en_tn/act/28/26.md

# General Information:

Paul begins to quote the prophet Isaiah.

# He said, 'Go to this people and say, "By hearing you will hear, but you will not understand; and by seeing you will see, but you will not perceive

This is the end of the sentence that begins with the words "The Holy Spirit spoke" in verse 25 and that contains quotations within quotations. You can translate one of the inner quotations as an indirect quotation, or you can translate two of the inner quotations as indirect quotations. "The Holy Spirit spoke well through Isaiah the prophet to your forefathers when the Spirit told Isaiah to go tell them that they will hear but will not understand and they will see but they will not perceive" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-quotesinquotes]])

# By hearing you will hear ... by seeing you will see

The words "hear" and "see" are repeated for emphasis. "You will listen carefully ... you will look intently"

# but you will not understand ... but you will not perceive

Both of these phrases mean basically the same thing. They emphasize that the Jewish people will not understand God's plan. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism]])