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:

And the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which when they shall deliver to one that is learned, they shall say: Read this: and he shall answer: I cannot, for it is sealed.

And the whole vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one that can read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed.

And the vision of the whole is to you, As words of the sealed book, That they give unto one knowing books, Saying, 'Read this, we pray thee,' And he hath said, 'I am not able, for it is sealed;'

And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book which is shut, which men give to one who has knowledge of writing, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I am not able to, for the book is shut:

And the vision of all this is become unto you as the words of a writing 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';

And the vision of all will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which, when they have given it to someone who knows how to read, they will say, "Read this," but he will respond, "I cannot; for it has been sealed."

Itaque facta est vobis omnis visio quasi verba libri obsignati; quem si tradant scienti literas, ac dicant, Lege, quæso, in eo; tum dicet, Non possum, quia est obsignatus:

Therefore every vision hath become to you. The Prophet expresses still more clearly what he had formerly said, that the blindness of the Jews will be so great that, though the Lord enlightens them by the clearest light of his word, they will understand nothing. Nor does he mean that this will happen to the common people alone, but even to the rulers and teachers, who ought to have been wiser than others, and to have held out an example to them. In short, he means that this stupidity will pervade all ranks; for both "learned and unlearned," he declares, will be so dull and stupid as to be altogether dazzled by the word of God, and to see no more in it than in a "sealed letter." He makes the same statement, but in different words, which he had made in the former chapter, that the Lord will be to them as "precept upon precept, line upon line;" for they will always remain in the first rudiments, and will never arrive at solid doctrine. (Isaiah 28:13.) In the same sense he now shews that, from the highest to the lowest, they will derive no benefit from the word of God. He does not say that doctrine will be taken away, but that, though it be in their possession, they will not have reason and understanding. In two ways the Lord punishes the wickedness of men; for sometimes he takes away entirely the use of the word, and sometimes, when he leaves it, he takes away understanding, and blinds the minds of men, so that "seeing they do not see." (Isaiah 6:9.) First, therefore, he deprives them of reading, either by taking away the books through the tyranny of wicked men, as frequently happens, or by a false conviction of men, which leads them to think that the books were not delivered to be read universally by all. Secondly, although he allows them to handle and read the books, yet, because men abuse them, and are ungrateful, and do not look straight to the glory of God, they are blinded, and see no more than if not a single ray of the word had shone upon them. We must not boast, therefore, of the outward preaching of the word; for it will be of no avail unless it produce its fruit by enlightening our minds. It is as if he had said, "On account of that covenant which he made with your fathers, the Lord will leave to you the tables of that covenant; but they shall be to you a sealed letter,' for you shall learn nothing from them." (Deuteronomy 4:20, 37; 7:6.) When we see that these things happened to the Jews, as Isaiah threatened, and when we take into view the condition of that people, which God had adopted and separated, it is impossible that we should not altogether tremble at such dreadful vengeance. Though they had been instructed both by the law and by the prophets, and had been enlightened by a light of surpassing brightness, yet they fell into frightful superstitions and shocking impiety; the worship of God was corrupted, all religion was scattered and overthrown, and they were rent and divided into various and monstrous sects. At length, when the Sadducees, the most wicked of them all, held the chief power, when all faith and all hope of a resurrection, and even of immortality, had been taken away, what, I ask, could they resemble but cattle or swine? for what is left to man if the hope of a blessed and eternal life be taken from him? And yet the Evangelists (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 23:8) plainly tell us that there were such persons when Christ came; for at that time these things were actually fulfilled, as they had been foretold by the Prophet, that we may know that these threatening were not thrown out at random or by chance, and that they did not fail of accomplishment, because at that time they were obstinately and rebelliously despised and scorned by wicked men. At that time, therefore, both their unbelief and their folly were clearly seen, when the true light was revealed to the whole world, that is, Christ, the only light of truth, the soul of the law, the end of all the prophets. At that time, I say, there was, in an especial manner, placed before the eyes of the Jews "that vail which was shadowed out in Moses," (Exodus 34:30,) whom they could not look at on account of his excessive brightness; and it was actually fulfilled in Christ, to whom it belonged, as Paul tells us, to take away and destroy that vail. (2-Corinthians 3:16.) Till now, therefore, the vail lies on their hearts when they read Moses; for they reject Christ, to whom Moses ought to be viewed as related. In that passage "Moses" must be viewed as denoting the law; and if it be referred to its end, that is, to Christ, that vail will be taken away. While we contemplate these judgments of God, let us also acknowledge, that he who was formerly the Judge is still the Judge, and that the same vengeance is prepared for those who shall refuse to lend their ear to his most holy warnings. When he expressly names the "learned and unlearned," it ought to be observed, that we do not understand spiritual doctrine, in consequence of possessing an acute understanding, or having received a superior education in the schools. Learning did not prevent them from being blinded. We ought, therefore, to embrace the word sincerely and earnestly, if we wish to escape this vengeance, which is threatened not only against the ignorant but also against the "learned."

