Isaiah 6:9 · Bible study
Isaiah 6:9 Commentary: Preaching to the Hard of Heart
Hebrew · 11 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
This verse poses a troubling question: why would God send a prophet with a message that hardens hearts? We examine the language, context, and interpretations.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God commissions Isaiah to preach to a people whose persistent rebellion has become its own judgment, they hear but will not understand.
- Key words: shamoa‘ (infinitive absolute of hearing, expressing continuance) + ‘al (prohibition, expressing what may not happen).
- Main debate: Are the imperatives in verses 9-10 commands or prophetic predictions? Most commentators read them as declarations of what will occur under God’s judgment.
- Theological theme: Divine hardening as judgment on persistent sin; human responsibility and God’s sovereignty in proclamation.
- Best use: A sobering call to faithful preaching and teaching, trusting God even when hearts seem unreachable.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
WEB World English Bible 2000
He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
KJV King James Version 1769
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And He saith, `Go, and thou hast said to this people, Hear ye--to hear, and ye do not understand, And see ye--to see, and ye do not know.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
And he said, Go; and thou shalt say unto this people, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And he said: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing, hear, and understand not: and see the vision, and know it not.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y dijo: Anda, y di á este pueblo: Oid bien, y no entendáis; ved por cierto, mas no comprendáis.
Então ele me disse: Vai, e diz a este povo: certamente ouvireis, mas não entendereis; certamente vereis, mas não percebereis.
Il dit alors: Va, et dis à ce peuple:
Und er sprach: Gehe hin und sprich zu diesem Volk: Höret, und verstehet' s nicht; sehet, und merket' s nicht!
Toen zeide Hij: Ga henen, en zeg tot dit volk: Horende hoort, maar verstaat niet, en ziende ziet, maar merkt niet.
Ed egli disse: “Va’ e di’ a questo popolo: Ascoltate, sì, ma senza capire; guardate, sì, ma senza discernere!
A on rzekł: Idź, a powiedz ludowi temu: Słuchajcie słuchając, a nie rozumijcie, a widząc patrzajcie, a nie poznawajcie.
И сказал Он: пойди и скажи этому народу: слухом услышите - и не уразумеете, и очами смотреть будете - и не увидите.
他說：「你去 告訴 這 百姓說：你們聽 是要聽見，卻不 明白；看 是要看見，卻不 曉得。
And he said, Go, and say to this people, You will go on hearing, but learning nothing; you will go on seeing, but without getting wiser.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Isaiah 6:9
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators from varied traditions agree on the central difficulty of this verse: God commissions Isaiah to preach a message that, by divine design, will not be received. The Hebrew phrase shim‘u shamoa‘ ("hear indeed" or "continually hear") uses the infinitive absolute before the imperative, a construction that intensifies the action, they will hear repeatedly, yet fail to understand. The companion phrase re’u ra’o works the same way for seeing. Wesley and Barnes both treat the imperatives as predictions of what will happen rather than commands to disobey: the people's persistent rebellion becomes its own punishment. Calvin sees God fortifying Isaiah against discouragement: the prophet must preach even when no fruit appears, leaving the outcome to God. The Cambridge Bible notes that "this people" is a distancing designation Isaiah uses elsewhere for a nation that has rejected its covenant identity. The NT quotes this verse (Matthew 13:14; Acts 28:26-27) to explain why many rejected Jesus and the gospel, a pattern of judicial blindness that judgment upon persistent unbelief.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Judicial hardening view: God actively hardens as judgment for persistent rebellion; parallel to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:3) and the language of making fat, heavy, and shut.
- Permissive/declarative view: The imperatives are prophetic declarations of what will happen — God permits the people's own hardness to run its course, confirmed by Wesley and others.
- Predictive view: The verse is simply a forecast of the people's response, not a divine cause; they will hear and see but reject, as later fulfilled in Jesus' parables.
