English · KJV

Isaiah 56:10

“Judgment on Corrupt Shepherds”Isaiah 56:9–12

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

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
His watchmen H6822 are blind H5787: they are all ignorant H3045, they are all dumb H483 dogs H3611, they cannot H3201 bark H5024; sleeping H1957, lying down H7901, loving H157 to slumber H5123.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they can’t bark; dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
Their watchmen are all blinde: they haue no knowledge: they are all dumme dogs: they can not barke: they lie and sleepe and delite in sleeping.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
Blind 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.

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
15 Hebrew words
  1. צֹפָיוtza·fiuits watchmenH6822V-Qal-Prtcpl-mp ¦ 3msVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Construct with suffixצֹפָיwatchmenוits
  2. עִוְרִים'iv·Rim[are] blindH5787Adj-mpAdjective Plural Masculine Absolute
  3. כֻּלָּםku·Lamall of themH3605N-msc ¦ 3mpNoun Singular Masculine Construct with suffixכֻּלָּall ofםthem
  4. לֹאlo'notH3808NegParticle Negative
  5. יָדָעוּya·Da·'uthey knowH3045V-Qal-Perf-3cpVerb Qal Perfect 3rd Plural common gender
  6. כֻּלָּםku·Lamall of themH3605N-msc ¦ 3mpNoun Singular Masculine Construct with suffixכֻּלָּall ofםthem
  7. כְּלָבִיםke·la·Vim[are] dogsH3611N-mpNoun Plural Masculine Absolute
  8. אִלְּמִים'i·le·MimdumbH483Adj-mpAdjective Plural Masculine Absolute
  9. לֹאlo'notH3808NegParticle Negative
  10. יוּכְלוּyu·khe·Luthey are ableH3201V-Qal-Imperf-3mpVerb Qal Imperfect 3rd Plural Masculine
  11. לִנְבֹּחַlin·Bo·achto barkH5024Prep-l ¦ V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Constructלִtoנְבֹּחַbark
  12. הֹזִיםho·Zim[they] dreamH1957V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Absolute
  13. שֹׁכְבִיםsho·khe·Vim[they] lie downH7901V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Absolute
  14. אֹהֲבֵי'o·ha·Vei[they] loveH157V-Qal-Prtcpl-mpVerb Qal Participle Plural Masculine Construct
  15. לָנוּםla·Num[of] to slumberH5123Prep-l ¦ V-Qal-InfVerb Qal Infinitive Constructלָ[of]נוּםto slumber
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

Translation
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In the KJVVerse 18,764 of 31,102 · 60.3%

Study this verse

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This verse

Israel’s leaders are watchmen who are blind and guard dogs that stay silent, lying asleep and loving their ease while danger comes on the people.

“His watchmen are blind:”

The watchman, from tsâphâh, to peer into the distance, exists to see. These are blind, ʻivvêr, to truth, to danger and to the will of God.

“they are all ignorant,”

The verb is yâdaʻ, to know, and it is denied of them. They lack the knowledge of God’s ways that their office requires.

“they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;”

“Dumb” is ʼillêm, speechless, and the dog, keleb, is a guard dog whose bark, nâbach, is its whole use. Their silence left the people unwarned.

“sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.”

Hâzâh means to dream or rave, shâkab to lie down, and ʼâhab with nûwm is to love slumber. They give their affection to ease.

Passage studyIsaiah 56:9–12

Blind Watchmen and Greedy Shepherds

9All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. 10His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11Yea, 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. 12Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

Summary

After eight verses of welcome for everyone who holds to God’s covenant, Isaiah turns suddenly to the men who lead Israel. The LORD calls the wild beasts to come and devour, because the flock has been left unguarded. Its watchmen are blind, its guard dogs lie silent and asleep, its shepherds are greedy for their own gain, and they spend their days drinking and promising one another a still better tomorrow. These four verses show how seriously God takes the care of his people, and they turn our eyes to the Shepherd who is everything these leaders failed to be.

The beasts are called to devour

Verse 9 is a summons, spoken as the command of God himself: “All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.” The word for beasts, chay, comes from the root for living and means living creatures, often wild animals. The field is the open, cultivated country, and the forest, yaʻar, a copse of bushes or a wood, is the wilder land beyond it. Named together they take in every predator from every side, so that the whole flock lies exposed. The verb ʼâkal means to eat, and figuratively to devour or consume, which makes the picture one of a flock eaten up and stripped of what it had.

