Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageIsrael's watchmen are blind to a man — they know absolutely nothing. They are all silent dogs that cannot bark, lying around lost in dreams, in love with sleep.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GHis watchmen are all blind — not one of them knows. They are all mute dogs, unable to bark, dreamers lying down, lovers of slumber.
KJV
King James VersionHis watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleIsrael’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
Footnotes
*Tsofim* (watchmen) were stationed on city walls to warn of approaching danger — their blindness is a catastrophic failure of vocation (cf. Ezek. 33:6). The image of dogs that cannot bark was sharply cutting in an honour culture: dogs were working animals, not pets, and a mute dog was not merely useless but actively dangerous. Three accusations compound: blind, mute, and asleep. These are Israel's religious leaders — prophets and priests who cannot see, will not warn, and prefer comfortable inaction. FOG renders *hozim shokevim* as 'dreamers lying down' to preserve the irony of seers who only recline; FOG Message uses 'lost in dreams' to heighten it.
