Ezekiel 12:2

Having eyes, don’t you see? Having ears, don’t you hear? Don’t you remember?

in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

He said, “Go, and tell this people, ‘You hear indeed, but don’t understand. You see indeed, but don’t perceive.’

They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand.

He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,

that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

“For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”

But about Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

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

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”

At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.

Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”

Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.

But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

the mystery which has been hidden for ages and generations. But now it has been revealed to his saints,

in gentleness correcting those who oppose him: perhaps God may give them repentance leading to a full knowledge of the truth,

“You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the words of the righteous.

Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.

He plots iniquity on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He doesn’t abhor evil.

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their hearts, that they might walk in their own counsels.

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I won’t be disappointed.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

You, son of man, don’t be afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you, and you dwell among scorpions. Don’t be afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.

who say, ‘The time is not near to build houses. This is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’

“Son of man, hasn’t the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’

“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! They say of me, ‘Isn’t he a speaker of parables?’ ”

Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.

saying, ‘Go to this people and say, in hearing, you will hear, but will in no way understand. In seeing, you will see, but will in no way perceive.

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Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

You, being in past times alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil deeds,

that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,

and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Know therefore that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness.

The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.

The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Yahweh has made even both of them.

Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.”

Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed Yahweh our God’s voice.”

They are all grievous rebels, going around to slander. They are bronze and iron. All of them deal corruptly.

I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they will not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says Yahweh.

“The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; and to this day they drink none, for they obey their father’s commandment; but I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and you have not listened to me.

Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;

“ ‘ “Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood.

The people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?”

“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels.

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:

Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.

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, to this very day.”

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!

Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Who is blind, but my servant? Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is as blind as he who is at peace, and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?

‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear:

He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.

that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’ ”

He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’

“He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with their heart, and would turn, and I would heal them.”

Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.

You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.

But Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?

“Woe to the rebellious children”, says Yahweh, “who take counsel, but not from me; and who make an alliance, but not with my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin,

For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children who will not hear Yahweh’s law;

I have spread out my hands all day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

As keepers of a field, they are against her all around, because she has been rebellious against me,’ ” says Yahweh.

“But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone.

I have made your forehead as a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon.

Utter a parable to the rebellious house, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says, “Put the cauldron on the fire. Put it on, and also pour water into it.

You shall tell the rebellious, even the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “You house of Israel, let that be enough of all your abominations,

But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.

being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts.