Isaiah 44:18

WEB

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

KJV

They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.

Commentary

They have not known nor understood,.... Who the true God is, nor the worship that is due to him alone; they do not know nor understand divine and spiritual things; nay, they have not the knowledge and understanding of men; they want common sense that c an do and say such things as before mentioned, both idol makers and idol worshippers: for he hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and their heart that they cannot understand; either the devil, as some think, the god of this world, that blinds their eyes from seeing the folly of such gross idolatry, which he, deceiving them, leads them into; or rather God himself, who, because they like not to retain him in their knowledge, gives them up to a reprobate and injudicious mind, to believe a lie, and worship a false god; this he permits, orders, and overrules to some good ends and purposes: this is to be understood of the eyes of the understanding, which, as the word (i) signifies, are "daubed" and plastered over, that there is no opening of them, and seeing with them; which is the judicial blindness and hardness of heart, which God sometimes in righteous judgment gives up men unto; see Rom 1:28 . (i) "oblevit oculos eorum", Montanus; "obleverit", Cocceius; "quod sculptile oblinat", Piscator.