Acts 28:26
What does Acts 28:26 mean?
A plain-English look at Acts 28:26 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Acts 28:26 means
Paul quotes Isaiah: “Go to this people and say, By hearing you will hear and not understand; by seeing you will see and not perceive.” The words describe a judicial blindness—truth is presented, yet stubbornness prevents real grasp. This is not mere intellectual difficulty but a spiritual condition. The gospel’s light shines, but hardened hearts misread or ignore it. The quote serves as a mirror for Paul’s audience, inviting sober self-examination. It also signals that rejection of Jesus fulfills Scripture, not because God delights in hardness, but because persistent refusal of God’s Word leads to deeper inability to receive it apart from repentance.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000saying, Go thou unto this people, and say, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:
KJV
King James Version · 1611Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901saying, Go thou unto this people, and say, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive:
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Go to this people and say, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862saying, Go on unto this people and say, With hearing ye shall hear, and ye shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and ye shall not perceive,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Saying: Go to this people and say to them: With the ear you shall hear and shall not understand: and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890saying, Go to this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear and not understand, and seeing ye shall see and not perceive.
Context
Having announced that the Holy Spirit spoke through Isaiah (v. 25), Paul begins the quotation in verse 26, describing hearing without understanding and seeing without perceiving. The next verse (v. 27) expands on the heart’s dullness and the closed eyes and ears, and it includes the gracious alternative—if they turned, God would heal them. This prepares for the climactic declaration in verse 28 about salvation going to the Gentiles.
v.25And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Spirit through Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers,
v.26This passage
v.27For this people’s heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, And I should heal them.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Luke 24:25
And he said unto them, O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
- Ezekiel 12:2
Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of the rebellious house, that have eyes to see, and see not, that have ears to hear, and hear not; for they are a rebellious house.
- Isaiah 6:9
And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4
in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.
- Luke 24:45
Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures;
- John 12:38
that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?
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