21 Hear now this, O foolish people without understanding or heart, who have eyes and see not, who have ears and hear not: [Isa. 6:9, 10; Matt. 13:10-15; Mark 8:17, 18.]
“Son of man, {\cf2\super [102]} you live among rebellious people—they always turn against me. They have eyes to see \{the things I have done for them\}. But they don’t see those things. They have ears to hear \{the things I told them to do\}. But they don’t hear my commands. Why? Because they are a rebellious people.
‘Go to this people (the Jews) and tell them:\par You will listen and you will hear,\par but you will not understand!\par You will look and you will see,\par but you will not understand\par what you see!\par
“God made the people blind.\par God closed their minds.\par God did this so that they will not\par see with their eyes\par and understand with their minds.\par God did this so that they would not turn and be healed.”\par \i (Isaiah 6:10)\i0 \par
\{God said,\} “My people are foolish.\par They don’t know me.\par They are stupid children.\par They don’t understand.\par They are skillful at doing evil,\par but they don’t know how to do good.”\par
Even the birds in the sky\par know the right time to do things.\par The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes\par know when it is time to fly to a new home.\par But my people don’t know what the Lord wants them to do.\par
But I (Jeremiah) said to myself,\par “It must be only the poor people\par that are so foolish.\par Poor people have not learned\par the way of the Lord.\par Poor people don’t know\par the teachings of their God.\par
Those people don’t know what they are doing. They don’t understand! It is like their eyes are covered so they can’t see. Their hearts (minds) don’t try to understand.
Is that the way you should pay back the Lord {for all that he did for you? No!}
You are stupid, foolish people.
The Lord is your Father.
He made you.
He is your Creator.
He supports you.
There are things about God that people cannot see—his eternal power and all the things that make him God. But since the beginning of the world those things have been easy for people to understand. Those things are made clear in the things that God has made. So people have no excuse for the bad things they do.
Who can I speak to?\par Who can I warn?\par Who will listen to me?\par The people of Israel have closed their ears,\par so they can’t hear my warnings.\par The people don’t like the Lord’s teachings.\par They don’t want to hear his message.\par
You people of Israel were doing all these evil things”—This message is from the Lord!—“I spoke to you again and again, but you refused to listen to me. I called to you, but you did not answer.