Isaiah 29:11

And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Isaiah addresses Judah’s religious leaders after describing God’s judgment that has induced a spirit of spiritual insensitivity. The prophet uses the imagery of an unreadable scroll to explain their current inability to receive or understand prophetic revelation.

The words — חָזוּת (chazut) refers to the prophetic vision, while הֶחָתוּם (hechatum) specifies the scroll as sealed or bound shut.

The thread — The motif of sealed revelation appears in Isaiah 8:16 and Daniel 12:4, while Matthew 13:11 addresses the separate theme of restricted knowledge regarding heavenly mysteries.

Why it lands — The text states that a sealed scroll physically prevents reading, illustrating how divine judgment can block perception. Interpreters infer this describes a spiritual hardening where human inability replaces divine revelation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

Cross-references

Matthew 13:11 He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony and seal the law among my disciples.
Daniel 12:4 But you, Daniel, shut up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will roam to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”
Daniel 12:9 “Go on your way, Daniel,” he replied, “for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
Matthew 16:17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.
Revelation 5:1 Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.
Revelation 6:1 Then I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”