The prophets often use beasts as a picture of the forces that prey on a weak people. They can be invading armies and foreign nations, and they can be evils inside the nation such as corrupt rulers and injustice. Jeremiah speaks the same way when God’s heritage is given over to the beasts (Jeremiah 12:9). For Israel the devouring came as military defeat, as economic exploitation, and as moral and spiritual corruption.

Isaiah prophesied from the reigns of Uzziah to Hezekiah, in the years when Assyria was rising and the Northern Kingdom fell. These later chapters of his book speak to the community of Judah after the exile, which faced threats from the surrounding nations along with idolatry, injustice and spiritual apathy at home.

Why would God call beasts against his own people?

The summons is a declaration of judgment from a just God. When the covenant is broken and the men appointed to guard the flock abandon their work, he withdraws his protection and lets the consequences come. The devouring is discipline, a painful reckoning meant to correct and purify his people, and it shows how firmly he is committed to his own holiness and to theirs. His faithfulness to the covenant includes this judgment, and those he places over his people answer to him for them.

Why does judgment follow so closely on the welcome of verses 1–8?

The opening of the chapter is among the widest promises in the book. Foreigners and eunuchs who keep the sabbath and take hold of God’s covenant are promised a place in his house and an everlasting name (Isaiah 56:1–8). The LORD says there that his house “shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7).

Those blessings belong to people who keep judgment and do justice, as the chapter’s first verse says (Isaiah 56:1). The leaders should have been guiding Israel into that righteousness, and they were its opposite. Their decay undermined the nation’s witness and its calling to the peoples God was welcoming. Isaiah had long called for rulers who learn to do well, seek judgment and plead for the fatherless and the widow (Isaiah 1:17). God’s mercy and his justice work side by side, and sin among his chosen people is dealt with as surely as sin anywhere else.

Watchmen who are blind and dogs that cannot bark

A watchman stood on the city wall or in a tower and looked out for approaching danger, whether an army, a disaster or a predator, and sounded the alarm at once. The word behind “watchmen”, tsâphâh, means to lean forward and peer into the distance, to observe and wait. The safety of everyone inside the walls depended on that one man’s eyes.

Israel’s watchmen are blind. The word ʻivvêr is used here of a blindness of the soul, since these men were unable to see truth, danger or the will of God. “They are all ignorant” uses yâdaʻ, to know, properly to find out by seeing, and here it is denied of them. They had lost the knowledge of God’s ways, of his commands and of the true state of his people, and that loss was their own fault. The men set apart to see and to know were the ones who lacked both.

The second picture is a guard dog. ʼillêm means speechless, keleb is the ordinary word for a dog, and nâbach is to bark. A guard dog is kept for its bark, which wakes the household when an intruder comes, so a silent one is useless for the one thing it is kept for. The leaders kept silent about sin, injustice and false teaching, and they gave the people no warning of the judgment that was coming.

The verse ends with three words for their ease. Hâzâh, which the KJV renders “sleeping”, means to dream or to rave. Shâkab is to lie down. “Loving to slumber” joins ʼâhab, to love or have affection for something, with nûwm, to slumber. Their affection was given to rest and comfort, and the work of watching went undone.

Who are the watchmen?

They are the spiritual and political leaders of Israel: the priests, the prophets and the elders, and perhaps kings and other officials as well. God had given his people such guardians. Through Jeremiah he says that he set watchmen over them (Jeremiah 6:17), and through Ezekiel he lays out the watchman’s duty to warn and the account he must give if he keeps silent (Ezekiel 3:17–19, Ezekiel 33:1–9).

Greedy dogs and shepherds who cannot understand

In verse 11 the dog returns with a different fault. Dogs in ancient Israel were mostly scavengers, counted unclean and often roaming in packs, and to call a man a dog was an insult. These dogs “can never have enough”, which in the Hebrew reads literally “they do not know satiety”. Their appetite for wealth and power has no end.

Then Isaiah names them by the office they hold: “they are shepherds.” A shepherd led his flock to pasture and water and guarded it against wild animals and thieves, and Israel used the word for its kings, priests and prophets. The verb bîyn means to understand or discern. Shepherds who “cannot understand” are unable to tell truth from falsehood or right from wrong, and so they are blind to what the flock needs and to the dangers around it.

The last clause explains both faults. “They all look to their own way” means that each man puts his own plans and his own safety first. “Every one for his gain” uses betsaʻ, a word for plunder or profit that often carries the sense of gain got unjustly. “From his quarter” pictures each leader drawing his profit from his own post and sphere of authority, so that the corruption reaches every level. Micah says the same of rulers, priests and prophets who work for a price (Micah 3:11).

