God’s Word Translation
Isaiah 6:10
10Make these people close-minded. Plug their ears. Shut their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and return and be healed.”
Isaiah 6:10 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)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.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)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."
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Make the heart of this people dull, And their ears heavy, And shut their eyes; Lest they see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And return and be healed.”
Context of Isaiah 6:10
8Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom will I send? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me!” 9And he said, “Go and tell these people, ‘No matter how closely you listen, you’ll never understand. No matter how closely you look, you’ll never see.’ Make these people close-minded. Plug their ears. Shut their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and return and be healed.” 11I asked, “How long, O Lord?” And he replied, “Until the cities lie in ruins with no one living in them, the houses have no people, and the land is completely desolate. 12The Lord will send his people far away, and a large area in the middle of the land will be abandoned.
Read all of Isaiah 6Isaiah 6:10 word by word
הַשְׁמֵן֙ לֵב־הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה וְאָזְנָ֥יו הַכְבֵּ֖ד וְעֵינָ֣יו הָשַׁ֑ע פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֨ה בְעֵינָ֜יו וּבְאָזְנָ֣יו יִשְׁמָ֗ע וּלְבָב֥וֹ יָבִ֛ין וָשָׁ֖ב וְרָ֥פָא לֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Make the heartלֵבlêb · heartH3820
- of this peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
- fatשָׁמֵןshâman · to grow fatH8080
- and make their earsאֹ֫זֶן'ôzen · earH241
- heavyכָּבֵדkâbad kâbêd · to honor: heavyH3513
- and shutשָׁעַעshâ‛a‛ · to smearH8173
- their eyesעַ֫יִן‛ayin · eyeH5869
- lest they seeרָאָהrâ'âh · to see: seeH7200
- and hearשָׁמַעshâma‛ · to hear: hearH8085
- and understandבִּיןbîyn · to understandH995
- with their heartלֵבָבlêbâb · heartH3824
- and convertשׁוּבshûb · to return: repentH7725
- and be healedרָפָאrâphâ' râphâh · to healH7495
Cross-references for Isaiah 6:10
- Isaiah 29:10The Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He will shut your eyes. (Your eyes are the prophets.) He will cover your heads. (Your heads are the seers.)
- Isaiah 63:17O Lord, why do you let us wander from your ways and become so stubborn that we are unable to fear you? Return for the sake of your servants. They are the tribes that belong to you.
- Exodus 7:3But I will make Pharaoh stubborn. Even though I will do many miraculous signs and amazing things in Egypt,
- Exodus 10:27But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn, so he refused to let them go.
- Exodus 11:10Moses and Aaron showed Pharaoh all these amazing things. Yet, the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn, so he wouldn’t let the Israelites leave his country.
- Exodus 14:17I am making the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow the Israelites. I will receive honor because of what I will do to Pharaoh, his entire army, his chariots, and cavalry.
- Deuteronomy 2:30But King Sihon of Heshbon wouldn’t allow us to pass through. The Lord your God made him stubborn and overconfident in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
- Ezekiel 3:6I am not sending you to nations whose language is hard to understand, difficult to speak, or whose words you cannot understand. If I send you to those nations, they will certainly listen to you.
- 2 Corinthians 2:16To some people we are a deadly fragrance, while to others we are a life-giving fragrance. Who is qualified to tell about Christ?
- Deuteronomy 32:15Jeshurun got fat and disrespectful. (You got fat! You were stuffed! You were gorged!) They abandoned the God who made them and treated the rock of their salvation like a fool.
- Psalms 17:10They have shut out all feeling. Their mouths have spoken arrogantly.
- Jeremiah 6:10Whom can I speak to? Whom can I give a warning to? Who will listen? Their ears are plugged, and they aren’t able to pay attention. When the Lord speaks his word to them, they show contempt for it and object to it.
- Zechariah 7:11“But people refused to pay attention. They shrugged their shoulders at me and shut their ears so that they couldn’t hear.
- Jeremiah 5:21Hear this, you stupid and senseless people! You have eyes, but you cannot see. You have ears, but you cannot hear.
- John 3:19This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil.
- Acts 3:19So change the way you think and act, and turn ⌞to God⌟ to have your sins removed.
Commentaries on Isaiah 6:10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10Make the heart of this people fat "Gross" - The prophet speaks of the event, the fact as it would actually happen, not of God's purpose and act by his ministry. The prophets are in other places said to perform the thing which they only foretell: - "Lo! I have given thee a charge this day Over the nations, and over the kingdoms; To pluck up, and to pull down; To destroy, and to demolish; To build, and to plant." Jeremiah 1:10. And Ezekiel says, "When I…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10Make the heart - The word “heart” here is used in the sense of the “mind” - to denote all their mental powers. It is commonly used in this sense in the Scriptures. Fat - Gross, heavy, dull, stupid. That is, go and proclaim such “truth” to them as shall have this effect - as shall irritate, provoke, enrage them; truth, whose delivery shall be attended, in their gross and corrupt hearts, with this blinding and infatuating influence the effect would be…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-13Verses 9-13 God sends Isaiah to foretell the ruin of his people. Many hear the sound of God's word, but do not feel the power of it. God sometimes, in righteous judgment, gives men up to blindness of mind, because they will not receive the truth in the love of it. But no humble inquirer after Christ, need to fear this awful doom, which is a spiritual judgment on those who will still hold fast their sins. Let every one pray for the enlightening of the Holy…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 10Isaiah was God’s messenger. Through his message, the wicked became more blind and deaf (they refused to see and hear the truth). But those who honored God gained spiritual sight and hearing (they understood and obeyed; see also Isaiah 29:9–10, 18; 35:5; 42:7, 16–19; 43:8; 56:10; 59:10). turn and be healed: The Lord was ready to heal those who truly repented, but not those who only wanted to avoid judgment while continuing their sinful ways.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1010. Make ... fat--(Psa 119:17). "Render them the more hardened by thy warnings" [Maurer]. This effect is the fruit, not of the truth in itself, but of the corrupt state of their hearts, to which God here judicially gives them over (Is 63:17). Gesenius takes the imperatives as futures. "Proclaim truths, the result of which proclamation will be their becoming the more hardened" (Ro 1:28; Ep 4:18); but this does not so well as the former set forth God as…Read the comment
Topics related to Isaiah 6:10
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Isaiah 6
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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