11 For you this whole vision(A) is nothing but words sealed(B) in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”

13 The Lord says:

“These people(C) come near to me with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,(D)
    but their hearts are far from me.(E)
Their worship of me
    is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[a](F)
14 Therefore once more I will astound these people
    with wonder upon wonder;(G)
the wisdom of the wise(H) will perish,
    the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.(I)
15 Woe to those who go to great depths
    to hide(J) their plans from the Lord,
who do their work in darkness and think,
    “Who sees us?(K) Who will know?”(L)
16 You turn things upside down,
    as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!(M)
Shall what is formed say to the one who formed(N) it,
    “You did not make me”?
Can the pot say to the potter,(O)
    “You know nothing”?(P)

17 In a very short time,(Q) will not Lebanon(R) be turned into a fertile field(S)
    and the fertile field seem like a forest?(T)
18 In that day(U) the deaf(V) will hear the words of the scroll,
    and out of gloom and darkness(W)
    the eyes of the blind will see.(X)
19 Once more the humble(Y) will rejoice in the Lord;
    the needy(Z) will rejoice in the Holy One(AA) of Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules

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