Isaiah 6:9-10

6:9 He said, “Go and tell these people:

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

6:10 Make the hearts of these people calloused;

make their ears deaf and their eyes blind!

Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ¹ 

Isaiah 29:10-14

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you

a strong urge to sleep deeply. ² 

He has shut your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

29:11 To you this entire prophetic revelation ³  is like words in a sealed scroll. When they hand it to one who can read ⁴  and say, “Read this,” he responds, “I can’t, because it is sealed.” 29:12 Or when they hand the scroll to one who can’t read ⁵  and say, “Read this,” he says, “I can’t read.” ⁶ 

29:13 The sovereign master ⁷  says,

“These people say they are loyal to me; ⁸ 

they say wonderful things about me, ⁹ 

but they are not really loyal to me. ¹⁰ 

Their worship consists of

nothing but man-made ritual. ¹¹ 

29:14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people –

an absolutely extraordinary deed. ¹² 

Wise men will have nothing to say,

the sages will have no explanations.” ¹³ 

Isaiah 44:18

44:18 They do not comprehend or understand,

for their eyes are blind and cannot see;

their minds do not discern. ¹⁴ 

Matthew 13:14-15

13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully ¹⁵  yet will never understand,

you will look closely ¹⁶  yet will never comprehend.

13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;

they are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹⁷ 

John 12:38-41

12:38 so that the word ¹⁸  of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled. He said, ¹⁹  “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord ²⁰  been revealed?” ²¹  12:39 For this reason they could not believe, ²²  because again Isaiah said,

12:40 “He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their heart, ²³ 

so that they would not see with their eyes

and understand with their heart, ²⁴ 

and turn to me, ²⁵  and I would heal them.” ²⁶ 

12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s ²⁷  glory, and spoke about him.

Acts 28:25-27

28:25 So they began to leave, ²⁸  unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly to your ancestors ²⁹  through the prophet Isaiah 28:26 when he said,

‘Go to this people and say,

“You will keep on hearing, ³⁰  but will never understand,

and you will keep on looking, ³¹  but will never perceive.

28:27 For the heart of this people has become dull, ³² 

and their ears are hard of hearing, ³³ 

and they have closed their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their heart

and turn, ³⁴  and I would heal them.”’ ³⁵ 

Romans 11:7-10

11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ³⁶  rest were hardened, 11:8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

to this very day.” ³⁷ 

11:9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,

and make their backs bend continually.” ³⁸ 

Romans 11:2

11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Colossians 3:14-16

3:14 And to all these ³⁹  virtues ⁴⁰  add ⁴¹  love, which is the perfect bond. ⁴²  3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body ⁴³  to this peace), and be thankful. 3:16 Let the word of Christ ⁴⁴  dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace ⁴⁵  in your hearts to God.

Colossians 4:3-4

4:3 At the same time pray ⁴⁶  for us too, that ⁴⁷  God may open a door for the message ⁴⁸  so that we may proclaim ⁴⁹  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ⁵⁰  4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ⁵¹ 

Colossians 4:2

Exhortation to Pray for the Success of Paul’s Mission

4:2 Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.

Colossians 2:9-12

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ⁵²  in bodily form, 2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him you also were circumcised – not, however, ⁵³  with a circumcision performed by human hands, but by the removal ⁵⁴  of the fleshly body, ⁵⁵  that is, ⁵⁶  through the circumcision done by Christ. 2:12 Having been buried with him in baptism, you also have been raised with him through your ⁵⁷  faith in the power ⁵⁸  of God who raised him from the dead.

[6:10]  ¹ sn Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Verse 9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows: “You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.” Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding and following chapters make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”) Verse 10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Verse 10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly: “Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?” Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the Lord may have come to the point where he has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in verse 10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. (Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase: “Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!”) Within this sarcastic framework, verse 10a must also be seen as ironic. As in verse 9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase: “Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.” From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect. Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, he drives the sinful people further from him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the Lord’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message. As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather his hardening is an element of his righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 b.c. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially vv. 4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (1:19-20), one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39 and cf. Jer 26:18-19 with Mic 3:12).This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the Lord’s sovereign work among his people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isa 3:9 declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9-10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zech 7:11-12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. v. 7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.”

[29:10]  ² tn Heb “a disposition [or “spirit”] of deep sleep.” Through this mixed metaphor (sleep is likened to a liquid which one pours and in turn symbolizes spiritual dullness) the prophet emphasizes that God himself has given the people over to their spiritual insensitivity as a form of judgment.

[29:11]  ³ tn Heb “vision” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[29:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “one who knows a/the scroll.”

[29:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “and if the scroll is handed to one who does not know a scroll.”

[29:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “I do not know a scroll.”

[29:13]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[29:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”

[29:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”

[29:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.

[29:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”

[29:14]  ¹² tn Heb “Therefore I will again do something amazing with these people, an amazing deed, an amazing thing.” This probably refers to the amazing transformation predicted in vv. 17-24, which will follow the purifying judgment implied in vv. 15-16.

[29:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “the wisdom of their wise ones will perish, the discernment of their discerning ones will keep hidden.”

[44:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for their eyes are smeared over so they cannot see, so their heart cannot be wise.”

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “with hearing,” a cognate dative that intensifies the action of the main verb “you will listen” (ExSyn 168-69).

[13:14]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “look by looking.” The participle is redundant, functioning to intensify the force of the main verb.

[13:15]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[12:38]  ¹⁸ tn Or “message.”

[12:38]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “who said.”

