6.9
The Book of Isaiah 6.9 · Go and say to this people6.9Go and say to this people
The Lord answers Isaiah's offer with a strange commission. He is to speak to the people, and they will hear without taking it in.
· · ·
וַיֹּאמֶר1
wa-yyōʾmer
And he said
, לֵךְ2
lēḵ
Go
, וְאָמַרְתָּ3
wə-ʾāmartā
and sayand you shall say
לָעָם4
lā-ʿām
to the people
הַזֶּה5
ha-zzeh
this
: שִׁמְעוּ6
šimʿû
Listenhear!
שָׁמוֹעַ7
šāmôaʿ
continuallyhearing
, וְאַל־8
wə-ʾal-
and do not
תָּבִינוּ9
tāḇînû
understand
; וּרְאוּ10
ū-rəʾû
and lookand see
רָאוֹ11
rāʾô
continuallyseeing
וְאַל־12
wə-ʾal-
and do not
תֵּדָעוּ׃13
tēḏāʿû
perceiveknow
And he said, “Go, and say to this people: Keep listening, but do not understand; and keep looking but do not perceive.”
And he said, “Go, and say to this people: Keep listening, but do not understand; and keep looking but do not perceive.”
↔ echoes in other books:··
6.10
The Book of Isaiah 6.10 · Make the heart of this people fat6.10Make the heart of this people fat
The command goes on. The prophet's message is to dull the people's heart, ears, and eyes, so that they will not turn and be healed.
· · ·
Make fat the heart of this people, and make its ears heavy, and shut its eyes, lest it see with its eyes and hear with its ears, and its heart understand, and turn back and someone heal it.
↔ echoes in other books:··
Isaiah has just volunteered, and now he hears the job. He is to tell the people šimʿû šāmôaʿ, “hear, hearing”, and rəʾû rāʾô, “see, seeing”: Hebrew doubles a verb to make it insistent, “keep on listening, keep on looking”, and in the same breath, “but do not understand”, “but do not perceive”. The message is a riddle about why the message will fail.