Psalms 50:17

50:17 For you hate instruction

and reject my words. ¹ 

Nehemiah 9:29-30

9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ²  will live. They boldly turned from you; ³  they rebelled ⁴  and did not obey. 9:30 You prolonged your kindness ⁵  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ⁶  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ⁷ 

Isaiah 6:10

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.” ⁸ 

Matthew 13:15

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.’ ⁹ 

Mark 4:12

4:12 so that although they look they may look but not see,

and although they hear they may hear but not understand,

so they may not repent and be forgiven.” ¹⁰ 

Luke 8:12

8:12 Those along the path are the ones who have heard; then the devil ¹¹  comes and takes away the word ¹²  from their hearts, so that they may not believe ¹³  and be saved.

John 3:19-20

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹⁴  that the light has come into the world and people ¹⁵  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

Acts 28:27

28:27 For the heart of this people has become dull, ¹⁶ 

and their ears are hard of hearing, ¹⁷ 

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, ¹⁸  and I would heal them.”’ ¹⁹ 

Acts 28:2

28:2 The local inhabitants ²⁰  showed us extraordinary ²¹  kindness, for they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain ²²  and was cold.

Acts 2:10-12

2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, ²³  and visitors from Rome, ²⁴  2:11 both Jews and proselytes, ²⁵  Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!” ²⁶  2:12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

[50:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and throw my words behind you.”

[9:29]  ² tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ³ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[9:30]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

[9:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[6:10]  ⁸ 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.”

[13:15]  ⁹ 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.

[4:12]  ¹⁰ 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.

[8:12]  ¹¹ sn Interestingly, the synoptic parallels each use a different word for the devil here: Matt 13:19 has “the evil one,” while Mark 4:15 has “Satan.” This illustrates the fluidity of the gospel tradition in often using synonyms at the same point of the parallel tradition.

[8:12]  ¹² sn The word of Jesus has the potential to save if it germinates in a person’s heart, something the devil is very much against.

[8:12]  ¹³ tn The participle πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") has been translated as a finite verb here. It may be regarded as an adverbial participle of attendant circumstance. From a logical standpoint the negative must govern both the participle and the finite verb.

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[28:27]  ¹⁶ tn Or “insensitive.”

[28:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “they hear heavily with their ears” (an idiom for slow comprehension).

[28:27]  ¹⁸ sn Note how the failure to respond to the message of the gospel is seen as a failure to turn.

[28:27]  ¹⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10.

[28:2]  ²⁰ tn Although this is literally βάρβαροι (barbaroi; “foreigners, barbarians”) used for non-Greek or non-Romans, as BDAG 166 s.v. βάρβαρος 2.b notes, “Of the inhabitants of Malta, who apparently spoke in their native language Ac 28:2, 4 (here β. certainly without derogatory tone…).”

[28:2]  ²¹ tn BDAG 1019 s.v. τυγχάνω 2.d states, “δυνάμεις οὐ τὰς τυχούσας extraordinary miracles Ac 19:11. Cp. 28:2.”

[28:2]  ²² tn Or “because it was about to rain.” BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 4 states, “διὰ τ. ὑετὸν τὸν ἐφεστῶτα because it had begun to rain Ac 28:2…But the mng. here could also be because it threatened to rain (s. 6).”

[2:10]  ²³ tn According to BDAG 595 s.v. Λιβύη, the western part of Libya, Libya Cyrenaica, is referred to here (see also Josephus, Ant. 16.6.1 [16.160] for a similar phrase).

[2:10]  ²⁴ map For location see JP4 A1.

[2:11]  ²⁵ sn Proselytes refers to Gentile (i.e., non-Jewish) converts to Judaism.

[2:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “God’s mighty works.” Here the genitive τοῦ θεοῦ (tou qeou) has been translated as a subjective genitive.