Isaiah 29:15

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Woe unto them that hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, and whose works are in the dark, and that say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

ה֛וֹי הַמַּעֲמִיקִ֥ים מֵֽיהוָ֖ה לַסְתִּ֣ר עֵצָ֑ה וְהָיָ֤ה בְמַחְשָׁךְ֙ מַֽעֲשֵׂיהֶ֔ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מִ֥י רֹאֵ֖נוּ וּמִ֥י יוֹדְעֵֽנוּ

Transliteration

Hôy ha-maʿămîqîm from-YHWH to-lastîr ʿēṣāh and-hāyāh in-maḥšāḵ maʿăśêhem and-yōʾmrû who rōʾēnû and-who yôdĕʿēnû

Grammar Details

• *Hôy*: interjection - woe
• *ha-maʿămîqîm*: definite article + verb, hiphil participle, masculine plural - the ones making deep/hiding
• *mē-YHWH*: preposition min + proper noun - from the LORD
• *la-stîr*: preposition lamed + verb, hiphil infinitive construct - to hide
• *ʿēṣāh*: noun, feminine singular - counsel/plan
• *wĕ-hāyāh*: conjunction waw + verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular - and is
• *ḇĕ-maḥšāḵ*: preposition beth + noun, masculine singular - in darkness
• *maʿăśêhem*: noun, masculine plural with 3rd person masculine plural suffix - their deeds
• *wayyōʾmrû*: conjunction waw + verb, qal imperfect with waw consecutive, 3rd person masculine plural - and they say
• *mî*: interrogative pronoun - who
• *rōʾēnû*: verb, qal participle, masculine singular with 1st person plural suffix - sees us
• *ū-mî*: conjunction waw + interrogative pronoun - and who
• *yôdĕʿēnû*: verb, qal participle, masculine singular with 1st person plural suffix - knows us

Word Meanings

• *maʿămîqîm*: ones making deep/hiding deeply/concealing
• *lastîr*: to hide/conceal/cover
• *ʿēṣāh*: counsel/plan/advice
• *maḥšāḵ*: darkness/obscurity/secrecy
• *maʿăśêhem*: their deeds/actions/works
• *rōʾēnû*: sees us/perceives us/observes us
• *yôdĕʿēnû*: knows us/recognizes us/is aware of us

Referenced Verses

• Ezek 8:12 : 12 Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chambers of imagery? for they say, Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land.
• Isa 30:1 : 1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith Jehovah, that take counsel, but not of me; and that make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,
• Isa 47:10 : 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 said in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me.
• Mal 2:17 : 17 Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice?
• Ps 10:11-13 : 11 He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten; He hideth his face; he will never see it. 12 Arise, O Jehovah; O God, lift up thy hand: Forget not the poor. 13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, And say in his heart, Thou wilt not require [it]?
• Isa 28:15 : 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
• Isa 28:17 : 17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place.
• Job 22:13-14 : 13 And thou sayest, What doth God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he seeth not; And he walketh on the vault of heaven.
• Job 24:13-17 : 13 These are of them that rebel against the light; They know not the ways thereof, Nor abide in the paths thereof. 14 The murderer riseth with the light; He killeth the poor and needy; And in the night he is as a thief. 15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, Saying, No eye shall see me: And he disguiseth his face. 16 In the dark they dig through houses: They shut themselves up in the day-time; They know not the light. 17 For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness; For they know the terrors of the thick darkness.
• Job 34:22 : 22 There is no darkness, nor thick gloom, Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
• Ps 59:7 : 7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth; Swords are in their lips: For who, [say they], doth hear?
• Ps 64:5-6 : 5 They encourage themselves in an evil purpose; They commune of laying snares privily; They say, Who will see them? 6 They search out iniquities; We have accomplished, [say they], a diligent search: And the inward thought and the heart of every one is deep.
• Ps 73:11 : 11 And they say, How doth God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?
• Ps 94:7-9 : 7 And they say, Jehovah will not see, Neither will the God of Jacob consider. 8 Consider, ye brutish among the people; And ye fools, when will ye be wise? 9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
• Ps 139:1-8 : 1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known [me]. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thy hand upon me. 6 [ Such] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there.
• Isa 5:18-19 : 18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope; 19 that say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
• Luke 12:1-3 : 1 In the mean time, when the many thousands of the multitude were gathered together, insomuch that they trod one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 But there is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known. 3 Wherefore {G3739} whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
• John 3:19 : 19 And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
• 1 Cor 4:5 : 5 Wherefore judge {G5100} nothing before {G302} the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God.
• 2 Cor 4:2 : 2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
• Rev 2:23 : 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he that searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.
• Isa 57:12 : 12 I will declare thy righteousness; and as for thy works, they shall not profit thee.
• Jer 23:24 : 24 Can any hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? saith Jehovah. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith Jehovah.
• Ezek 9:9 : 9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of wresting [of judgment]: for they say, Jehovah hath forsaken the land, and Jehovah seeth not.
• Zeph 1:12 : 12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men that are settled on their lees, that say in their heart, Jehovah will not do good, neither will he do evil.