the Week of Proper 22 / Ordinary 27
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King James Version
Isaiah 59:10
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We grope along the wall like blind men;We grope like those who have no eyes;We stumble at midday as in the twilight,Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
We go on our way, like blind men feeling for the wall, even like those who have no eyes: we are running against things in daylight as if it was evening; our place is in the dark like dead men.
We grope lyke the blinde vpon the wall, we grope euen as one that hath none eyes, we stumble at the noone day as though it were towarde night, in the falling places, lyke men that are halfe dead.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at midday as in the twilight; amongst the flourishing we are as the dead.
We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes; We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the twilight, in deserted places like ones dying.
We are like people without eyes. We walk into walls like blind people. We stumble and fall as if it was night. Even in the daylight, we cannot see. At noontime, we fall like dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eies: we stumble at noone day as in the night, we are in desolate places as dead men.
We grope like ye blynde vpon ye wall, we grope euen as one yt hath none eyes. We stomble at ye noone daye, as though it were toward night: in ye fallinge places, like men yt are half deed.
We grope for a wall like the blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those that are lusty we are as dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if [we had] no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; [we are] in desolate places as dead [men].
We are like the blind feeling our way along a wall. We feel our way as if we had no eyes. In the brightness of day we trip as if it were night. We are like dead men among the strong.
We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men.
We feel our way along, as if we were blind; we stumble at noon, as if it were night. We can see no better than someone dead.
We grope for the wall like the blind; like people without eyes we feel our way; we stumble at noonday as if it were dusk, we are in dark places like the dead.
Wee grope for the wall like the blinde, and we grope as one without eyes: we stumble at the noone day as in the twilight: we are in solitarie places, as dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope like men who have no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the night; we groan as those who are near death.
We grope for the wall like the blind; yes, we grope as those who have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among those who are lusty we are as dead men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, yea, as they that have no eyes do we grope; we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; we are in dark places like the dead.
We grope like the blind along a wall, feeling our way like people without eyes. Even at brightest noontime, we stumble as though it were dark. Among the living, we are like the dead.
We feel for the wall like blind men. We feel our way like those who have no eyes. We trip at noon as in the night. Among those who are strong, we are like dead men.
They shall feel for the wall as blind men, and shall feel for it as if they had no eyes: and they shall feel at noon-day as at midnight; they shall groan as dying men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men.
Like 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.
We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We grope, as blind men for a wall, Yea, as men without eyes, do we grope, - We have stumbled at broad noon as though it were twilight, In desolate places like the dead!
We have groped for the wall, and like the blind we have groped as if we had no eyes: we have stumbled at noonday as in darkness, we are in dark places, as dead men.
We grope like the blind along a wall, and we grope as without eyes. We stumble at noon as in the twilight; among the strong we are like the dead.
We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
We grope for the wall like people who are blind, We grope like those who have no eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; Among those who are healthy we are like the dead.
and we grope about like blind people. We stumble at noon, as if it were night, as if we were in the dark world of the dead.
We grope along a wall like the blind; we grope like those without eyes. We stumble at noon as though it were twilight; we are like the dead among those who are healthy.
We gropiden as blynde men the wal, and we as with outen iyen touchiden; we stumbliden in myddai, as in derknessis, in derk places, as deed men.
We grope for the wall like the blind, we grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among those in full vigor we are like dead men.
We feel like the blind [for] the wall, Yea, as without eyes we feel, We have stumbled at noon as at twilight, In desolate places as the dead.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
grope: Deuteronomy 28:29, Job 5:14, Proverbs 4:19, Jeremiah 13:16, Lamentations 4:14, Amos 8:9, John 11:9, John 11:10, John 12:35, John 12:40, 1 John 2:11
in desolate: Lamentations 3:6
Reciprocal: Job 12:25 - grope Ezekiel 26:20 - in places Amos 5:8 - maketh Micah 3:6 - the sun Zephaniah 1:16 - day Zephaniah 1:17 - they shall Matthew 20:30 - two John 8:27 - General 2 Corinthians 3:14 - their
Gill's Notes on the Bible
We grope for the wall like the blind,.... Who either with their hands, or with a staff in them, feel for the wall to lean against, or to guide them in the way, or into the house, that they may know whereabout they are, and how they should steer their course:
and we grope as if we had no eyes: which yet they had, the eyes of their reason and understanding; but which either were not opened, or they made no use of them in searching the Scriptures, to come at the light and knowledge of divine things; and therefore only at most groped after them by the dim light of nature, if thereby they might find them. This is to be understood not of them all, but of many, and of the greatest part:
we stumble at noonday as in the night; as many persons do now: for though it is noonday in some respects, and in some places, where the Gospel and the truths of it are clearly preached; yet men stumble and fall into the greatest errors, as in the night of the greatest darkness; as if it was either the night of Paganism or Popery with them:
we are in desolate places as dead men; or "in fatnesses" a; in fat places where the word and ordinances are administered, where is plenty of the means of grace, yet not quickened thereby; are as dead men, dead in trespasses and sin, and at most have only a name to live, but are dead. Some render it, "in the graves" b; and the Targum thus,
"it is shut before us, as the graves are shut before the dead;''
we have no more light, joy, and comfort, than those in the graves have.
