an action (good or bad) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
dark
בְמַחְשָׁךְ֙ve.mach.shoKh
H4285
darkness · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
say
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּvai.Yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
seeth
רֹאֵ֖נוּro.'E.nu
H7200
to see · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
knoweth
יוֹדְעֵֽנוּyod.'E.nu
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 8:12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his i…
Isaiah 47:10 For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast…
Isaiah 30:1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that…
Psalms 94:7-9 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
Psalms 10:11-13 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Psalms 59:7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?
Psalms 139:1-8 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Isaiah 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 29:9-16
Here, I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of the Jewish nation. They had Levites, who taught the good knowledge of the Lord and had encouragement from Hezekiah in doing so, Ch2 30:22. They had prophets, who brought them messages immediately from God, and signified to them what were the causes and what would be the effects of God's displeasure against them. Now, one would think, surely this great nation, that has all the advantages of divine revelation, is a wise and understanding people, Deu 4:6. But, alas! it was quite otherwise, Isa 29:9. The prophet addresses himself to the sober thinking part of them, calling upon them to be affected with the general carele…
seek deep to hide--rather, "That seek to hide deeply," &c. (compare Isa 30:1-2). The reference is to the secret plan which many of the Jewish nobles had of seeking Egyptian aid against Assyria, contrary to the advice of Isaiah. At the same time the hypocrite in general is described, who, under a plausible exterior, tries to hide his real character, not only from men, but even from God.
John Gill on Isaiah 29:15
Woe unto them,.... Or, "O ye",
that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord; which they consulted against Christ, to take away his life, to persecute his apostles, and hinder the spread of his Gospel; which though they consulted in private, and formed deep schemes, imagining they were not observed by the Lord, yet he that sits in the heaven saw them, and laughed at their vain imaginations, Psalm 2:1,
and their works are in the dark; in the dark night, as if the darkness could conceal them from the all seeing eye of God; such works are truly works of darkness, but cannot be hid, though they flatter themselves they will:
and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? as no man, they…
He forgets the words of the Educator: "Every man that passes beyond his own bed, who says in his soul: Who sees me? Darkness compasses me about, and the walls cover me, and no man sees my sins: whom do I fear? The Most High will not remember." Such a person is most wretched, for he fears only the human observation and thinks to hide from God. "He does not know," Scripture continues, "that the eyes of the Most High Lord are far brighter than the sun, beholding all the ways of men and looking into the most hidden parts." Another time, the Educator gives warning through Isaiah: "Woe to you who made your counsel in secret and say: Who sees us?" A light that can be seen by the senses may pass unnoticed, but that which illumines the mind cannot be ignored.
(Vers. 15, 16.) Woe to those who are deep in heart, who hide their counsel from the Lord. Their works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us, and who knows us? Your thoughts are perverse, as if clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to its maker: You did not make me; and the thing formed should say to its former: You do not understand. LXX: Woe to those who make deep counsel, and their works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us? Who will know us and what we do? Will we not be regarded as clay in the potter's hands? Will the work say to the one who made it, 'You did not make me wisely,' or the creation to its creator, 'You did not make me?' Against those of whom he spoke before, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and reject the intelligence of the intelligent. As the prophet writes, I will hide it away. Now even the word of God is directed towards those who are wise in themselves and prudent in his sight. From these things it can be very well understood: 'They have failed examining with examination' (Psalm 63); since it is written about the wisdom of God: 'For if someone is perfect in the sons of men without your wisdom, he will be considered as nothing' (Wisdom 3). Those who believe that God is unaware of their plans because their works are in darkness, say: 'Who sees us? And who knows us?' But this is also said by the wise of this world, and by the masters of heretics, and by the Pharisees of the Jews, because no one understands them; not remembering what is said to God: 'Darkness will not obscure you, and the night will be illuminated like day' (Psalm 138, 12). And as his darkness, so also his light (Genesis 3). Deceived by this error, Adam and Eve, upon hearing the sound of footsteps walking in the paradise of God, hid themselves under the tree in which was the knowledge of good and evil; and Cain also, saying: If you cast me out today from your presence, I will hide (Genesis 4, 14), thought foolishly that God was ignorant. And through Amos, it is said of the wicked and sinners: If they hide themselves from my eyes in the depths of the sea: there I will command the serpent and it will bite them (Amos 9, 3). Even if someone is wise and of fervent genius, if they do not have God's wisdom and teaching, let us say of them: Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city,…
Dictionary and topics
Sennacherib — Sin (the god) sends many brothers, son of Sargon, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (B.C. 705), in the 23rd year of Hezekiah. “Like the Persian Xerxes, he was weak and vainglorious, cowardly…
Blasphemy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Formalism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrisy · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hypocrites · God knows and detects — God knows and detects
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Presumption · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prudence · Of the wicked: Denounced by God — Of the wicked: Denounced by God
Sin · .Attempt to cover, vain — .Attempt to cover, vain
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Woe to them that conceal themselves from Jehovah. The Prophet again exclaims against those wicked and profane despisers of God, whom he formerly called ltsym, (letzim,) "scorners," who think that they have no other way of being wise than to be skilful in mocking God. They regard religion as foolish simplicity, and hide themselves in their cunning, as in a labyrinth; and on this account they mock at warnings and threatenings, and, in short, at the whole doctrine of godliness. From this verse it is sufficiently evident that the pestilence, which afterwards spread more widely, prevailed even at that time in the world, namely, that hypocrites delighted in mocking inwardly at God, and in despisin…
Their hypocrisy, which was about to be so wonderfully punished according to the universal law (Psa 18:26-27), manifested itself in their self-willed and secret behaviour, which would not inquire for Jehovah, nor suffer itself to be chastened by His word. "Woe unto them that hide plans deep from Jehovah, and their doing occurs in a dark place, and they say, Who saw us then, and who knew about us? Oh for your perversity! It is to be regarded as potters' clay; that a work could say to its maker, He has not made me; and an image to its sculptor, He does not understand it!" Just as Ahaz had carefully kept his appeal to Asshur for help secret from the prophet; so did they try, as far as possible,…
This threat of coming judgment is the third of the six woes (see study note on 28:1–33:24). It begins with judgment but moves to a vision of creation being renewed and of the wicked coming to an end.
29:15 Their plans might refer to the advice that royal counselors were giving Hezekiah, who at first attempted to free himself from Assyria by making alliances with Egypt (715 or 701 BC). • The people were conspiring to commit evil deeds in secret, but God saw everything.
Rashi on Isaiah 29:15
to hide counsel (לַסְתִּיר) equivalent to לְהַסְתִּיר.
