“He said, “Go, and tell this people:
‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive;
Keep on looking, but do not understand.’
Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
Their ears dull,
And their eyes dim,
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.””
Isaiah 6:9-10 NASB1995
After Isaiah enthusiastically asks God to send him, he is given an assignment to render the hearts of this people insensitive and keep their ears dull and their eyes dim. The people are not to perceive or understand. This certainly had to be difficult for the prophet to comprehend (as it is for the reader of this passage). The AI image at the top effectively shows Isaiah preaching to the masses and being ignored or glared at by the crowds. He has a thankless task ahead of him, preaching God’s commandments to a nation of people that has tuned him out.
Precept Austin has an excerpt from the NET Bible notes that explains this passage rather well:
Do we take this commission at face value? Does the Lord really want to prevent his people from understanding, repenting, and being healed? Isaiah 6:9, which ostensibly records the content of Isaiah’s message, is clearly ironic. As far as we know, Isaiah did not literally proclaim these exact words. The Hebrew imperatival forms (Commands) are employed rhetorically and anticipate the response Isaiah will receive. When all is said and done, Isaiah might as well preface and conclude every message with these ironic words, which, though imperatival in form, might be paraphrased as follows:
“You continually hear, but don’t understand; you continually see, but don’t perceive.”
Isaiah might as well command them to be spiritually insensitive, because, as the preceding (Isaiah 1-5) and following chapters (Isaiah 7-12) make clear, the people are bent on that anyway. (This ironic command is comparable to saying to a particularly recalcitrant individual, “Go ahead, be stubborn!”)
Isaiah 6:10b is also clearly sarcastic. On the surface it seems to indicate Isaiah’s hardening ministry will prevent genuine repentance. But, as the surrounding chapters clearly reveal, the people were hardly ready or willing to repent. Therefore, Isaiah’s preaching was not needed to prevent repentance! Isaiah 6:10b reflects the people’s attitude and might be paraphrased accordingly:
“Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their mind, repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they?”
Of course, this sarcastic statement may also reveal that the Lord Himself is now bent on judgment, not reconciliation. Just as Pharaoh’s rejection of Yahweh’s ultimatum ignited judgment and foreclosed, at least temporarily, any opportunity for repentance, so the LORD may have come to the point where He has decreed to bring judgment before opening the door for repentance once more. The sarcastic statement in Isaiah 6:10b would be an emphatic way of making this clear. Perhaps we could expand our paraphrase:
“Otherwise they might…repent, and be restored, and they certainly wouldn’t want that, would they? Besides, it’s too late for that!“
Within this sarcastic framework, Isaiah 6:10a must also be seen as ironic. As in Isaiah 6:9 the imperatival forms should be taken as rhetorical and as anticipating the people’s response. One might paraphrase:
“Your preaching will desensitize the minds of these people, make their hearing dull, and blind their eyes.”
From the outset the Lord might as well command Isaiah to harden the people, because his preaching will end up having that effect.
Despite the use of irony, we should still view this as a genuine, albeit indirect, act of divine hardening. After all, God did not have to send Isaiah. By sending him, He drives the sinful people further from Him, for Isaiah’s preaching, which focuses on the LORD’s covenantal demands and impending judgment upon covenantal rebellion, forces the people to confront their sin and then continues to desensitize them as they respond negatively to the message.
As in the case of Pharaoh, Yahweh’s hardening is not arbitrarily imposed on a righteous or even morally neutral object. Rather His hardening is an element of His righteous judgment on recalcitrant sinners. Ironically, Israel’s rejection of prophetic preaching in turn expedites disciplinary punishment, and brings the battered people to a point where they might be ready for reconciliation. The prophesied judgment (cf. Isa 6:11-13) was fulfilled by 701 B.C. when the Assyrians devastated the land (a situation presupposed by Isa 1:2-20; see especially Isa 6:4-9). At that time the divine hardening had run its course and Isaiah is able to issue an ultimatum (Isa 1:19, 20, one which Hezekiah apparently took to heart, resulting in the sparing of Jerusalem (see Isa 36-39) and cf. Jer 26:18,19 with Mic 3:12).
