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38 [a]in order that the word which Isaiah the prophet spoke might be fulfilled:

“Lord, who has believed our preaching,
    to whom has the might of the Lord been revealed?”(A)

39 For this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said:

40 “He blinded their eyes
    and hardened their heart,
so that they might not see with their eyes
    and understand with their heart and be converted,
and I would heal them.”(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 12:38–41 John gives a historical explanation of the disbelief of the Jewish people, not a psychological one. The Old Testament had to be fulfilled; the disbelief that met Isaiah’s message was a foreshadowing of the disbelief that Jesus encountered. In Jn 12:42 and also in Jn 3:20 we see that there is no negation of freedom.