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.
Make this people's hearts stubborn and dull, make their ears unable to hear clearly, and close their eyes tight. Otherwise, they might actually see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand in their hearts, turn back to me, and be healed.
God is telling Isaiah that the people have become so resistant to His message that their spiritual blindness and deafness will actually prevent them from repenting and finding healing.
📚 Historical Context
This comes from Isaiah's dramatic vision of God in the temple around 740 BC, where God calls him to be a prophet. The people of Judah had repeatedly rejected God's warnings and become spiritually hardened. God is explaining to Isaiah that his prophetic ministry will largely fall on deaf ears because the people have chosen to close themselves off from God's truth.
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