Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
Parallel translations
- WEB “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
- KJV Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
- NKJV “Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see.
- NASB ¶Hear, you who are deaf! And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.
- NLT “Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind!
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
God summons the spiritually deaf and blind to hear and see. It is a call to His own people to wake up to the truth He is revealing.
Overview
The address shifts to Israel, whose physical senses work but whose hearts are dull. God commands them to truly perceive what He is saying and doing. This summons exposes the deeper problem of unbelief and prepares for the gospel's call to spiritual sight, which only God can grant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Isa 43:8Bring out a people who have eyes but are blind, and who have ears but are deaf.
- Mark 7:34–37And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).
- Prov 20:12Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.
- Isa 35:5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- Isa 29:18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
- Rev 3:17–18You say, ‘I am rich; I have grown wealthy and need nothing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
- Luke 7:22So He replied, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.
- Exod 4:11And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
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
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 42:18 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.