Bible Strands
Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks to Isaiah in the temple vision (Isaiah 6:1–4), issuing a prophetic commission to "this people," Judah. The command is divine, not Isaiah's own formulation.
The words — הַשְׁמֵן (hashmen) is literally "make fat," not "callouse" or "harden"; the image is of an animal fattened for slaughter, not a surface roughened by friction.
The thread — Matthew 13:15 and Acts 28:27 both quote this verse to explain why Jesus speaks in parables and why Paul's message falls on deaf ears in Jerusalem. Jeremiah 5:21 echoes the same "eyes but do not see, ears but do not hear" formula.
Why it lands — The verse places the cause of unbelief in a divine command rather than in human stubbornness, forcing the reader to confront that the messenger's role includes delivering a sentence, not merely an invitation.
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
Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
Cross-references
- Matthew 13:15 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’
- Acts 28:27 For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’
- Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
- Jeremiah 6:10 To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
- John 3:19 And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
- Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Isaiah 29:10 For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.
- Isaiah 63:17 Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
- Deuteronomy 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
- Psalms 17:10 They have closed their callous hearts; their mouths speak with arrogance.