‘You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all?
Parallel translations
- WEB Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?
- KJV Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?
- BSB ‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?’ And do you not remember?
- NKJV Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember?
- NASB Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,
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
Jesus asks if they have eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, and whether they remember. He presses them to recall what they have witnessed.
Overview
The words allude to prophetic indictments of Israel's spiritual blindness (Jeremiah 5:21; Ezekiel 12:2). Jesus applies this danger to his own followers, urging active remembrance of his works. True discipleship requires that the eyes and ears of the heart be opened to perceive who Jesus is.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 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.
- Matt 13:14–15In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
- Jer 5:21‘Hear now this, foolish people, and without understanding; who have eyes, and don’t see; who have ears, and don’t hear:
- Mark 4:12that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’”
- Ezek 12:2“Son of man, you dwell in the middle of the rebellious house, who have eyes to see, and don’t see, who have ears to hear, and don’t hear; for they are a rebellious house.
- John 12:40“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”
- 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.’
- Isa 42:18–20“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
- Rom 11:8According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
- Ps 115:5–8They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see.
- Isa 44:18They 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.
- Deut 29:4But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.
- Ps 69:23Let their eyes be darkened, so that they can’t see. Let their backs be continually bent.
- 2 Pet 1:12Therefore I will not be negligent to remind you of these things, though you know them, and are established in the present truth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Mark drives urgently to the cross, showing Jesus the Son of God as the suffering Servant who 'came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'
How Mark 8:18 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.