This interpretation, which holds in balance both Israel’s moral responsibility and the LORD’s sovereign work among His people, is consistent with other pertinent texts both within and outside the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah 3:9 (note) declares that the people of Judah “have brought disaster upon themselves,” but Isa 29:9, 10 indicates that the Lord was involved to some degree in desensitizing the people. Zec 7:11, 12 looks back to the pre-exilic era (cf. Isa 6:7) and observes that the earlier generations stubbornly hardened their hearts, but Ps 81:11-12, recalling this same period, states that the Lord “gave them over to their stubborn hearts.” (Isaiah 6 Net Bible Comments) (Paragraph indentations, bolding and italics added by Precept Austin).
Isaiah probably received the same level respect from the people that a Christian street preacher might get today in a downtown area of a major city (well, perhaps Isaiah got more respect because street preachers today are at risk of being arrested for hate speech or even shot).
Jesus referred to this passage in the Gospel of Matthew when He explained why He used parables in His teachings:
“And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;
You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
Matthew 13:10-17 NASB1995
I think the commentary for this passage from Matthew 13 from Enduring Word is worth looking at:
a. Why do You speak to them in parables? The way Jesus used parables prompted the disciples to ask this. Apparently, Jesus’ use of parables wasn’t as easy as simple illustrations of spiritual truth.
b. Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given: Jesus explained that He used parables so that the hearts of those rejecting would not be hardened further.
i. The same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay; and so the very same gospel message that humbles the honest heart and leads to repentance may also harden the heart of the dishonest listener and confirm that one in their path of disobedience.
ii. “The parable conceals truth from those who are either too lazy to think or too blinded by prejudice to see. It puts the responsibility fairly and squarely on the individual. It reveals truth to him who desires truth; it conceals truth from him who does not wish to see the truth.” (Barclay)
iii. “Thus the parables spoken to the crowds do not simply convey information, nor mask it, but challenge the hearers.” (Carson)
c. For whoever has, to him more will be given…but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him: The idea is that those who are open and sensitive to spiritual truth more will be given through the parables. Yet to those who are not open – who do not have, these ones will end up in an even worse condition.
i. “Life is always a process of gaining more or losing more…For weakness, like strength, is an increasing thing.” (Barclay)
d. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand: In this sense, the parables of Jesus were not illustrations making difficult things clear to all. They presented God’s message so the spiritually sensitive could understand, but the hardened would merely hear a story without heaping up additional condemnation for rejecting God’s Word.
i. Parables are an example of God’s mercy towards the hardened. The parables were given in the context of the Jewish leaders’ building rejection of Jesus and His work. In this sense they were examples of mercy given to the undeserving.
e. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: By speaking in parables Jesus also fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, speaking in a way that the hardened would hear but not hear and see but not see.
i. The heart of this people has grown dull is more literally “fat” instead of dull. “A fat heart is a fearful plague…None can delight in God’s law that are fat-hearted.” (Trapp)
ii. “They did not really see what they saw, nor hear what they heard. The plainer the teaching, the more they were puzzled by it.” (Spurgeon)
f. But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear: In light of this, those who do understand the parables of Jesus are genuinely blessed. Not only do they gain the benefit of the spiritual truth illustrated, but they also display some measure of responsiveness to the Holy Spirit.
i. “You under the Gospel are made to know what the greatest and best of men under the law could not discover. The shortest day of summer is longer than the longest day in winter.” (Spurgeon)
I LOVE that last comment from Charles Spurgeon. Those of us under the Gospel know the greatest truth that the shortest day of summer is longer than the longest day in winter. We are blessed!
My next devotional examines Isaiah 6:11-13 - Isaiah asks the Lord “how long?”
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer;
Dear Lord - I thank You for the difficult message to Isaiah and for the parables of Jesus to help those with ears to hear and understand. I am so glad to be under the Gospel and on that longest day of a summer of blessings from above. Amen.
Citations and Credits:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org.
Precept Austin was accessed on 09/15/2026 to review commentary for Isaiah 6:9-10.
Commentary from Enduring Word is used with written permission and without any alteration. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com. At the link referenced, the bibliography used by David Guzik can be accessed.