What's striking here is that Jesus quotes Isaiah, revealing that the people actively closed their own eyes and grew dull in their hearing. This isn't about God withholding understanding, but about their own stubborn resistance to seeing and hearing the truth, even if it meant avoiding the healing God longed to give them.
For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus is explaining why he teaches in parables, especially to the crowds. He quotes from Isaiah to show that their hearts have become hardened and their senses dulled, deliberately closing themselves off from understanding God's message. This spiritual blindness prevents them from turning to God for healing and salvation.
Ever feel like you're just not 'getting it' when it comes to spiritual truths? This verse gives us a vivid picture of what happens.
Jesus quotes Isaiah, describing the people's spiritual state: 'this people’s heart has grown dull.' The original language here uses a word that literally means 'to become fat.'
Think about it: a body that's too 'fat' can become sluggish, insensitive, and slow to react. When our hearts grow 'fat' in a spiritual sense, they become dull, unresponsive, and hardened. This isn't just about being intellectually slow; it's about a deep-seated insensitivity to God’s truth and a resistance to His work in our lives. This 'fatness' isn't a healthy sign of prosperity, but a dangerous condition that dulls our spiritual senses.
The verse says our eyes are 'closed.' Is this something that just happens to us, or is there more to it?
The verse continues, 'and their eyes they have closed.' This is a crucial point: the hardening isn't just an external judgment; it's also an active, wilful choice. People closed their own eyes.
This highlights a deliberate resistance to God’s truth. It’s like a person who is physically capable of seeing and hearing but chooses to keep their eyes shut and ears plugged. They are shutting themselves off from the very things that could bring them understanding and healing. This willful ignorance is a dangerous state, preferring darkness over light because their actions are exposed in the light.
There's a 'lest' in this verse – a reason their eyes and ears are closed. What's at stake?
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The reason for this closing of spiritual senses is stated: 'lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart—and turn, and I would heal them.’
This is the tragic consequence of their dull hearts and closed eyes. They are actively avoiding the truth because understanding it would require them to 'turn'—to repent and change their ways. And if they don't turn, God's promised healing remains out of reach. The verse makes it clear that God’s desire is to heal them, but their resistance creates a barrier. Their spiritual sickness isn't because God refuses to heal, but because they refuse to be healed by turning to Him.
Understand the original words
kardia · Greek Noun
The center of the human personality, encompassing the intellect, the will, the emotions, and the moral conscience. It is the seat of spiritual life or, when hardened, the seat of rebellion against God.
epistrephō · Greek Verb
To change one's mind and life's direction, resulting in a turning away from sin and a turning toward God. It is a necessary prerequisite for salvation and spiritual restoration.
iaomai · Greek Verb
The divine act of restoring spiritual or physical health. In a spiritual context, it signifies the forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation of the soul to God.
Jesus echoes the words of Isaiah, spoken centuries earlier during a time of national judgment. He uses this prophecy to explain why many are not responding to his message of the Kingdom, indicating a spiritual deafness and blindness inherited from generations past.
c. 740 BC
Isaiah's Prophetic Call
The prophet Isaiah receives his commissioning vision from God in the Temple, where God instructs him to prophesy to a people who will not listen, a message that will harden their hearts.
c. 740 BC
God's Command to Isaiah
God tells Isaiah, 'Make the heart of this people dull, and of their ears heavy, and of their eyes blind, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for healing.' This sets a precedent for prophesying a message of judgment.
c. 597 BC
First Babylonian Deportation
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deports thousands of Judeans, including many skilled craftsmen and intellectuals, and King Jehoiachin, to Babylon, marking the beginning of the Babylonian exile.
c. 586 BC
Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple
Nebuchadnezzar's forces destroy Jerusalem and its Temple, leading to a second, larger deportation of Judeans to Babylon. This event signifies a catastrophic loss of national and religious identity.
c. AD 30
Jesus Begins Public Ministry
Jesus starts teaching, healing, and gathering disciples, proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven throughout Galilee and Judea.
c. AD 30-33— this verse
Jesus Teaches in Parables
During his ministry, Jesus increasingly uses parables to teach about the Kingdom of Heaven, a method he explains as a way to both reveal and conceal truth, depending on the listeners' hearts.
This passage is directly quoted by Jesus in Matthew 13:14-15, explaining why He speaks in parables to the crowds, highlighting their willful blindness and deafness to God's truth.
Jeremiah 5:21This verse describes a similar spiritual dullness and refusal to hear or see God's word, showing that Israel's hardened hearts were a recurring problem throughout their history.
John 12:40This verse also quotes Isaiah 6:10, explaining that God had 'blinded their eyes and hardened their heart' because they had resisted His truth, creating a parallel to the situation in Matthew 13.
Acts 28:26-27Paul quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 when addressing the Jews in Rome, lamenting their similar hardened hearts and refusal to understand, showing the persistent spiritual blindness Jesus encountered.
Romans 11:8This verse references the same prophecy from Isaiah, explaining that a spiritual slumber and blindness had been given to them, directly linking their condition to God's foreknowledge and purpose.
clarkeMatthew 13:15: "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
Heart is waxed gross - Επαχυνθη, is become fat - inattentive stupid, insensible. They hear heavily with their ears - are half asleep while the salvation of God is preached unto them. Their eyes they have clos…
pulpitMatthew 13:15: "For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them."
Verse 15. - For this people's heart is waxed gross. There are two ways of understanding this verse as it comes here. (1) It states the reason why God pronounced the judgment of ver. 14. The people's heart had…
What's striking here is that Jesus quotes Isaiah, revealing that the people actively closed their own eyes and grew dull in their hearing. This isn't about God withholding understanding, but about their own stubborn resistance to seeing and hearing the truth, even if it meant avoiding the healing God longed to give them.
Jesus is explaining why he teaches in parables, especially to the crowds. He quotes from Isaiah to show that their hearts have become hardened and their senses dulled, deliberately closing themselves off from understanding God's message. This spiritual blindness prevents them from turning to God for healing and salvation.
Jesus is explaining why he teaches in parables, especially to the crowds. He quotes from Isaiah to show that their hearts have become hardened and their senses dulled, deliberately closing themselves off from understanding God's message. This spiritual blindness prevents them from turning to God for healing and salvation.
"For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hear…" — What's striking here is that Jesus quotes Isaiah, revealing that the people actively closed their own eyes and grew dull in their hearing. This isn't about God withholding understanding, but about…
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Last reviewed October 2026
