And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

And the book shall be given to one that knoweth no letters, and it shall be said to him: Read: and he shall answer: I know no letters.

And they give the book to him that cannot read, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot read.

And the book is given to him who hath not known books, Saying, 'Read this, we pray thee,' And he hath said, 'I have not known books.'

And they give it to one without learning, saying, Make clear to us what is in the book: and he says, I have no knowledge of writing.

and the writing is delivered to him that is not learned, saying: 'Read this, I pray thee'; and he saith: 'I am not learned.'

But if the book is given to someone who does not know how to read, and it is said to him, "Read," then he will respond, "I do not know how to read."

Quod si detur ei liber qui non didicit literas, ac dicatur, Lege, quæso, in eo; tum dicet, Nescio literas.

And the book is delivered - That is, they are just as ignorant of the true nature and meaning of the revelations of God as a man is of the contents of a book who is utterly unable to read.

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned,.... Or that knows not a book or letters, as before, and so consequently cannot read, having never been put to school, or learned to read:
saying, Read this, I pray thee; or "now" (w), at once, immediately:
and he saith, I am not learned; he does not excuse himself on account of its being sealed, but on account of his want of learning; which shows the former was but an excuse. In short, the sum of it is this, that neither the learned nor unlearned, among the Jews, cared to read their Bibles, or to search the Scriptures, and the prophecies in them, concerning the Messiah, and that neither of them understood them; these things were hid from the wise and prudent, as well as from the ignorant and unlearned of the people, in common, and were only made known to a few babes and sucklings. There was great ignorance of the Scriptures in the times of Christ, to which these passages truly belong, Matthew 11:25.
(w) "nunc", Pagninus, Montanus.

The unlearned succeed no better than the learned, not from want of human learning, as they fancy, but from not having the teaching of God (Isaiah 54:13; Jeremiah 31:34; John 6:45; 1-Corinthians 2:7-10; 1-John 2:20).

Of all - Of all, your prophets. As a book - In which no man can read, while it is sealed up, as books then sometimes were, being made in the form of rolls. Delivered - Unsealed and opened.