What is clear: The people of Isaiah's day were spiritually blind and deaf, and the prophet's message would not produce repentance in them.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning of the imperatives in v.9-10 | The Hebrew verb forms are consistent with prophetic language that describes God's sovereign judgment on a rebellious people. | Some read them as direct commands from God to Isaiah (he must speak hard words that will harden), while others see them as predictive announcements, God declares what will happen as a result of the people's own stubbornness. |
| Does God cause the hardening? | Christians agree that God is not the author of sin; the people's hardness is a judgment that follows their own persistent rebellion. | Reformed traditions emphasize God's active judicial hardening (He withholds grace, confirming their sin). Other traditions stress a passive permission: God allows the natural consequences of rebellion to take their course. |
| Use in the New Testament | Jesus and Paul quote this passage to explain the rejection of the gospel by many in Israel, showing a pattern of spiritual blindness. | Some see the NT use as a strict fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy (God predetermined this rejection), while others view it as a warning that the same pattern recurs when hearts are hard. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Isaiah 6 opens with a vision in the year King Uzziah died (around 740 BC). The prophet sees the Lord seated on a high throne, surrounded by seraphim calling "Holy, holy, holy." This encounter shatters Isaiah: he cries out that he is undone, a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. After a seraph touches his mouth with a burning coal and declares him purified, Isaiah hears the Lord ask, "Whom shall I send?" and volunteers eagerly. Then comes the hard turn.
The commission in verses 9-10 is not a new message but a summation of what Isaiah will experience over decades. The people have already shown themselves "rebellious" (Isaiah 1:2), "loaded with iniquity" (1:4), and "a sinful nation" (1:4). God's call does not create their hardness; it confirms and judges what is already there. The phrase "this people" (not "my people") distances God from them, a pattern Isaiah uses elsewhere (8:6, 8:11-12; 28:11, 14).
Historically, the nation is facing the rise of Assyria. God's judgment will come through military disaster, "until cities are waste without inhabitant" (6:11). Yet even this hard commission carries a thread of hope: the final stump remains, the "holy seed" (6:13). The hardening is severe, but it is not the final word. Centuries later, Jesus and Paul will quote this passage to explain why the majority of Israel rejected the gospel (Matthew 13:14; Acts 28:26-27), showing that the pattern of divine judgment through human resistance recurs whenever God's message meets stubborn hearts.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Isaiah 6:9. The Masoretic Text is stable. Adam Clarke mentions a variant in verse 8 (two manuscripts read "to me" instead of "to him"), but it does not affect this verse. The Hebrew infinitive absolute constructions (shamoa‘, ra’o) are consistent across witnesses.
Reception History
Isaiah 6:9-10 has been a focal point for discussions of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Early church fathers like Augustine used it to argue that God's grace is necessary for understanding, and that hardening is a just judgment upon sin. In the Reformation, both Luther and Calvin pointed to this passage to teach that God's word can have a hardening effect on those who reject it, yet they insisted the fault lies with the sinner, not God. Wesley, reflecting Arminian concerns, emphasized that the imperatives are predictive, not prescriptive. In modern times, the passage has been a source of pastoral grief for those who preach to unresponsive congregations. Its repeated quotation in the NT (Matthew 13:14-15; John 12:40; Acts 28:26-27) ensures it remains central to understanding why many hear the gospel without embracing it.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The call to preach when it seems futile. Isaiah volunteers, and God sends him, not with a promise of success, but with a warning of rejection. Preaching is faithful speech, not measured by results.
- The tragedy of hearing without understanding. The people possess the sense organs for revelation, they hear and see, but their hearts are thick. The fault is not in the message but in the receiver.
- The hope that remains after judgment. Even the harsh commission ends with a stump and a holy seed (v.13). God's hardening is never the final chapter.
Five-point outline
- The commission (v.9a). God sends Isaiah: "Go, and tell this people." The prophet is not released from speaking because the audience is unreceptive.
- The message (v.9b). "Hear indeed, but don’t understand; see indeed, but don’t perceive." The Hebrew infinitive absolute construction emphasizes the repetition of the action.
- The judgment (v.10). The imperatives in v.10 ("make fat," "make heavy," "shut") are prophetic declarations of hardening, not commands to sin. God's judgment is to let their sin run its course.
- The prophet's question (v.11). "Lord, how long?" This is a pastoral cry that gives voice to anyone who has labored without visible fruit.
- The answer (vv.11-13). Judgment will last until the land is desolate, yet a stump remains. The holy seed will survive.
Illustration hooks
- A teacher who sees a student disengaged, no matter how clearly the lesson is explained. The student hears the words but does not take them in.
- A parent who repeats the same instruction, only to see the child ignore it. The hearing is accurate, but the will is turned away.
