Isaiah 6:9 BSB — MannaFest

Isaiah 6:9

And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

KJV

And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.

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Commentary

4 voices

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

And he said ... - The expressions which follow are those which denote hardness of heart and blindness of mind. They would hear the words of the prophet, but they would not understand him. They were so obstinately bent on iniquity that they would neither believe nor regard him. This shows the spirit with which ministers must deliver the message of God. It is their business to deliver the message, though they should know that it will neither be understood nor believed. Hear ye indeed - Hebrew ‘In hearing, hear.’ This is a mode of expressing emphasis.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Perceive not - The Hebrew words are imperative; yet they are not to be taken as a command what the people ought to do, but only as a prediction what they would do. The sense is, because you have so long heard my words, and seen my works, to no purpose, and have hardened your hearts, and will not learn nor reform, I will punish you in your own kind, your sin shall be your punishment.

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

They see indeed (for the vision is made plain on tables, so that he who runs may read it); but they perceive not their own concern in it; it is to them as a tale that is told.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Hear . . . indeed--Hebrew, "In hearing hear," that is, Though ye hear the prophet's warnings again and again, ye are doomed, because of your perverse will (Joh 7:17), not to understand. Light enough is given in revelation to guide those sincerely seeking to know, in order that they may do, God's will; darkness enough is left to confound the wilfully blind (Isa 43:8).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

13 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
וַיֹּ֕אמֶר	vai.Yo.mer	and he said	H559 →
לֵ֥ךְ	lekh	go	H1980 →
וְאָמַרְתָּ֖	ve.'a.mar.Ta	and you will say	H559 →
לָעָ֣ם	la.'Am	to the people	H5971 →
הַזֶּ֑ה	ha.Zeh	<the> this	H2088 →
שִׁמְע֤וּ	shim.'U	hear	H8085 →
שָׁמ֙וֹעַ֙	sha.Mo.a'	continually <to hear>	H8085 →
וְאַל־	ve.'al-	and may not	H408 →
תָּבִ֔ינוּ	ta.Vi.nu	you understand	H995 →
וּרְא֥וּ	u.re.'U	and see	H7200 →
רָא֖וֹ	ra.'O	continually <to see>	H7200 →
וְאַל־	ve.'al-	and may not	H408 →
תֵּדָֽעוּ׃	te.Da.'u	you perceive	H3045 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

H995tavinuyou understand170×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Mark 4:12
so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’”
leads to
- Isaiah 44:18
  They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Jeremiah 5:21
  “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
  Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
- Isaiah 6:9–10
  And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
- Matthew 13:14–15
  In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
- Deuteronomy 29:4
  Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
Through
John 12:40
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
leads to
- Isaiah 6:10
  Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- Matthew 13:13–15
  This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’
- Luke 8:10
  He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing,…

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