Bible Strands
Isaiah 42:18
Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses those who have placed trust in idols, issuing this command immediately after describing their coming shame and before contrasting them with the servant of the LORD.
The words — שְׁמָ֑עוּ (she.Ma.'u) means listen, and הַבִּ֥יטוּ (ha.Bi.tu) means look, forming a paired imperative that commands sensory attention to what follows.
The thread — This motif of spiritual deafness and blindness recurs in Isaiah 43:8 and Isaiah 29:18, while Proverbs 20:12 grounds the physical senses in divine creation.
Why it lands — The text demands that those with functional senses pay attention to God’s actions rather than relying on manufactured images, leaving no room for passive ignorance.
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
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 43:8 Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.
- Proverbs 20:12 Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
- Isaiah 29:18 On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
- Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- Mark 7:34 And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).
- Exodus 4:11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
- Luke 7:22 So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- Revelation 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.