Acts 28:26 - Exposition

Go thou for go, A.V.; by hearing for hearing, A.V.; in no wise for not, A.V.; shall in no wise for not, A.V. Go thou , etc. The quotation is all but verbatim from the LXX . of Isaiah 6:9 , Isaiah 6:10 . This particular chapter was evidently deemed one of great importance, since our Lord quotes from it ( Matthew 13:14 , Matthew 13:15 ), and St. John ( John 12:37-41 ), as well as St. Paul in the passage before us. By hearing ( ἀκοῇ ). Why the LXX . translated עַוֹמשָׁ by the substantive ( ἀκοῇ ) instead of by the participle ( ἀκούοντες ) , as in the precisely similar phrase which follows— βλέποντες βλέψατε —does not appear. The Hebrew reads, as it is rendered in the A.V.," Hear ye,… and see ye," etc., in the imperative mood, not differing much in sense (in prophetical language) from the future. It is impossible to give the force in English exactly of the repetition of the verb in the infinitive mood עַוֹמשָׁ וּעמְשְׁ , and וֹארָ וּארְ by a very common Hebrew idiom. It is done imperfectly by the word "indeed." Rosenmuller quotes from Demosthenes ('Contr. Aristogit.,' 1.) the proverbial saying, ὁρώντας μὴ ὁρᾳν καὶ ἀκούονσας μὴ ἀκούειν