Isaiah 42:20

20 You see many things, but don't observe. His ears are open, but he doesn't hear.

Isaiah 42:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:20

Seeing many things, but thou observest not
The Scribes and Pharisees, saw Christ in the flesh; they saw the miracles he did; they saw the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hear, and the dead raised; yet they did not give note to these things, and keep them in their minds, and regard them as clear proofs of his being the Messiah: opening the ears, but he heareth not;
they heard John Baptist preach, the forerunner of Christ, and the testimony he bore of him; they heard Christ himself and his apostles; they sometimes opened their ears, and seemed to listen and hear with attention, and wonder at what they heard; and some would own, that never man spake like Jesus; and yet understood not his speech, and hardened their hearts against him; they saw many things with their bodily eyes, but perceived them not with the eyes of their understandings; they heard with their ears, but understood not in their hearts; for their eyes were shut and their ears heavy, ( Isaiah 6:9 ) ( Matthew 13:14 Matthew 13:15 ) .

Isaiah 42:20 In-Context

18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.

19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace, and blind as Yahweh's servant?

20 You see many things, but don't observe. His ears are open, but he doesn't hear.

21 It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable.

22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.