Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, September 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Isaiah 42:18

"Deaf people, listen to me! Blind people, look and see!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blindness;   Isaiah;   Jesus, the Christ;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Isaiah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Blindness;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Blind;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Deafness;   Isaiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Micah, Book of;   Righteousness;   Servant of the Lord;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Reed;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Deaf;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Blindness;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Blindness;   Deaf;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Listen, you deaf!Look, you blind, so that you may see.
Hebrew Names Version
Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
King James Version
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
English Standard Version
Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see!
New American Standard Bible
Hear, you who are deaf! And look, you who are blind, so that you may see.
New Century Version
"You who are deaf, hear me. You who are blind, look and see.
Amplified Bible
Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.
World English Bible
Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Heare, ye deafe: and ye blinde, regarde, that ye may see.
Legacy Standard Bible
Hear, you deaf!And look, you blind, that you may see.
Berean Standard Bible
"Listen, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
Contemporary English Version
You people are deaf and blind, but the Lord commands you to listen and to see.
Complete Jewish Bible
Listen, you deaf! Look, you blind! — so that you will see!
Darby Translation
—Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
George Lamsa Translation
Hear, O you deaf! And understand and see, O you blind!
Good News Translation
The Lord says, "Listen, you deaf people! Look closely, you that are blind!
Lexham English Bible
Deaf people, listen! And blind people, look to see!
Literal Translation
O deaf ones, hear! And O blind ones, look to see!
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Heare, o ye deaf men, and sharpen youre sightes to se (o ye blinde.)
American Standard Version
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Bible in Basic English
Give ear, you whose ears are shut; and let your eyes be open, you blind, so that you may see.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
King James Version (1611)
Heare ye deafe, and looke ye blinde that ye may see.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Heare O ye deafe men, and sharpen your eyes to see O ye blinde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hear, ye deaf, and look up, ye blind, to see.
English Revised Version
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ye deef men, here; and ye blynde men, biholde to se.
Update Bible Version
Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
Webster's Bible Translation
Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
New English Translation
"Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones!
New King James Version
"Hear, you deaf; And look, you blind, that you may see.
New Living Translation
"Listen, you who are deaf! Look and see, you blind!
New Life Bible
Listen, you who do not hear! And look, you blind, that you may see.
New Revised Standard
Listen, you that are deaf; and you that are blind, look up and see!
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Ye deaf hear! And ye blind look around that ye may see, Who is blind if not my Servant? Or deaf, like, my messenger whom I send?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hear, ye deaf, and, ye blind, behold that you may see.
Revised Standard Version
Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see!
Young's Literal Translation
Ye deaf, hear; and ye blind, look to see.
THE MESSAGE
Pay attention! Are you deaf? Open your eyes! Are you blind? You're my servant, and you're not looking! You're my messenger, and you're not listening! The very people I depended upon, servants of God , blind as a bat—willfully blind! You've seen a lot, but looked at nothing. You've heard everything, but listened to nothing. God intended, out of the goodness of his heart, to be lavish in his revelation. But this is a people battered and cowed, shut up in attics and closets, Victims licking their wounds, feeling ignored, abandoned. But is anyone out there listening? Is anyone paying attention to what's coming? Who do you think turned Jacob over to the thugs, let loose the robbers on Israel? Wasn't it God himself, this God against whom we've sinned— not doing what he commanded, not listening to what he said? Isn't it God's anger that's behind all this, God's punishing power? Their whole world collapsed but they still didn't get it; their life is in ruins but they don't take it to heart.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Hear, you deaf! And look, you blind, that you may see.

