The Lord said, ‘Will any of you trick King Ahab? I want him to go and fight against the army of Aram at Ramoth. Then he will be killed.’ The angels did not agree about what they should do.
John 12:40 - Easy To Read Version “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 Tuilleadh leaganachaKing James Version (Oxford) 1769 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; That they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, And be converted, And I should heal them. Amplified Bible - Classic Edition He has blinded their eyes and hardened and benumbed their [callous, degenerated] hearts [He has made their minds dull], to keep them from seeing with their eyes and understanding with their hearts and minds and repenting and turning to Me to heal them. American Standard Version (1901) He hath blinded their eyes, and he hardened their heart; Lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, And should turn, And I should heal them. Common English Bible He made their eyes blind and closed their minds so that they might not see with their eyes, understand with their minds, and turn their lives around— and I would heal them. Catholic Public Domain Version "He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, so that they may not see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and be converted: and then I would heal them." Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. |
The Lord said, ‘Will any of you trick King Ahab? I want him to go and fight against the army of Aram at Ramoth. Then he will be killed.’ The angels did not agree about what they should do.
I said, “Lord, be kind to me.\par I sinned against you,\par but forgive me and make me well.”\par
Lord, be kind to me.\par I am sick and weak.\par Heal me!\par My bones are shaking.\par
The Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. I have made him and his officials stubborn. I did this so I could show them my powerful miracles.
That is why Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of Pharaoh. And that is why the Lord made Pharaoh so stubborn that he would not let the people of Israel leave his country.
I have made the Egyptians brave, so they will chase you. But I will show you that I am more powerful than Pharaoh and all of his horses and chariots.
I will make Pharaoh brave, and he will chase you. But I will defeat Pharaoh and his army. This will bring honor to me. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” The people of Israel obeyed God—they did what he told them.
The people of Israel were leaving with their arms raised in victory. But the Lord caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to become brave. And Pharaoh chased the people of Israel.
While Moses was traveling back to Egypt, God spoke to him. God said, “When you talk to Pharaoh remember to show him all the miracles that I have given you the power to do. But I will cause Pharaoh to be very stubborn. He will not let the people go.
Pharaoh still refused to let the people go. This happened just like the Lord said it would. The king refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
But I will make Pharaoh stubborn. {He will not obey the things you tell him.} Then I will do many miracles in Egypt to prove who I am. But he will still refuse to listen.
But the Lord made Pharaoh stubborn. So Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron. This happened just like the Lord had said.
But Lord, get ready to punish those people.\par Surely they will see it, won’t they?\par Lord, show the evil people the strong love {\cf2\super [241]} \par that you have for your people.\par Surely the evil people will be ashamed.\par Surely your enemies will be burned\par in their own fire (evil).\par
The Lord will make you sleepy.\par The Lord will close your eyes.\par (The prophets are your eyes.)\par The Lord will cover your heads.\par (The prophets are your heads.)\par
But he was given pain to suffer for the wrong things we did. He was crushed for our guilt. A debt we owed—our punishment—was given to him. We were healed (forgiven) because of his pain.
Confuse the people. Make the people not able to understand the things they hear and see. If you don’t do this, then people might really understand the things they hear with their ears. The people might really understand in their minds. If they did this, then the people might come back to me and be healed (forgiven)!”
Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people: ‘Listen closely, but don’t understand! Look closely, but don’t learn!’
\{The Lord also said,\}\par “People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me.\par But come back to me!\par Come back and I will forgive {\cf2\super [19]} you\par for being unfaithful to me.”\par
Hear this message.\par You foolish people have no sense:\par ‘You have eyes, but you don’t see!\par You have ears, but you don’t listen!’\par
“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.
And if a prophet is foolish enough to give his own answer, then I will show him how foolish he is! I will use my power against him. I will destroy him and remove him from among my people, Israel.
The Lord says,\par “I will forgive them for leaving me.\par I will love them freely,\par because I have stopped being angry.\par
“Come, let’s go back to the Lord.\par He hurt us, but he will heal us.\par He wounded us,\par but he will put bandages on us.\par
Stay away from the Pharisees. {\cf2\super [208]} They lead the people, but they are like blind men leading other blind men. And if a blind man leads another blind man, then both men will fall into a hole.”
They still didn’t understand \{his power\}. It was like the miracle he did with the bread. They still didn’t understand what that meant.
“The Spirit of the Lord (God) has come to me.\par God chose me to tell good news to people\par that are poor.\par God sent me to tell people who are\par prisoners that they are free,\par and to tell the blind people\par that they can see again.\par God sent me to free the weak people\par from their suffering\par
Jesus said, “You have been chosen to know the secrets of the kingdom of God. But I use stories to speak to other people. I do this so that:
Jesus said, “I came into this world so that the world could be judged. I came so that blind people {\cf2\super [161]} could see. And I came so that people who think they see will become blind.”
The church helped the men leave on the trip. These men went through the countries of Phoenicia and Samaria. In these countries they told all about how the non-Jewish people had turned to the true God. This made all the brothers very happy.
‘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
So you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God and he will forgive your sins.
So God shows mercy to the people he wants to show mercy to. And God makes the people stubborn that he wants to make stubborn.
But even today you still don’t understand what happened. The Lord has not let you really understand what you saw and heard.
The Lord wanted those people to think they were strong. Then they would fight against Israel. This way he could destroy them without mercy. He could destroy them the way the Lord had commanded Moses to do.