not be allowed to make swords or spears.”
- Lam 5:8Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hands.
- Rom 11:25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
- Neh 9:37Its abundant harvest goes to the kings You have set over us because of our sins. And they rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please. We are in great distress.
- Neh 9:26–29But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.
- Acts 21:24Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay their expenses so they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that there is no truth to these rumors about you, but that you also live in obedience to the law.
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 28:29 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.