Devine Scripture

Mark 8:18

What does Mark 8:18 mean?

A plain-English look at Mark 8:18 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Mark 8:18 means

Jesus continued to challenge His disciples' spiritual blindness with rhetorical questions: "Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?" These questions are not about physical senses, but about their spiritual perception and memory. Despite witnessing His miracles and hearing His teachings, they remained slow to truly see His identity and understand His power, suggesting a deeper issue of spiritual comprehension.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

Having eyes, do you not see? and having ears, have you no hearing? and have you no memory?

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Having eyes, do ye not see? and having ears, do ye not hear? and do ye not remember?

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

Having eyes, see you not? And having ears, hear you not? Neither do you remember?

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

Context

These rhetorical questions build upon Jesus' previous challenge to the disciples' hardened hearts. They directly follow His perception of their misunderstanding about the bread, serving to further expose their spiritual dullness and setting the stage for Him to explicitly remind them of His two recent feeding miracles.

v.17And Jesus perceiving it saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened?

v.18This passage

v.19When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Isaiah 42:18

    Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

  • Psalms 69:23

    Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; And make their loins continually to shake.

  • Romans 11:8

    according as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day.

  • 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.

  • Acts 28:26

    saying, 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:

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