And the vision of all - The vision of all the prophets; that is, all the revelations which God has made to you (see the note at Isaiah 1:1). The prophet refers not only to his own communications, but to those of his contemporaries, and of all who had gone before him. The sense is, that although they had the communications which God had made to them, yet they did not understand them. They were as ignorant of their true nature as a man who can read is of the contents of a letter that is sealed up, or as a man who cannot read is of the contents of a book that is handed to him.
As the words of a book - Margin, 'Letter.' The word ספר sêpher may mean either. It properly means anything which is "written" (Deuteronomy 24:1, Deuteronomy 24:3; Jeremiah 32:11; Daniel 1:4), but is commonly applied to a book Exodus 17:14; Joshua 1:8; Joshua 8:34; Psalm 40:8.
That is sealed - (see the note at Isaiah 8:16).

I cannot; for it is sealed "I cannot read it; for it is sealed up" - An ancient MS. and the Septuagint have preserved a word here, lost out of the text; לקרות likroth, (for לקראות), αναγνωναι, read it.

And the vision of all is become to 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 (i) cannot; for it [is] sealed:
(i) Meaning, that it is all alike, either to read, or not to read, unless God open the heart to understand.

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed,.... The prophecies of all the prophets contained in the Scriptures; or all the prophecies in the book of Isaiah, concerning the Messiah, were no more seen, known, and understood, both by the priests and the people, than if they had been in a book, written, rolled up, and sealed. And this was owing, not to the obscurity of these writings, or because they were really sealed up, but to the blindness and stupidity of the people, whose eyes were closed, and their heads covered; and the prophecies of the Scriptures were only so to them, "unto you", not unto others; not to the apostles of Christ, whose understandings were opened by him, to understand the things written concerning him, in the law, in the prophets, and in the psalms; but the Jewish rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, as well as the common people, understood them not, though they were the means of fulfilling many of them; and they were as ignorant of the prophecies concerning their own ruin and destruction, for their rejection of Christ; see Luke 24:27,
which men deliver to one that is learned; or, "that knows the book" (u); or "letters", as the Septuagint; see John 7:15 such were the Scribes, called or "letter men", men that could read well, and understood language:
saying, Read this, I pray thee; or read this now, as the Targum, and interpret it, and tell the meaning of it:
and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed; which Kimchi says was an excuse invented, because he had no mind to read it, or otherwise he could have said, open, and I will read it; or he might have broke off the seal; but knowing there were difficult things, and things hard to be understood, in it, did not care to look into it, and read it, and attempt to explain it to others.
(u) "scienti librum", Montanus; , Sept.; "scienti literas", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

of all--rather, "the whole vision." "Vision" is the same here as "revelation," or "law"; in Isaiah 28:15, the same Hebrew word is translated, "covenant" [MAURER].
sealed-- (Isaiah 8:16), God seals up the truth so that even the learned, because they lack believing docility, cannot discern it (Matthew 13:10-17; Matthew 11:25). Prophecy remained comparatively a sealed volume (Daniel 12:4, Daniel 12:9), until Jesus, who "alone is worthy," "opened the seals" (Revelation 5:1-5, Revelation 5:9; Revelation 6:1).