- A doctor who diagnoses a terminal condition and the patient refuses to believe it. The facts are clear, but the heart resists.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does God ever deliberately prevent someone from understanding the gospel?
- If the outcome is failure, why bother preaching at all?
- How do I know if my own heart is becoming hardened?
Leading a Discussion
This passage is one of the most troubling in Scripture: God sends a prophet with a message designed to harden rather than convert. Before you discuss, read Isaiah 6:1-13 as a whole. Notice Isaiah's willingness, the people's condition, and the surprising response to the prophet's question "How long?" Use these questions to dig deeper, not to settle a theology of predestination, but to sit with the mystery of divine judgment and human responsibility.
Discussion questions
- What do you think Isaiah felt when he heard these words? He had just volunteered, what might have gone through his mind?
- The Hebrew says "Hear continually, but don’t understand." Why would God use such strong repetition? What does it tell you about the people's previous encounters with God’s word?
- In verse 10, the imperatives "make fat," "make heavy," and "shut" sound like commands. How do you understand them? Are they commands to sin, or declarations of what will happen as judgment?
- Jesus quotes this passage in Matthew 13:14-15. Why do you think he uses it to explain parables? What does it say about the condition of some hearts?
- Paul quotes it in Acts 28:26-27 when the Jews in Rome reject his message. How does the New Testament use of this verse affect your understanding of God's dealings with Israel?
- Isaiah asks "Lord, how long?" (v.11). Are there situations in your life or church where you feel you are preaching or teaching with little result? How does this passage speak to that?
- The passage ends with hope, a holy seed survives (v.13). Where do you see small signs of hope in situations that seem hardened?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 32:7 | Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! |
| Exodus 32:10 | Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.” |
| Isaiah 29:13 | The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught; |
| Isaiah 30:8 | Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. |
| Isaiah 30:11 | Get out of the way. Turn away from the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.” |
| Isaiah 43:8 | Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. |
| Isaiah 44:18 | They don’t know, neither do they consider, for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see, and their hearts, that they can’t understand. |
| Isaiah 44:20 | He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?” |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes a textual variation in the manuscripts: while most read "see" (raah), two manuscripts and the Syriac version read "to me" (li). This small difference affects whether the speaker is being addressed directly or told to observe something.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes highlights that the expressions in this verse describe determined stubbornness and spiritual blindness. The people were so set on evil that they refused to understand or believe the prophet. This shows ministers must still deliver God’s message faithfully, even when they know it will not be received.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin emphasizes that God warns Isaiah beforehand about the people's persistent rebellion so that the prophet's courage does not fail during decades of apparent failure. Isaiah must preach even without visible effect, because obedience to God's command matters more than success. Such preaching remains acceptable to God even when it hardens the hearers.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator notes that the phrase "this people" is a contemptuous term Isaiah uses to distance himself from Israel. The commands to hear and see are ongoing imperatives, yet the people will only become more spiritually dull. Isaiah's preaching itself, alongside God's historical work, will increase their insensibility rather than bring insight.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva Notes emphasize that God sends Isaiah with a direct command to deliver a message that will deliberately remain unclear to the people. Their hearing and seeing will not lead to understanding because God is pronouncing judgment on their hardened hearts, not offering them further opportunity to repent.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill focuses on the tragic gap between outward hearing and seeing versus inward understanding. The people listened to Christ and the prophets, and witnessed his miracles, yet they never grasped that Jesus was the Messiah, even though every prophecy pointed directly to him.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB points out that the Hebrew phrase “in hearing hear” means people listen repeatedly yet remain hardened by a perverse will. The same revelation that guides sincere seekers leaves the wilfully blind in darkness, which is why Jesus later taught in parables.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch stresses that the imperatives to harden the people are not just prophetic announcement but actual causative acts through the prophet as the means of God’s judicial will. The three images—make fat, heavy, sticky—depict God’s wrathful response to Israel’s self-hardening, closing off repentance for the nation while leaving individuals reachable.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry emphasises that God sends Isaiah on an unusual mission: his preaching itself becomes a judgment that hardens the people's hearts. This spiritual blindness, often unnoticed, is the most dreadful judgment of all, and it prefigures how many would later reject Christ and the gospel.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley reads the imperative verbs as predictions, not commands. God declares what the people will do because their persistent refusal has become its own punishment: He will continue sending His word and works but withdraw His Spirit, so their unwillingness to understand hardens into inability.