Isaiah 6:10

10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. ^[a]Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah 6:10 in Other Translations

10 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.

10 Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."

10 Harden the hearts of these people. Plug their ears and shut their eyes. That way, they will not see with their eyes, nor hear with their ears, nor understand with their hearts and turn to me for healing.”

10 Make these people blockheads, with fingers in their ears and blindfolds on their eyes, So they won't see a thing, won't hear a word, So they won't have a clue about what's going on and, yes, so they won't turn around and be made whole."

10 Dull the minds of these people; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

Isaiah 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 6:10

Make the heart of this people fat
Gross and heavy, stupid and unteachable, hard and obdurate; which is sometimes done by the preaching of the Gospel, through the wickedness of man's heart, that being the savour of death unto death to some, just as the sun hardens the clay; or declare that their hearts are thus gross and stupid; or that I will give them up to a judicial hardness of heart: and make their ears heavy:
that they cannot hear the word, so as to understand it; they having stopped the ear, and plucked away the shoulder, it is in righteous judgment that they are given up to such an insensibility as not to be capable of hearing and understanding what is delivered in the ministry of the word: and shut their eyes;
they having wilfully shut their own eyes against all evidence of the Messiah, and the truth of his doctrines, they are given up to a judicial blindness; which still continues upon them, and will until the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in: lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understated with their heart;
though only in a notional way, the things relating to the Messiah, the truths of the Gospel, and the ordinances thereof, and what may belong to their outward peace: and convert;
or turn themselves by external repentance and reformation: and be healed:
or forgiven in such sense as to be preserved from national ruin; which God willed not; for seeing they went such great lengths in sin, in rejecting the Messiah, and his Gospel, they were given up to a reprobate mind, to do things that were not convenient, that they might be destroyed; which destruction is after prophesied of.

Isaiah 6:10 In-Context

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “ ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’

10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged,

12 until the LORD has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken.

Cross References

• 1. S Exodus 4:21; Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 119:70
• 2. Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 42:18-20; Isaiah 43:8; Isaiah 44:18
• 3. S Deuteronomy 29:4; Ezekiel 12:2; Mark 8:18; Jeremiah 5:21
• 4. S Deuteronomy 32:39; Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:12*; John 12:40*; Acts 28:26-27*

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew; Septuagint "‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding;" / "you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’" / 10"This people’s heart has become calloused;" / "they hardly hear with their ears," / "and they have closed their eyes"