Israel's Failure to Hear and See

Isaiah 42

¹⁸ Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
¹⁹ Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one, ₁
or blind as the servant of the Lord?
²⁰ _h He sees many things, but does not observe them;
_i his ears are open, but he does not hear.
²¹ The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
²² But this is a people plundered and looted;
they are all of them trapped in holes
_j and hidden in prisons;
they have become plunder with none to rescue,
spoil with none to say, "Restore!"
²³ Who among you will give ear to this,
will attend and listen for the time to come?
²⁴ Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
in whose ways they would not walk,
and whose law they would not obey?
²⁵ So he poured on him the heat of his anger
and the might of battle;
it set him on fire all around, _k but he did not understand;
it burned him up, _l but he did not take it to heart.

1. Cross References
   Romans 2:21 - 23
   You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?
   
2. Cross References
   Jeremiah 6:10
   To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it.
   
3. Cross References
   Isaiah 14:17
   Who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?
   
4. Cross References
   Isaiah 47:11
   But evil shall come upon you, which you will not know how to charm away; disaster shall fall upon you, for which you will not be able to atone; and ruin shall come upon you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
   Hosea 7:9
   Strangers devour his strength, and he knows it not; gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, and he knows it not.
   
5. Cross References
   Isaiah 57:1
   The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity.
   Isaiah 57:11
   Whom did you dread and fear, so that you lied, and did not remember me, did not lay it to heart? Have I not held my peace, even for a long time, and you do not fear me?