The LORD himself is the Shepherd of his people (Psalm 23:1), so leaders who feed on the flock give a false picture of the God they represent. He pronounces woe on such shepherds through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:1–4), indicts them through Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34:1–10), and judges the worthless shepherd in Zechariah (Zechariah 11:16–17).

“To morrow shall be as this day”

Verse 12 lets the leaders speak, and their own words convict them. One calls to the rest, “Come ye”, and offers to fetch the wine. Yayin is fermented grape juice, from a root meaning to effervesce, and it belonged to feasts and celebrations. Shêkâr, “strong drink”, is a more potent liquor made from grain or from fruits other than grapes, such as barley, dates or honey. The verb for “fill ourselves”, çâbâʼ, means to drink to the full, to the point of being drunk. Naming both drinks with that verb shows men who set out to get drunk, when their office called for sober and watchful minds. Proverbs calls wine a mocker (Proverbs 20:1) and warns against keeping company with heavy drinkers (Proverbs 23:20–21).

Their last words are the most dangerous: “to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” The word behind “abundant”, gâdôwl, means great. They are sure that tomorrow will be like today and greater still, and they expect no reckoning from God. Proverbs warns against boasting of tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1), and Jesus tells of the rich fool who made the same mistake (Luke 12:19–20). The men who should have seen the beasts coming were drunk and planning the next feast.

The wine and strong drink also stand for any excess that dulls the soul and draws a person away from his duty, whether possessions, entertainment or the pursuit of power.

The Shepherd these leaders were not

Because Israel’s shepherds failed, God promised to shepherd his flock himself (Ezekiel 34). That promise is kept in Jesus Christ. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11, John 10:15), where these men looked each to his own gain. He guards the flock from the thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). He gathers the other sheep that belong to another fold (John 10:16), which is the welcome of the chapter’s opening verses carried out, and his sheep are held safe in his hand (John 10:28).

Each charge in the passage has its answer in him. The watchmen were blind and ignorant, and he is the light of the world (John 8:12), the true light (John 1:9), the one in whom the Father is seen (John 14:9). The dogs were silent, and he is the Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1–5), who spoke with authority, warned of sin and judgment, and showed the way to eternal life. The leaders loved to slumber, and he came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). He is the keeper of Israel who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4), and he always lives to make intercession for his people (Hebrews 7:25).

The leaders filled themselves, and the Son of Man came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45). They boasted of a greater tomorrow of their own pleasure, and he humbled himself in obedience as far as death on the cross, after which God highly exalted him (Philippians 2:8–9). The devouring that our sin deserved fell on him, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and by his own sacrifice he secured a redemption beyond the reach of any human leader (Hebrews 9:11–14).

What the passage asks of leaders and gives the flock

God holds those who lead his people to account, and the measure is plain in these verses: eyes open to danger, a voice that warns, and a heart set on the flock’s good above private profit. Jesus brought the same charge against the scribes and Pharisees of his own day (Matthew 23:1–4). Paul warned the elders of Ephesus to keep watch over the flock (Acts 20:28–31), and Peter tells elders to shepherd the flock of God (1 Peter 5:2–3). The charge reaches anyone with people in his care, in a church, a home or a community.

For those who are led, the passage is a reason to pray for leaders, to expect faithfulness from them, and to stay awake ourselves. The devouring can come quietly, as division, the loss of truth and a faith that cools. Above every human watchman stands the Shepherd who sees, speaks, stays awake and gave himself, and the flock’s safety rests finally in him.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Isaiah 56:9–12. He set out his notes in a two-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 4 verses
Passage under commentIsaiah 56:9–12
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points

From words of comfort the prophet here, by a very sudden change of his style, passes to words of reproof and conviction, and goes on in that strain, for the most part, in the three following chapters; and therefore some here begin a new sermon. He had assured the people that in due time God would deliver them out of captivity, which was designed for the comfort of those that should live when God would do this. Now here he shows what their sins and provocations were, for which God would send them into captivity, and this was designed for the conviction of those that lived in his own time, nearly a hundred years before the captivity, who were now filling up the measure of the nation's sin, and to justify God in what he brought upon them. God will lay them waste by the fierceness of their enemies, for the falseness of their friends.

I.Desolating judgments are here summoned, Isaiah 56:9.

