Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Parallel translations
- WEB Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.
- BSB Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
- 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 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 am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
- Rom 8:7–8Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
- John 7:17If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
- John 12:39–40Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,
- Prov 28:5Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.
- Acts 7:51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
- John 6:60Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
- Jer 6:10To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the LORD is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
- John 8:27They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
- Isa 6:9And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
- Isa 44:18They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
- Hos 14:9Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
- Mic 4:12But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.
- Rom 3:11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after 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.