Mikha 3:6

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ² 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ³ 

Zakharia 11:15-17

11:15 Again the Lord said to me, “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ⁴  11:16 Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ⁵  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ⁶  and tear off their hooves.

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd

who abandons the flock!

May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye!

May his arm wither completely away,

and his right eye become completely blind!”

Matius 13:14-15

13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully ⁷  yet will never understand,

you will look closely ⁸  yet will never comprehend.

13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;

they are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’ ⁹ 

Yohanes 8:43

8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept ¹⁰  my teaching. ¹¹ 

Yohanes 8:2

8:2 Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach ¹²  them.

Kolose 4:4

4:4 Pray that I may make it known as I should. ¹³ 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.

[3:6]  ³ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[11:15]  ⁴ sn The grammar (e.g., the incipient participle מֵקִים, maqim, “about to raise up,” v. 16) and overall sense of vv. 15-17 give the incident a future orientation. Zechariah once more is role-playing but this time he is a “foolish” shepherd, i.e., one who does not know God and who is opposed to him (cf. Prov 1:7; 15:5; 20:3; 27:22). The individual who best represents this eschatological enemy of God and his people is the Antichrist (cf. Matt 24:5, 24; 2 Thess 2:3-4; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7).

[11:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the broken” (so KJV, NASB; NRSV “the maimed”).

[11:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “the fat [ones].” Cf. ASV “the fat sheep”; NIV “the choice sheep.”

[13:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “with hearing,” a cognate dative that intensifies the action of the main verb “you will listen” (ExSyn 168-69).

[13:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “look by looking.” The participle is redundant, functioning to intensify the force of the main verb.

[13:15]  ⁹ sn A quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Thus parables both conceal or reveal depending on whether one is open to hearing what they teach.

[8:43]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “you cannot hear,” but this is not a reference to deafness, but rather hearing in the sense of listening to something and responding to it.

[8:43]  ¹¹ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:2]  ¹² tn An ingressive sense for the imperfect fits well here following the aorist participle.

[4:4]  ¹³ tn The phrase begins with the ἵνα (Jina) clause and is subordinate to the imperative προσκαρτερεῖτε (proskartereite) in v. 2. The reference to the idea that Paul must make it known indicates that this clause is probably best viewed as purpose and not content, like the ἵνα of v. 3. It is the second purpose stated in the context; the first is expressed through the infinitive λαλῆσαι (lalhsai) in v. 3. The term “pray” at the beginning of the sentence is intended to pick up the imperative of v. 3.