Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
Parallel translations
- WEB But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
- KJV Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
- BSB Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
- NASB Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear.
- NLT But to this day the Lord has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Despite all they saw, God had not yet given them hearts to truly understand. Spiritual insight is a divine gift, not a human achievement.
Overview
This profound verse acknowledges that genuine understanding, perceiving eyes, and hearing ears come from God himself. Israel's persistent dullness reveals the human heart's need for inward renewal beyond outward witness. It anticipates the new-covenant promise of a transformed heart, fulfilled when Christ opens blind eyes and the Spirit grants understanding to those who believe.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Isa 6:9–10He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand; and you see indeed, but don’t perceive.’
- Eph 4:18being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts;
- Prov 20:12The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them.
- John 8:43Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
- Matt 13:11–15He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
- Isa 63:17O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Return for your servants’ sake, the tribes of your inheritance.
- Rom 11:7–10What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
- 2 Cor 3:15But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.
- Ezek 36:26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
- Jas 1:13–17Let no man say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God can’t be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
- John 12:38–40that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, “Lord, who has believed our report? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
- Acts 28:26–27saying, ‘Go to this people, and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way perceive.
- 2 Th 2:10–12and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
- Deut 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today.
- 2 Tim 2:25in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 29:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.