We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if {we had} no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; {we are} in desolate places as dead {men}.

They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. {meet...: or, run into}

And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years.

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. {did evil...: Heb. added to commit, etc}

So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host {was} Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that {were} on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which {is} in Gilead. {oppressed: Heb. crushed}

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded {blinded: or, hardened}

For this our heart is faint; for these {things} our eyes are dim.

And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have dominion over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we {are} in great distress.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

Them take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave {their} heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but {that} thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law.

Servants have ruled over us: {there is} none that doth deliver {us} out of their hand.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make {them} swords or spears:

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. {blindness: or, hardness}

They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like {a} drunken {man}. {stagger: Heb. wander}

And the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which {is} on the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched in Michmash, eastward from Bethaven.

They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. {meet...: or, run into}

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if {we had} no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; {we are} in desolate places as dead {men}.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness {which} may be felt. {even...: Heb. that one may feel darkness}

For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast {us} out.

In that day shall {one} take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, {and} say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed {it} from me! turning away he hath divided our fields. {a doleful...: Heb. a lamentation of lamentations} {turning...: or, instead of restoring}

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified {him} not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.

But this {is} a people robbed and spoiled; {they are} all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. {they are all...: or, in snaring all the young men of them} {for a spoil: Heb. a treading}

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

He hath led me, and brought {me into} darkness, but not {into} light.

And, behold, God himself {is} with us for {our} captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.

And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like {a} drunken {man}. {stagger: Heb. wander}