Contextual Overview

18 "Deaf people, listen to me! Blind people, look and see! 19 In all the world, no one is more blind than my servant. No one is more deaf than my messenger. No one is more blind than my chosen people, the servant of the Lord . 20 My people see what they should do, but they do not obey me. They can hear with their ears, but they refuse to listen to me." 21 The Lord wants them to do what is right. He wants them to honor his wonderful teachings. 22 But look at his people. Others have defeated them and have stolen from them. The young men are afraid. They are locked in prisons. People have taken advantage of them, and there is no one to protect them. Others take their money, and there is no one to say, "Give it back!" 23 Will any of you pay attention to this warning? Will you ever learn to listen? 24 Who let Jacob be defeated? Who let others take what belonged to Israel? The Lord allowed them to do this. We sinned against him, so he let people take away our wealth. The people did not want to live the way he wanted. They refused to listen to his teaching. 25 So he poured out his anger on them and brought wars against them. It was as if there were fires all around them, but they didn't know what was happening. It was as if they were burning, but they didn't try to understand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye deaf: Isaiah 29:18, Isaiah 43:8, Exodus 4:11, Proverbs 20:12, Mark 7:34-37, Luke 7:22, Revelation 3:17, Revelation 3:18

Reciprocal: Psalms 146:8 - openeth Isaiah 44:9 - their own Isaiah 45:20 - they Ezekiel 37:4 - O ye Matthew 13:13 - General Matthew 20:30 - two Mark 3:5 - hardness Mark 8:18 - see John 8:27 - General John 9:39 - might be 2 Corinthians 3:14 - their Revelation 9:20 - and idols

Cross-References

Genesis 20:11
Then Abraham said, "I thought no one in this place respected God. I thought someone would kill me to get Sarah.
Leviticus 25:43
You must not be a cruel master to them. You must respect your God.
Nehemiah 5:9
So I continued speaking. I said, "What you people are doing is not right! You know that you should fear and respect our God. You should not do the shameful things other people do!
Nehemiah 5:15
But the governors who ruled before me made life hard for the people. The governors forced everyone to pay 1 pound of silver. They also made the people give them food and wine. The leaders under these governors also ruled over the people and made life even harder. But I respected and feared God, so I didn't do things like that.
Luke 18:2
"Once there was a judge in a town. He did not care about God. He also did not care what people thought about him.
Luke 18:4
But the judge did not want to help the woman. After a long time, the judge thought to himself, ‘I don't care about God. And I don't care about what people think.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Jarchi and Kimchi think these words are spoken to Israel, who, as Aben Ezra says, were deaf and blind in heart; but they are rather an exhortation to the Gentiles that remained impenitent and unbelieving, and who were deaf to the voice of the Gospel, and blind as to the knowledge of it; and the purport of the exhortation is, that they would make use of their external hearing and sight, which they had, that they might attain to a spiritual hearing and understanding of divine things; "for faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of God", Romans 10:17 to hear the Gospel preached, and to look into the Scriptures, and read the word of God, are the means of attaining light and knowledge in spiritual things; and these are within the compass of natural men, who are internally deaf and blind.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hear, ye deaf - This is evidently an address to the Jews, and probably to the Jews of the time of the prophet. He had been predicting the coming of the Messiah, and the influence of his religion on the Gentile world. He had said that God would go forth to destroy the idolatry of the pagan nations, and to convince them of the folly of the worship of images, and to confound them for putting their trust in them. He seems here to have recollected that this was the easily-besetting sin of his own countrymen, and perhaps especially of the times when he penned this portion of the prophecy - under the reign of Manasseh; that that generation was stupid, blind, deaf to the calls of God, and sunk in the deepest debasement of idolatry. In view of this, and of the great truths which he had uttered, he calls on them to hear, to be alarmed, to return to God, and assures them that for these sins they exposed themselves to, and must experience, his sore displeasure. The statement of these truths, and the denouncing of these judgments, occupy the remainder of this chapter. A similar instance occurs in Isaiah 2:0, where the prophet, having foretold the coming of the Messiah, and the fact that his religion would be extended among the Gentiles, turns and reproves the Jews for their idolatry and crimes (see the notes at that chapter). The Jewish people are often described as ‘deaf’ to the voice of God, and ‘blind’ to their duty and their interests (see Isaiah 29:18; Isaiah 42:8).

And look ... that ye may see - This phrase denotes an attentive, careful, and anxious search, in order that there may be a clear view of the object. The prophet calls them to an attentive contemplation of the object, that they might have a clear and distinct view of it. They had hitherto looked at the subject of religion in a careless, inattentive, and thoughtless manner.


 
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