Isaiah 6:9-11
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
9 [a]And he replied: Go and say to this people:
Listen carefully, but do not understand!
Look intently, but do not perceive!(A)
10 Make the heart of this people sluggish,
dull their ears and close their eyes;
Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and their heart understand,
and they turn and be healed.(B)
11 “How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:
[b] Until the cities are desolate,
without inhabitants,
Houses, without people,
and the land is a desolate waste.
Footnotes
- 6:9–10 Isaiah’s words give evidence that he attempted in every way, through admonition, threat, and promise, to bring the people to conversion (cf. 1:18–20), so it is unlikely that this charge to “harden” is to be understood as Isaiah’s task; more probably it reflects the refusal of the people, more particularly the leaders, who were supposed to “see,” “hear,” and “understand,” a refusal which would then lead to a disastrous outcome (vv. 11–12).
- 6:11–12 The desolation described would be the result of the sort of deportation practiced by the Assyrians and later by the Babylonians. Isaiah seems to expect this as an eventual consequence of Judah’s submission as vassal to the Assyrians; cf. 3:1–3; 5:13.
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