The sheep of God's pasture are now to be made the sheep of his slaughter, to fall as victims to his justice, and therefore the beasts of the field and the forest are called to come and devour. They are beasts of prey, and do it from their own ravenous disposition; but God permits them to do it, nay, he employs them as his servants in doing it, the ministers of his justice, though they mean not so, neither does their heart think so. If this refers primarily to the descent made upon them by the Babylonians, and their devouring them, yet it may look further, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation by the Romans, after these outcasts of them (mentioned Isaiah 56:8) were gathered in to the Christian church. The Roman armies came upon them as beasts of the forest to devour them, and they quite took away their place and nation. Note, When God has bloody work to do he has beasts of prey within call, to be employed in doing it.

II.The reason of these judgments is here given.

The shepherds, who should have been the watchmen of the flock, to discover the approaches of the beasts of prey, to keep them off, and protect the sheep, were treacherous and careless, minded not their business, nor made any conscience of the trust reposed in them, and so the sheep became an easy prey to the wild beasts. Now this may refer to the false prophets that lived in Isaiah's, Jeremiah's, and Ezekiel's time (who flattered the people in their wicked ways, and told them they should have peace though they went on) and to the priests that bore rule by their means. Or it may refer to the wicked princes, the sons of Josiah, that did evil in the sight of the Lord, and other wicked magistrates under them, who betrayed their trust, were vicious and profane, and, instead of making up the breach at which the judgments of God were breaking in upon them, made it wider, and augmented the fierce anger of the Lord instead of doing any thing to turn it away. They should have kept judgment and justice (v. 1), but they abandoned both, Jeremiah 5:1. Or it may refer to those who were the nation's watchmen in our Saviour's time, the chief priests and the scribes, who should have discerned the signs of the times and have given notice to the people of the approach of the Messiah, but who, instead of that, opposed him, and did all they could to keep people from coming to the knowledge of him and to prejudice them against him. It is a very sad character that is here given of these watchmen. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy guides are such.

1.They had no sense or knowledge of their business. They were wretchedly ignorant of their work, and very unfit to teach, being so ill-taught themselves: His watchmen are blind, and therefore utterly unfit to be watchmen. If the seers see not, who shall see for us? If the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness! Christ describes the Pharisees to be blind leaders of the blind, Matthew 15:14. The beasts of the field come to devour, and the watchmen are blind, and are not aware of them. They are all ignorant (Isaiah 56:10), shepherds that cannot understand (Isaiah 56:11), that know not what is to be done about the sheep, nor can feed them with understanding, Jeremiah 3:15.

2.What little knowledge they had they made no use of it; no one was the better for it. As they were blind watchmen, that could not discern the danger, so they were dumb dogs, that would not give warning of it. And why are the dogs set to guard the sheep if they cannot bark to waken the shepherd and frighten the wolf? Such were these; those that had the charge of souls never reproved men for their faults, nor told them what would be in the end thereof, never gave them notice of the judgments of God that were breaking in upon them. They barked at God's prophets, and bit them too, and worried the sheep, but made no opposition to the wolf or thief.

3.They were very lazy, and would take no pains. They loved their ease, and hated business, were always sleeping, lying down and loving to slumber. They were not overcome and overpowered by sleep, as the disciples, through grief and fatigue, but they lay down on purpose to invite sleep, and said, Soul, take thy ease. Yet a little sleep. It is bad with a people when their shepherds slumber (Nahum 3:18), and it is well for God's people that their shepherd, the keeper of Israel, neither slumbers nor sleeps.

4.They were very covetous and eager after the world - greedy dogs that can never have enough. If they had ever so much, they would think it too little. They so love silver as never to be satisfied with silver, Ecclesiastes 5:10. All their enquiry is what they shall get, not what they shall do. Let them have the wages, and they care not whether the work be done or no; they feed not the flock, but fleece it. They are every one looking to his own way, minding his own private interests, and have no regard at all to the public welfare. It was St. Paul's complaint of the watchmen in his time (Philippians 2:21), All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. Every one is for propagating his own opinion, advancing his own party, raising his own family, and having every thing to his own mind, while the common concerns of the public are wretchedly neglected and postponed. They look every one to his gain from his quarter, from his end or part of the work. They are for fain from every quarter (Rem rem quocunque modo rem - Money, money, by fair means or by foul we must have money), but especially from their own quarter, where they will be sure to take care that they lose nothing, nor miss any thing that is to be got. If any one put not into their mouths they not only will do him no service, but they prepare war against him, Micah 3:5.

