And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed: The vision of all this refers to what the prophet himself has seen and shared with the people. It may be rendered “My vision of all this.” Good News Translation says “every prophetic vision,” which is incorrect. The contents of his vision could be only the previous two verses or everything he said since 28.1. For vision see 1.1.

The vision became like the words of a book that is sealed. In the eighth century B.C. books were not made of paper pages bound together as we know them today, but they were made of pieces of skin or parchment sewn together to form a long scroll. Good News Translation, New International Version, and New American Bible say “scroll” instead of book. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh uses the word “document.” Official scrolls in the ancient world were sealed with wax and stamped with the sender’s personal mark. The seal on a scroll could not be broken except by a person with official permission to do so. The prophet uses this simile to tell the people that they are not able to understand the vision he has shared with them. It is like a scroll that cannot be read because it is sealed. Translators in some languages may face difficulties in conveying the idea of a “sealed scroll.” If so, this simile may be rendered “like a book that cannot be opened.”

When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed”: Here the prophet expands on the illustration of the sealed scroll. If they give it to someone who can read, he will be unable to read it since he does not have the authority to break the seal. When men give it to one who can read is a conditional clause, which may be rendered “If people give it to someone who can read” (similarly Good News Translation). I cannot may be expanded to “I am not able to read it.”

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• The vision of all I have told you is to you like the words in a book that cannot be opened. It is as though someone gave a book to a person who can read and said, “Read this,” but the person replies, “I am unable to read this book because it is sealed.”

• This whole vision I have told you about is to you just like a book that is sealed up. If it were given to people who can read and they were asked to read it, they would say, “We cannot read it because it cannot be opened.”

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .