Isaiah 6:10

Old Testament Major Prophet ASV (1901)

What does Isaiah 6:10 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.
Isaiah 6:10 — American Standard Version

Context — Isaiah 6

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they sea with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“Make the heart of this people fat, &c.] Gross and heavy, stupid and unteachable, hard and obdurate; which is sometimes done by the preaching of the Gospel, through the wickedness of man’s heart, that being the savour of death unto death to some, just as the sun hardens the clay; or declare that their hearts are thus gross and stupid; or that I will give them up to a judicial hardness of heart: and make their ears heavy: that they cannot hear the word, so as to understand it; they having stopped the ear, and plucked away the shoulder, it is in righteous judgment that they are given up to such an insensibility as not to be capable of hearing and understanding what is delivered in the ministry…”
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Jamieson, Fausset & Brown
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Make . . . fat-- (Psa 119:17). "Render them the more hardened by thy warnings" [MAURER]. This effect is the fruit, not of the truth in itself, but of the corrupt state of their hearts, to which God here judicially gives them over (Isa 63:17). GESENIUS takes the imperatives as futures. "Proclaim truths, the result of which proclamation will be their becoming the more hardened" (Rom 1:28; Eph 4:18); but this does not so well as the former set forth God as designedly giving up sinners to judicial hardening (Rom 11:8; Th2 2:11). In the first member of the sentence, the order is, the heart, ears, eyes; in the latter, the reverse order, the eyes, ears, heart. It is from the heart that corruption…”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“Make the heart - The word “heart” here is used in the sense of the “mind” - to denote all their mental powers. It is commonly used in this sense in the Scriptures. Fat - Gross, heavy, dull, stupid. That is, go and proclaim such “truth” to them as shall have this effect - as shall irritate, provoke, enrage them; truth, whose delivery shall be attended, in their gross and corrupt hearts, with this blinding and infatuating influence the effect would be produced by the corrupt state of their hearts, not by any native tendency of the truth, and still less by any direct divine influence. ‘Go, and proclaim truth to a corrupt and sensual people, and the result will be that they will not hear; they…”
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Wesley's Explanatory Notes
John Wesley (1703–1791) · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Old Testament notes · 18th-century historical commentary
“Fat - Stupid and senseless. This making of their hearts fat, is here ascribed to the prophet, as it is ascribed to God in the repetition of this prophecy, Joh 12:40, because God inflicted this judgment upon them by the ministry of the prophet, partly by way of prediction, foretelling that this would be the effect of his preaching; and partly by withdrawing the light and help of his Spirit. Heavy - Make them dull of hearing. Lest - That they may not be able, as before they were not willing to see. Convert - Turn to God. Isaiah 6:11”
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Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Tyndale Open Study Notes · Modern study notes
“6:10 Isaiah was God’s agent to stimulate blindness and deafness in the wicked and sight and hearing in the godly (see also 29:9-10, 18; 35:5; 42:7, 16-19; 43:8; 56:10; 59:10). • turn to me for healing: The Lord was ready to heal those who truly repented, but not those who merely wanted to avoid judgment while holding on to their sinful ways.”
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Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge
R. A. Torrey and contributors · The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge · Cross-reference reference work
“the heart: Isa 29:10, Isa 63:17; Exo 7:3, Exo 10:27, Exo 11:10, Exo 14:17; Deu 2:30; Eze 3:6-11; Co2 2:16 fat: Deu 32:15; Psa 17:10 ears heavy: Jer 6:10; Zac 7:11 lest: Jer 5:21; Joh 3:19, Joh 3:20; Act 3:19, Act 28:27 convert: Isa 19:22; Mat 13:15 Isaiah 6:11”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification