Ezekiel 12:2

“Son of man, you are living in a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The LORD speaks to Ezekiel, who is dwelling among the Babylonian exiles, immediately before the command to pack for a second exile (v. 3).

The words — מֶרִי (mĕrî, "rebellion") names the house twice; it is not mere disobedience but open, defiant opposition, the noun form of the verb מָרָה.

The thread — The "eyes that do not see, ears that do not hear" formula appears in Jeremiah 5:21 and underlies the citation in Mark 4:12 (from Isaiah 6:9–10), where it marks willful spiritual insensibility rather than incapacity.

Why it lands — The verse does not describe a lack of ability but a settled refusal; it asks the reader to name whether their failure to perceive is ignorance or choice.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
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.’”
Psalms 78:40 How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
John 9:39 Then Jesus declared, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind may see and those who see may become blind.”
Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
Ephesians 4:18 They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
Isaiah 6:9 And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
Isaiah 30:9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.