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For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes—the prophets; And He has covered your heads—the seers.
Isaiah 29:10 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.
  • KJV For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
  • BSB For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.
  • NKJV For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
  • NLT For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.

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

God has poured out a spirit of deep sleep, closing the eyes of prophets and seers in judgment.

Overview

As judicial judgment on persistent rebellion, God has sent spiritual stupor, blinding even the leaders. This is a sobering instance of God giving the obstinate over to the hardness they have chosen. Paul cites this theme in Romans 11 regarding Israel's partial hardening, which serves God's larger redemptive purpose.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 17

  • Rom 11:8According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
  • Isa 44:18They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.
  • 2 Th 2:9–12even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
  • Acts 28:26–27saying, ‘Go to this people, and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way perceive.
  • Isa 30:10who tell the seers, “Don’t see!” and to the prophets, “Don’t prophesy to us right things. Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy deceits.
  • Isa 6:9–10He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
  • Jer 26:8–11When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!
  • 1 Sam 9:9(In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he said, “Come, and let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.)
  • 2 Cor 4:4in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.
  • Ezek 14:9“‘“If the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Yahweh, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand on him, and will destroy him from among my people Israel.
  • Mic 3:6“Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.
  • Isa 3:2–3the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder,
  • 1 Sam 26:12So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head; and they went away: and no man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them.
  • Ps 69:23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
  • Amos 7:12–13Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:
  • Isa 29:14therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.”
  • Mic 3:1I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Isaiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Isaiah 29:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on IsaiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).

How Isaiah 29:10 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.