Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
- KJV Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
- ESV Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
- NKJV Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.
- NASB Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot listen to My word.
- NLT Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
They cannot understand Jesus' words because they are unable to truly hear them. Their spiritual condition blocks comprehension.
Overview
Jesus locates the problem not in his teaching but in their inability to receive it. This inability is moral and spiritual, rooted in their alienation from God. The verse illustrates that understanding Christ's word requires a heart opened by God, a truth that exposes human need and magnifies divine grace in salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 5:43I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- Rom 8:7–8because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- John 7:17If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.
- John 12:39–40For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:
- Prov 28:5Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.
- Acts 7:51You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- John 6:60On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
- Jer 6:10To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
- John 8:27They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.
- Isa 6:9And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
- Isa 44:18They do not comprehend or discern, for He has shut their eyes so they cannot see and closed their minds so they cannot understand.
- Hos 14:9Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them but the rebellious stumble in them.
- Mic 4:12But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand His plan, for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
- Rom 3:11There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 8:43 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.