Bible Strands
Isaiah 42:19
Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the LORD?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet delivers Yahweh’s rhetorical question to an audience characterized by spiritual insensitivity, immediately following the command in Isaiah 42:18 to listen and see. The address occurs within a prophetic discourse contrasting divine revelation with human refusal to perceive it.
The words — The Hebrew עִוֵּר ('i.Ver) translates literally as "blind," and חֵרֵשׁ (che.Resh) means "deaf." These terms structure the verse’s rhetorical inquiry that identifies the servant and covenant partner with incapacity.
The thread — The motif of unseeing and unhearing audiences appears in Jeremiah 5:21 and Ezekiel 12:2, where God addresses rebellious people whose physical senses fail to yield spiritual perception. Paul later applies a comparable blindness motif to unbelievers in 2 Corinthians 4:4.
Why it lands — The text forces the reader to confront the reality that spiritual perception is not a natural human capacity but a divine assignment. It requires acknowledgment that the appointed servant and messenger of Yahweh must be recognized despite outward appearances of weakness.
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
Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?
Cross-references
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
- Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
- 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.
- Isaiah 6:9 And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
- Isaiah 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Isaiah 29:9 Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
- Isaiah 41:8 “But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—
- Isaiah 44:26 who confirms the message of His servant and fulfills the counsel of His messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will restore their ruins,’
- Isaiah 56:10 Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”