a באשמנים "in rebus pinguissimis", Junius Tremellius "in pinguetudinibus", Piscator; "in opimis rebus", Vitringa. b "In sepulchris", Pagninus; and so Ben Melech interprets it.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
We grope for the wall like the blind - A blind man, not being able to see his way, feels along by a wall, a fence, or any other object that will guide him. They were like the blind. They had no distinct views of truth, and they were endeavoring to feel their way along as well as they could. Probably the prophet here alludes to the threatening made by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, ‘And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways.’
We stumble at noon-day as in the night - The idea here is, that they were in a state of utter disorder and confusion. Obstacles were in their way on all hands, and they could no more walk than people could who at noon-day found their path filled with obstructions. There was no remission, no relaxation of their evils. They were continued at all times, and they had no intervals of day. Travelers, though at night they wander and fall, may look for approaching day, and be relieved by the returning light. But not so with them. It was all night. There were no returning intervals of light, repose and peace. It was as if the sun was blotted out, and all was one long, uninterrupted, and gloomy night.
We are in desolate places - There has been great variety in the interpretation of this phrase. Noyes, after Gesenius. translates it, ‘In the midst of fertile fields we are like the dead.’ One principal reason which Gesenius gives for this translation (Commentary in loc.) is, that this best agrees with the sense of the passage, and answers better to the previous member of the sentence, thus more perfectly preserving the parallelism:
At noon-day we stumble as in the night;
In fertile fields we are like the dead.
Thus, the idea would be, that even when all seemed like noon-day they were as in the night; and that though they were in places that seemed luxuriant, they were like the wandering spirits of the dead. Jerome renders it, Caliginosis quasi mortui. The Septuagint, ‘They fall at mid-day as at midnight: they groan as the dying’ (ὡς ἀποθνῄσκοντες στενάξουσιν hōs apothnēskontes stenachousin). The Syriac follows this. ‘We groan as those who are near to death.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘It (the way) is closed before us as the sepulchre is closed upon the dead;’ that is, we are enclosed on every side by calamity and trial, as the dead are in their graves. The derivation of the Hebrew word אשׁמנים 'ashemanı̂ym is uncertain, and this uncertainty has given rise to the variety of interpretation. Some regard it as derived from שׁמם shâmam, to be laid waste, to be desolate; and others from שׁמן shâman, to be, or become fat.
The word שׁמנים shemannı̂ym, in the sense of fatness, that is, fat and fertile fields, occurs in Genesis 27:28, Genesis 27:39; and this is probably the sense here. According to this, the idea is, we are in fertile fields like the dead. Though surrounded by lands that are adapted to produce abundance, yet we are cut off from the enjoyment of them like the dead. Such is the disturbed state of public affairs; and such the weight of the divine judgments, that we have no participation in these blessings and comforts. The idea which. I suppose, the prophet means to present is, that the land was suited to produce abundance, but that such was the pressure of the public calamity, that all this now availed them nothing, and they were like the dead who are separated from all enjoyments. The original reference here was to the Jew suffering for their sins, whether regarded as in Palestine under their heavy judgments, or as in Babylon, where all was night and gloom. But the language here is strikingly descriptive of the condition of the world at large. Sinners at noon-day grope and stumble as in the night. In a world that is full of the light of divine truth as it beams from the works and the word of God, they are in deep darkness. They feel their way as blind people do along a wall, and not a ray of light penetrates the darkness of their minds. And in a world full of fertility, rich and abundant and overflowing in its bounties, they are still like ‘the dead.’ True comfort and peace they have not; and they seem to wander as in the darkness of night, far from peace, from comfort, and from God.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Isaiah 59:10. We stumble at noon day as in the night - "We stumble at mid-day, as in the twilight"] I adopt here an emendation of Houbigant, נשגגה nishgegah, instead of the second, נגששה negasheshah, the repetition of which has a poverty and inelegance extremely unworthy of the prophet, and unlike his manner. The mistake is of long standing, being prior to all the ancient versions. It was a very easy and obvious mistake, and I have little doubt of our having recovered the true reading in this ingenious correction.
