⁴⁰ “God^[a] has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that they can neither see nor understand nor turn to me to heal them.” ⁴¹ Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he made this prediction, for he had seen a vision of the Messiah’s glory.

⁴² However, even many of the Jewish leaders believed him to be the Messiah but wouldn’t admit it to anyone because of their fear that the Pharisees would excommunicate them from the synagogue;