[12:38]  ²⁰ tn “The arm of the Lord” is an idiom for “God’s great power” (as exemplified through Jesus’ miraculous signs). This response of unbelief is interpreted by the author as a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Isaiah (Isa 53:1). The phrase ὁ βραχίων κυρίου (Jo braciwn kuriou) is a figurative reference to God’s activity and power which has been revealed in the sign-miracles which Jesus has performed (compare the previous verse).

[12:38]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.

[12:39]  ²² sn The author explicitly states here that Jesus’ Jewish opponents could not believe, and quotes Isa 6:10 to show that God had in fact blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. This OT passage was used elsewhere in the NT to explain Jewish unbelief: Paul’s final words in Acts (28:26-27) are a quotation of this same passage, which he uses to explain why the Jewish people have not accepted the gospel he has preached. A similar passage (Isa 29:10) is quoted in a similar context in Rom 11:8.

[12:40]  ²³ tn Or “closed their mind.”

[12:40]  ²⁴ tn Or “their mind.”

[12:40]  ²⁵ tn One could also translate στραφῶσιν (strafwsin) as “repent” or “change their ways,” but both of these terms would be subject to misinterpretation by the modern English reader. The idea is one of turning back to God, however. The words “to me” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[12:40]  ²⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 6:10.

[12:41]  ²⁷ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent supplied here is “Christ” rather than “Jesus” because it involves what Isaiah saw. It is clear that the author presents Isaiah as having seen the preincarnate glory of Christ, which was the very revelation of the Father (see John 1:18; John 14:9).

[28:25]  ²⁸ tn The imperfect verb ἀπελύοντο (apeluonto) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect.

[28:25]  ²⁹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[28:26]  ³⁰ tn Grk “you will hear with hearing” (an idiom).

[28:26]  ³¹ tn Or “seeing”; Grk “you will look by looking” (an idiom).

[28:27]  ³² tn Or “insensitive.”

[28:27]  ³³ tn Grk “they hear heavily with their ears” (an idiom for slow comprehension).

[28:27]  ³⁴ sn Note how the failure to respond to the message of the gospel is seen as a failure to turn.

[28:27]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10.

[11:7]  ³⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:8]  ³⁷ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

[11:10]  ³⁸ sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.

[3:14]  ³⁹ tn BDAG 365 s.v. ἐπί 7 suggests “to all these” as a translation for ἐπὶ πᾶσιν δὲ τούτοις (epi pasin de toutoi").

[3:14]  ⁴⁰ tn The term “virtues” is not in the Greek text, but is included in the translation to specify the antecedent and to make clear the sense of the pronoun “these.”

[3:14]  ⁴¹ tn The verb “add,” though not in the Greek text, is implied, picking up the initial imperative “clothe yourselves.”

[3:14]  ⁴² tn The genitive τῆς τελειότητος (th" teleiothto") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “the perfect bond.”

[3:15]  ⁴³ tn Grk “in one body.” This phrase emphasizes the manner in which the believers were called, not the goal of their calling, and focuses upon their unity.

[3:16]  ⁴⁴ tc Since “the word of Christ” occurs nowhere else in the NT, two predictable variants arose: “word of God” and “word of the Lord.” Even though some of the witnesses for these variants are impressive (κυρίου [kuriou, “of the Lord”] in א* I 1175 pc bo; θεοῦ [qeou, “of God”] in A C* 33 104 323 945 al), the reading Χριστοῦ (Cristou, “of Christ”) is read by an excellent cross-section of witnesses (Ì⁴⁶ א² B C² D F G Ψ 075 1739 1881 Ï lat sa). On both internal and external grounds, Χριστοῦ is strongly preferred.

[3:16]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “with grace”; “all” is supplied as it is implicitly related to all the previous instructions in the verse.

[4:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Though προσευχόμενοι (proseucomenoi) is an adverbial participle related to the previous imperative, προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite), it is here translated as an independent clause due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[4:3]  ⁴⁷ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been rendered as substantival here, indicating the content of the prayer rather than the purpose for it. These two ideas are very similar and difficult to differentiate in this passage, but the conjunction ἵνα following a verb of praying is generally regarded as giving the content of the prayer.

[4:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “that God may open for us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” The construction in Greek is somewhat awkward in this clause. The translation attempts to simplify this structure somewhat and yet communicate exactly what Paul is asking for.

[4:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “in prison.”

[4:4]  ⁵¹ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.

[2:9]  ⁵² sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.

[2:11]  ⁵³ tn The terms “however” and “but” in this sentence were supplied in order to emphasize the contrast.

[2:11]  ⁵⁴ tn The articular noun τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (th apekdusei) is a noun which ends in -σις (-sis) and therefore denotes action, i.e., “removal.” Since the head noun is a verbal noun, the following genitive τοῦ σώματος (tou swmatos) is understood as an objective genitive, receiving the action of the head noun.

[2:11]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “in the removal of the body of flesh.” The genitive τῆς σαρκός (th" sarko") has been translated as an attributive genitive, “fleshly body.”

[2:11]  ⁵⁶ tn The second prepositional phrase beginning with ἐν τῇ περιτομῇ (en th peritomh) is parallel to the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἀπεκδύσει (en th apekdusei) and gives a further explanation of it. The words “that is” were supplied to bring out this force in the translation.

[2:12]  ⁵⁷ tn The article with the genitive modifier τῆς πίστεως (th" pistew") is functioning as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[2:12]  ⁵⁸ tn The genitive τῆς ἐνεργείας (th" energeia") has been translated as an objective genitive, “faith in the power.”