5.They were perfect epicures, given to their pleasures, never so much in their element as in their drunken revels (Isaiah 56:12): Come (say they), I will fetch wine (they have that at command; their cellars are better furnished than their closets) and we will fill ourselves, or be drunk, with strong drink. They were often drunk, not overseen (as we say) or overtaken in drink, but designedly. The watchmen did thus invite and encourage one another to drink to excess, or they courted the people to sit and drink with them, and so confirmed those in their wicked ways, and hardened their hearts, whom they should have reproved. How could they think it any harm to be drunk when the watchmen themselves joined with them and led them to it!

6.They were very secure and confident of the continuance of their prosperity and ease; they said, "Tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant; we shall have as much to spend upon our lusts tomorrow as we have today." They had no thought at all of their own frailty and mortality, though they were shortening their days and hastening their deaths by their excesses. They had no dread of the judgments of God, though they were daily provoking him and making themselves liable to his wrath and curse. They never considered the uncertainty of all the delights and enjoyments of sense, how they perish in the using and pass away with the lusts of them. They resolved to continue in this wicked course, whatever their consciences said to the contrary, to be as merry tomorrow as they are today. But boast not thyself of tomorrow when perhaps this night thy soul shall be required of thee.

Historical interpretation

Five Centuries of Reception

5 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

5 quotes · AD 379–850
Post-NiceneEarly Medieval
400500600700800

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 379Basil of CaesareaPost-NiceneSourceLETTER 210:6
In souls, pure and cleansed from all defilement, the prophetic gift shines clear. In a foul mirror you cannot see what the reflection is, neither can a soul preoccupied with cares of this life and darkened with the passions of the lust of the flesh receive the rays of the Holy Spirit. Every dream is not a prophecy, as Zechariah says, “The Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain … for the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have spoken false dreams.” Those who, as Isaiah says, “dream and love to sleep in their bed” forget that an instigation of error is sent to “the children of disobedience.”
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHOMILIES ON GENESIS 12:10
Hence even sacred Scripture, with these sorts of disturbing passions in mind, in many places applies the names of brutes and of wild beasts to those gifted with reason; sometimes it calls them “dogs” on account of their shameful and headstrong behavior—“dumb dogs,” since they are “unable even to bark.”
d. AD 420JeromePost-NiceneSourceCommentary on Isaiah
(Verses 10-12.) His spies, blind all, knew nothing: mute dogs unable to bark, seeing vain things, sleeping, and loving dreams. And the most shameless dogs knew not satisfaction: the shepherds themselves ignored understanding: all turned aside unto their own way, each to his own greed, from the highest even unto the lowest. Come, let us take wine, and be filled with drunkenness, and it shall be as today, so tomorrow, and much more. LXX: See that all are blind: they all do not know, mute dogs cannot bark: dreaming of a bed, loving sleep. And impudent dogs have ignored satisfaction. And they are evil, not understanding intelligence: they have followed all their own ways. Each together from its summit. Come, let us take wine, and let us become drunk, and let tomorrow be such a great day, even more so. That all, he says, beasts should come forth from the forest, and devour those gathered together, whether they succeed into the place of the Jews, the crowd of the Gentiles, their spies are in fact the Scribes and Pharisees: because all the blind have not known the Lord Savior, nor did they want to see the present light. To whom the Lord spoke: Foolish and blind, what is more, gold or the altar that sanctifies the gold (Matthew 23:17)? And again: Blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel (ibid., 24); and: Blind leading the blind, both fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14). But as for why they are called watchmen and we have read above. In that place where according to the LXX it says: The voice of your watchmen has been lifted up (Isaiah 52:8), it is written in Hebrew: The voice of your watchmen. Of whom was Ezekiel, to whom God speaks: Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel (Ezekiel 3:17). But those watchmen were not blind. In fact, they were called seers. But these of whom the Prophet is now speaking, are not only blind watchmen, but they are also called dumb dogs, unable to bark. For those who were supposed to protect the flock of the Lord, and drive away the wolves, and bark for the Lord, they love dreams and take pleasure in demonic visions. And it is understood: They cannot speak the truth, but only lies. And they are not satisfied with this, those who slept in the care of the flock of the Lord, and could not bark, and loved the bed, which indicates the pleasure of the body; but among themselves, they did not know the shamelessness of their souls, who are never satisfied with their own error. Those