Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

ISAIAH 6:10KJV
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Isaiah 6:10 (KJV)

What does Isaiah 6:10 mean?

Isaiah 6:10 describes God instructing Isaiah to deliver a message that will make the people spiritually unresponsive: their hearts will grow dull, their ears will become hard of hearing, and their eyes will be closed, so they will not understand, turn back, and be healed. This verse shows a warning that the people’s continued refusal to listen will lead to their inability to respond to God’s message.

In this passage, God is speaking to Isaiah during his prophetic calling, telling him that the people of Judah will resist the message Isaiah brings. The language paints a picture of people who have become so stubborn and set in their ways that they can no longer perceive or accept God’s truth. The verse highlights the seriousness of ignoring God’s warnings and the tragic result of persistent spiritual hardness.

The Hebrew behind Isaiah 6:10

  • "heart" (לֵבָב, levav; H3820): This word refers to the inner self or will. Here, it is described as becoming "fat," meaning insensitive or unresponsive, not just emotionally but in the ability to choose rightly.
  • "fat" (שָׁמֵן, shamen; H8080): The idea is not physical fatness but dullness or callousness. A "fat" heart is one that cannot feel or respond, emphasizing spiritual numbness.
  • "heavy" (כָּבֵד, kaved; H3513): Used for the ears, this word means weighed down or unable to function properly, suggesting that the people will not be able to truly hear or take in God’s message.
  • "shut" (שָׁעַע, sha'a; H8173): This verb means to smear over or close, used here for the eyes. It gives the sense of eyes being deliberately closed off from seeing the truth.

Why Isaiah 6:10 matters

  • Isaiah 6:10 clarifies that God’s message can be resisted to the point where people become unable to respond, not because God is unwilling to heal, but because of their persistent refusal.
  • The verse helps explain why Isaiah’s preaching would not lead to immediate repentance: the people’s hearts were already hardened, and his message would further expose this.
  • This verse is quoted several times in the New Testament to explain why some people do not accept Jesus’ message, showing its lasting significance in understanding spiritual blindness and resistance.

Where else these words appear

“fat” Hebrew H8080 · used in 4 verses

  • Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
  • Nehemiah 9:25 And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.
  • Jeremiah 5:28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

“shut” Hebrew H8173 · used in 8 verses

  • Psalms 94:19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.
  • Psalms 119:47 And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.
  • Isaiah 11:8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

“healed” Hebrew H7495 · used in 62 verses

  • Genesis 20:17 So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children.
  • 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
  • Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

“heavy” Hebrew H3513 · used in 109 verses

  • Genesis 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
  • 2 Samuel 6:22 And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.
  • Proverbs 8:24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.