Isaiah 32:3

Good News Translation

Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Hebrew Names Version
The eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall listen.

King James Version
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

English Standard Version
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.

New American Standard Bible
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen.

New Century Version
People will look to the king for help, and they will truly listen to what he says.

Amplified Bible
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen attentively.

World English Bible
The eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall listen.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The eyes of the seeing shal not be shut, and the eares of them that heare, shall hearken.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,And the ears of those who hear will pay attention.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Contemporary English Version
Then everyone who has eyes will open them and see, and those who have ears will pay attention.

Complete Jewish Bible
The eyes of those seeing will not be closed, the ears of those hearing will pay close attention.

Darby Translation
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken;

Easy-to-Read Version
Then people would actually see what they look at. They would actually listen to what they hear.

George Lamsa Translation
And the eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall hearken.

Lexham English Bible
And the eyes of those who see will not gaze, and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Literal Translation
And the eyes of those that see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall listen.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The eyes of the seinge shall not be dymme, and the eares of them that heare, shal take diliget hede.

American Standard Version
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

Bible in Basic English
And the eyes of those who see will not be shut, and those who have hearing will give ear to the word.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the eyes of them that see shall not be closed, and the ears of them that hear shall attend.

King James Version (1611)
And the eyes of them that see, shall not be dimme; and the eares of them that heare, shall hearken.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The eyes of the seeing shall not be dim, and the eares of them that heare shall take diligent heede.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they shall no more trust in men, but they shall incline their ears to hear.

English Revised Version
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The iyen of profetis schulen not dasewe, and the eeris of heereris schulen herke diligentli;

Update Bible Version
And the eyes of those that see shall not be dim, and the ears of those that hear shall listen.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken.

New English Translation
Eyes will no longer be blind and ears will be attentive.

New King James Version
The eyes of those who see will not be dim, And the ears of those who hear will listen.

New Living Translation
Then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth, and everyone who has ears will be able to hear it.

New Life Bible
Then the eyes of those who see will be able to see. And the ears of those who hear will listen.

New Revised Standard
Then the eyes of those who have sight will not be closed, and the ears of those who have hearing will listen.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And the eyes of them who are ready to see, shall not be closed, - And, the ears of them who are ready to hear, shall hearken;

Douay-Rheims Bible
The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently.

Revised Standard Version
Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will hearken.

Young's Literal Translation
And not dazzled are the eyes of beholders, And the ears of hearers do attend.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded, And the ears of those who hear will listen.

Contextual Overview

¹ Some day there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national leaders who govern with justice. ² Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a giant rock in a barren land. ³ Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people. ⁴ They will not be impatient any longer, but they will act with understanding and will say what they mean. ⁵ No one will think that a fool is honorable or say that a scoundrel is honest. ⁶ A fool speaks foolishly and thinks up evil things to do. What he does and what he says are an insult to the Lord , and he never feeds the hungry or gives thirsty people anything to drink. ⁷ A stupid person is evil and does evil things; he plots to ruin the poor with lies and to keep them from getting their rights. ⁸ But an honorable person acts honestly and stands firm for what is right.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 29:18, Isaiah 29:24, Isaiah 30:26, Isaiah 35:5, Isaiah 35:6, Isaiah 54:13, Isaiah 60:1, Isaiah 60:2, Jeremiah 31:34, Matthew 13:11, Mark 7:37, Mark 8:22-25, Acts 26:18, 2 Corinthians 4:6, 1 John 2:20, 1 John 2:21

Reciprocal: Psalms 72:7 - In his days Psalms 119:18 - Open Isaiah 42:16 - I will bring Daniel 11:33 - understand Daniel 12:4 - many Matthew 12:22 - blind Mark 7:35 - General Mark 8:24 - I see Luke 4:18 - and Luke 7:22 - how John 9:7 - and came Ephesians 1:18 - eyes

Cross-References

Genesis 14:6
and the Horites in the mountains of Edom, pursuing them as far as Elparan on the edge of the desert.

Genesis 25:30
and said to Jacob, "I'm starving; give me some of that red stuff." (That is why he was named Edom.)

Genesis 32:6
When the messengers came back to Jacob, they said, "We went to your brother Esau, and he is already on his way to meet you. He has four hundred men with him."

Genesis 32:9
Then Jacob prayed, "God of my grandfather Abraham and God of my father Isaac, hear me! You told me, Lord , to go back to my land and to my relatives, and you would make everything go well for me.

Genesis 32:31
The sun rose as Jacob was leaving Peniel, and he was limping because of his hip.

Genesis 32:32
Even today the descendants of Israel do not eat the muscle which is on the hip joint, because it was on this muscle that Jacob was hit.

Genesis 33:14
Please go on ahead of me, and I will follow slowly, going as fast as I can with the livestock and the children until I catch up with you in Edom."

Genesis 33:16
So that day Esau started on his way back to Edom.

Deuteronomy 2:5
but you must not start a war with them, because I am not going to give you so much as a square foot of their land. I have given Edom to Esau's descendants.

Deuteronomy 2:22
The Lord had done the same thing for the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, who live in the hill country of Edom. He destroyed the Horites, so that the Edomites took over their land and settled there, where they still live.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim,.... Not of the seers and prophets, or ministers of the word only, but of the righteous in general, as the Targum; even all such as are illuminated by the Spirit of God, who shall have a clear discerning of Gospel truths, behold with open face, with eyes unveiled, the glory of them, and of Christ in them, and not have their eyes covered, or such a dim obscure knowledge of them as under the law; and not only the watchmen shall see, eye to eye, all truths clearly and distinctly, but even all, from the least to the greatest, shall know the Lord, and the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of him, as the waters cover the sea. It is a prophecy of the great increase of spiritual light in the times of the Messiah:

and the ears of them that hear shall hearken: very diligently and attentively to the word preached, and receive and embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, and submit to, and obey, the ordinances of it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the eyes of them that see ... - The sense of this verse is, that there shall be, under the reign of this wise and pious prince, on the part of the prophets and teachers, a clear view of divine truth, and on the part of the people who hear, a disposition to hearken and to attend to it. The phrase ‘of them that see,’ refers probably to the prophets, as those who were called seers (see the notes at Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 30:10; compare 1 Samuel 9:9), or those who had visions (see the note at Isaiah 1:1) of the things that God would communicate to people. The word rendered ‘be dim’ (תשׁעינה tish^e‛eynâh), is derived from שׁעה shâ‛âh, which usually signifies “to see, to look,” but it also has a meaning similar to שׁעע shâ‛a‛, “to spread over, to close, to make blind.” Of this fact Lowth seems not to have been aware when he proposed, without the authority of any MS., to change the text. The sense is, that those who were prophets and religious teachers should no more see obscurely, but should have clear and just views of divine truth.

And the ears of them that hear - Of the people who were instructed by their religious teachers.

Shall hearken - It shall be a characteristic of those times that they shall be disposed to attend to the truth of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Isaiah 32:3. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim - "And him the eyes of those that see shall regard"] For ולא velo, and not, Le Clerc reads ולו velo, and to him, of which mistake the Masoretes acknowledge there are fifteen instances; and many more are reckoned by others. The removal of the negative restores to the verb its true and usual sense.