who devour the people of the Lord like the bread, and the houses of widows: and serve their gluttony and lust. For they cannot say: The commandment of the Lord enlightens the eyes (Ps. 18:9), nor know what is written: The wisdom of a man enlightens his face (Prov. 17:24). And they are mute dogs against enemies, of whom it is written: Do not give what is holy to dogs (Matt. 7:6). And they are sleeping dogs, who do not know the commandment: Do not give sleep to your eyes, and slumber to your eyelids (Ps. 131); and again: Watch, because you do not know at what hour your Lord will come (Matt. 24:42). And for this reason, giving a place to the devil, they are shameless dogs, who are never satisfied. For they vomit what they have eaten, and they return to their vomit (Prov. XXVI). Of whom Peter the Apostle also speaks: That true proverb has happened to them: The dog has returned to its own vomit, and the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire (II Pet. II, 22). The following discourse shows that these spies and dogs are the same as the shepherds: The shepherds themselves have neglected understanding. For the Hebrew word 'Roim' (also spelled 'Rom') which is written with four letters, 'resh' and 'ayin' and 'yod' and 'mem', if it is read as 'roim', it means shepherds; if it is read as 'raim', it sounds like the worst. We have said this to show the reasons for the various interpretations. For everyone has sought their own things, and not the things that are of God, nor have they walked in the way of the Lord (Philippians 2), of which it is written: Seek what the good way is, and walk in it (Jeremiah 6:16). But according to what is read in the Book of Judges: There was no king in Israel; everyone did what he thought was right, and followed his own errors (Judges 17:6), and what follows: Everyone to his own greed, from the greatest to the least: come, let us take wine, and let us fill ourselves with drunkenness, and it will be as today, so also tomorrow, and much more, is not found in the Seventy Interpreters, but is added from the Hebrew, indicated by the shining stars. Finally, no interpreter of the Church has discussed these verses, but they leap and pass over it as if it were an open pit. However, what he says is this, that is, because they have turned away from the way of the Lord, they have followed their own paths. Therefore, greed burns from top to bottom, from leaders to the common people, so that after they have started to strike their fellow servants and eat and drink with the drunkards, they say: Come, let us take wine and be filled with drunkenness. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. And it will be as today, so also tomorrow: and much more (I Corinthians XV, 2). This is what has been said above: They did not know satiety; nor are they satisfied with past pleasure, but they prepare for future delights, much greater than those they had previously enjoyed. If this is said of the leaders of the Jews, because of whom the people were devoured by beasts, let us avoid the examples of the wicked, let us not be drunk with wine, in which there is luxury, nor overwhelmed by pleasures; let us not be silent in speaking, but let us be fierce dogs against our adversaries; rather, let us follow the ways of God rather than our own, and let us heed the Scripture that warns us: Taste and see that the Lord is good (Wisdom I, 1). And again: The best intelligence is for those who do it. And if we were dogs, let us not despair of salvation, hearing the words of the Canaanite woman saying to the Lord: Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table (Matthew XV, 27). For this reason, having obtained mercy, she hears from the Lord: O woman, great is your faith: let it be done to you as you wish. For she could have said with the Prophet: I have run in the way of your commandments (Psalm CXVIII, 32). Again: Lead me on the straight path.
d. AD 604Gregory the DialogistEarly MedievalSourceForty Gospel Homilies, Homily 40
Sometimes in sacred speech preachers are understood by dogs. For the tongue of a dog, when it licks a wound, heals it, because holy teachers too, when they instruct us in the confession of our sin, touch as it were the wound of the mind through their tongue; and because by speaking they rescue us from sins, by touching wounds as it were they restore us to health. For that by the name of dogs the tongue of preachers is signified, the Lord says through the Psalmist: "The tongue of your dogs from enemies, from him." For from the unbelieving Jews the holy preachers were chosen, who, coming against thieves and robbers in defense of the truth, gave great barkings, so to speak, for the Lord. Against this it is said of certain reprobates: "Dumb dogs, not able to bark." Because therefore holy preachers condemn sins, but approve the confession of sins, saying: "Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be saved," dogs lick the sores of Lazarus.
d. AD 850Ishodad of MervEarly MedievalSourceCOMMENTARY ON ISAIAH 56:10
“They are all stammering dogs” who stutter the praise of God and “cannot bark” against the idols, as against strangers. “They dream, lay down and love to slumber,” that is, they love to sleep in the graves and in the places where sacrifices are offered to demons, and there they expect from them visions, dreams and ghosts.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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