Skip to main content

For Him Who Has Ears to Hear

The phrase 'for him who has ears, let him listen' occurs frequently in the New Testament (Mat 11.15; 13;9 ... Rev 2.7... ). You will hear scholars say it is a Hebraism, but where is it from in the Old Testament? In Hebrew the phrase is actually in the negative:

אָזְנַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יַאֲזִינוּ 

'They have ears but do not listen.' Psalm 135.17

cf. Ezekiel 12.2*

 אָזְנַיִם לָהֶם לִשְׁמֹעַ וְלֹא שָׁמֵעוּ

'They have ears to hear but do not hear', which is even closer to the NT version. It's important to know that in Hebrew 'to hear' also means 'to listen, pay attention, obey' in Hebrew. So this phrase could be translated, 'They have ears to hear but they do not listen/obey.'

In Exodus 15.26 we find the word 'to hear/listen' repeated for emphasis:

אִם־שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמַע לְקוֹל יְהוָה

'If to listen you listen to the voice of the LORD.' This means 'if you listen carefully' or 'if you listen and obey' to the voice of the LORD.

The warning is to Israel, who have God's word, but do not obey it, just as believers today sometimes have God's word, but carry on with their lives as if nothing has actually gone into their consciences. 


*A similar phrase occurs in Isaiah 43.8:

וְחֵרְשִׁים וְאָזְנַיִם לָמוֹ

'They have ears but are deaf'.



Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous23 June 2021 at 05:36

    Would be great to hear you say more about the link between these OT texts in Hebrew, and Jesus' meaning in the NT.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Plea Regarding Footnotes in Bible Translation

Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and  As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Integral Mission vs. Holistic Mission - What's the Difference?

 A lot of people are talking about integral mission these days, whereas the idea of holistic mission seems to have fallen by the wayside. What's the difference? Holistic mission is mission to the whole person, taking into account their physical as well as spiritual needs. Evangelism is combined with social action. Unfortunately, this term has been used for some years now, and much mission that was labelled 'holistic' was mainly social action. Integral mission has more focus on communities and their felt needs. What issues of poverty and (lack of) justice are there? How can a given community begin to address these issues? What input do they need from outsiders as they do so? How can they define kingdom goals that will bring them out of their physical and spiritual poverty? Lausanne defines it here . The fact is that the neediest communities are often ones that lack the Bible, and lack a clear orthography (alphabet corresponding to the phonemic system of the language, and tha...
Post a Comment
Read more