Isaiah 56 · Verse 10

Isaiah 56:10

His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Isaiah 56:10, King James Version

Isaiah 56:10 in other translations

BSBIsrael’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
WEBHis watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
ASVHis watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
YLTBlind are his watchmen--all of them, They have not known, All of them are dumb dogs, they are not able to bark, Dozing, lying down, loving to slumber.
DARBYHis watchmen are all of them blind, they are without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs that cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber:
BBEHis watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep.
WebsterHis watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

What does Isaiah 56:10 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
10. His watchmen--Israel's spiritual leaders (Is 62:6; Eze 3:17). dumb dogs--image from bad shepherds' watchdogs, which fail to give notice, by barking, of the approach of wild beasts. blind--(Mt 23:16). sleeping, lying down--rather, "dreamers, sluggards" [Lowth]. Not merely sleeping inactive, but under visionary delusions. loving to slumber--not merely slumbering involuntarily, but loving it.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 10 His watchmen are blind - Kimchi observes, "The flock is intrusted to the care of these watchmen. The wild beasts come; these dogs bark not; and the wild beasts devour the flock. Thus they do not profit the flock. Yea, they injure it; for the owner trusts in them, that they will watch and be faithful; but they are not. These are the false teachers and careless shepherds." Dumb dogs, they cannot bark - See note on Isa 62:6. Sleeping "Dreamers" - הזים hozim, ενυπνιαζομενοι, Septuagint. This seems to be the best authority for the meaning of this word, which occurs only in this place: but it is to be observed, that eleven MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, and four editions, have חזים chazim, seers, or those who see; and so the Vulgate seems to have read, videntes vana, "seeing vain things." Loving to slumber - לנום lanum: but six of Kennicott's and seven of De Rossi's MSS. read לנוס lanus, to fly, "to change their residence:" but what connection such reading can have with the sense of the passage, I cannot discern. What is taken for ס samech here is, I have no doubt, a narrow formed final ם mem, which has been mistaken for the above. Many instances occur in my own MSS., where the final ם mem is similar to the samech; and yet no such change was intended by the scribe.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Isaiah 56:9-12

Desolating judgments are called for; and this severe rebuke of the rulers and teachers of the Jewish church, is applicable to other ages and places. It is bad with a people when their shepherds slumber, and are eager after the world. Let us pray the Great Shepherd to send us pastors after his own heart, who will feed us with knowledge, that we may rejoice in his holy name, and that believers may be daily added to…

Read the full comment on Isaiah 56:9-12 →

Isaiah 56:10 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

צֹפָ֞יוtza.fiuwatchmen itsH6822
עִוְרִ֤ים'iv.Rim[are] blindH5787
כֻּלָּם֙ku.Lamall of themH3605
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
יָדָ֔עוּya.Da.'uthey knowH3045
כֻּלָּם֙ku.Lamall of themH3605
כְּלָבִ֣יםke.la.Vim[are] dogsH3611
אִלְּמִ֔ים'i.le.MimdumbH483
לֹ֥אlo'notH3808
יוּכְל֖וּyu.khe.Luthey are ableH3201
לִנְבֹּ֑חַlin.Bo.achto barkH5024
הֹזִים֙ho.Zim[they] dreamH1957
שֹֽׁכְבִ֔יםsho.khe.Vim[they] lie downH7901
אֹהֲבֵ֖י'o.ha.Vei[they] loveH157
לָנֽוּם\׃la.Num<of> to slumberH5123

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Isaiah 56:10

  • Isaiah 29:10

    For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

  • Ezekiel 33:6

    But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

  • Matthew 15:14

    Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

  • Philippians 3:2

    Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.

  • Isaiah 58:1

    Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

  • Hosea 9:7-8

    The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God.

  • Nahum 3:18

    Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathereth them.

  • Mark 13:34-37

    For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.

  • Proverbs 6:4-10

    Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, …

  • Proverbs 24:30-34

    I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: …

  • Hosea 4:6

    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

  • Ezekiel 3:15-18

    Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel–abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days. And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
watchmen.
52:8; Eze 3:17
are blind.
29:10; Jer 14:13,14; Ho 4:6; 9:7,8; Mt 15:14; 23:16-26; Lu 6:39,40
they are all dumb.
58:1; Jer 6:13,14; 23:13,14; Eze 3:15-18,26,27; 13:16; 33:6
Php 3:2
sleeping. or, dreaming, or talking in their sleep. loving.
Pr 6:4-10; 24:30-34; Jon 1:2-6; Na 3:18; Mr 13:34-37

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Isaiah 56:9

    All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.

  • Isaiah 56:10

    His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.

  • Isaiah 56:11

    Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

Read all of Isaiah 56

Isaiah 56:10 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Sus atalayas ciegos son, todos ellos ignorantes; todos ellos perros mudos, no pueden ladrar; soñolientos, echados, aman el dormir.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ses sentinelles sont toutes aveugles, elles sont dénuées de connaissance. Ils sont tous des chiens muets qui ne peuvent aboyer, rêvant, se tenant couchés, aimant à sommeiller;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Seine Wächter sind blind, sind alle ohne Erkenntnis; sie alle sind stumme Hunde, die nicht bellen können; sie träumen, liegen da, lieben den Schlummer.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Speculatores ejus cæci omnes; nescierunt universi: canes muti non valentes latrare, videntes vana, dormientes, et amantes somnia.