John 8:43

8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept ¹  my teaching. ² 

John 8:47

8:47 The one who belongs to ³  God listens and responds ⁴  to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, ⁵  because you don’t belong to God.” ⁶ 

Isaiah 6:9

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

‘Listen continually, but don’t understand!

Look continually, but don’t perceive!’

Isaiah 42:18-20

The Lord Reasons with His People

42:18 “Listen, you deaf ones!

Take notice, ⁷  you blind ones!

42:19 My servant is truly blind,

my messenger is truly deaf.

My covenant partner, ⁸  the servant of the Lord, is truly blind. ⁹ 

42:20 You see ¹⁰  many things, but don’t comprehend; ¹¹ 

their ears are open, but do not hear.”

Isaiah 59:10

59:10 We grope along the wall like the blind,

we grope like those who cannot see; ¹² 

we stumble at noontime as if it were evening.

Though others are strong, we are like dead men. ¹³ 

Romans 11:7-10

11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ¹⁴  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.” ¹⁵ 

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.” ¹⁶ 

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 4:3-4

4:3 At the same time pray ¹⁷  for us too, that ¹⁸  God may open a door for the message ¹⁹  so that we may proclaim ²⁰  the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. ²¹  4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ²² 

[8:43]  ¹ tn Grk “you cannot hear,” but this is not a reference to deafness, but rather hearing in the sense of listening to something and responding to it.

[8:43]  ² tn Grk “my word.”

[8:47]  ³ tn Grk “who is of.”

[8:47]  ⁴ tn Grk “to God hears” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ⁵ tn Grk “you do not hear” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ⁶ tn Grk “you are not of God.”

[42:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “look to see”; NAB, NCV “look and see”; NRSV “look up and see.”

[42:19]  ⁸ tc The precise meaning of מְשֻׁלָּם (mÿshullam) in this context is uncertain. In later biblical Hebrew the form (which appears to be a Pual participle from the root שָׁלַם, shalam) occurs as a proper name, Meshullam. The Pual of שָׁלַם (“be complete”) is attested with the meaning “repaid, requited,” but that makes little sense here. BDB 1023 s.v. שָׁלַם relates the form to the denominative verb שָׁלַם (“be at peace”) and paraphrases “one in a covenant of peace” (J. N. Oswalt suggests “the covenanted one”; Isaiah [NICOT], 2:128, n. 59) Some emend the form to מֹשְׁלָם (moshÿlam, “their ruler”) or to מְשֻׁלָּחִי (mÿshullakhi, “my sent [or “commissioned”] one”), which fits nicely in the parallelism (note “my messenger” in the previous line). The translation above assumes an emendation to כְּמוֹ שֹׁלְמִי (kÿmo sholÿmi, “like my ally”). Isaiah uses כְּמוֹ in 30:22 and perhaps 51:5; for שֹׁלְמי (“my ally”) see Ps 7:5 HT (7:4 ET).

[42:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like my messenger I send? Who is blind like my commissioned one, blind like the servant of the Lord?” The point of the rhetorical questions is that no one is as blind/deaf as this servant. In this context the Lord’s “servant” is exiled Israel (cf. 41:8-9), which is spiritually blind and deaf and has failed to fulfill God’s purpose for it. This servant stands in contrast to the ideal “Israel” of the servant songs.

[42:20]  ¹⁰ tn The consonantal text (Kethib) has a perfect, 2nd person masculine singular; the marginal reading (Qere) has an infinitive absolute, which functions here as a finite verb.

[42:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but you do not guard [i.e., retain in your memory]”; NIV “but have paid no attention.”

[59:10]  ¹² tn Heb “like there are no eyes.”

[59:10]  ¹³ tn Heb among the strong, like dead men.”

[11:7]  ¹⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:8]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

[11:10]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.

[4:3]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “so that we may speak.”

[4:3]  ²¹ tn Or “in prison.”

[4:4]  ²² 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.