Later text
For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Intertextuality Pair
Quotation
Later text
For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
Earlier text
Isaiah 6:10BSB
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed."
Earlier text
Isaiah 6:9BSB
And He replied: "Go and tell this people, 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'
Second Isaiah quotation, paired with 12:38 via gezerah shavah (shared vocabulary: "glory," "exalt"). Both passages share obduracy motif. Independent adaptation of LXX/MT: omits "hearing"; changes concentric structure to parallel; focuses on sight (because of "signs" in 12:37). God's judicial hardening ultimately behind Jewish rejection—not just human choice. Theodicy: God's righteousness vindicated. Pattern extends back to exodus (Deuteronomy 29:2-4: Israel saw signs but God didn't give understanding).
▸ Hearing They Do Not Understand
NT Use Pattern: Ironic / Inverted — John quotes Isaiah 6:10 to explain Jewish unbelief in Jesus — the hardening commission turned inward on the covenant people.