unfoldingWord_en_tn/mat/13/13.md

# General Information:

In verse 14, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah to show that the people's failure to understand Jesus' teaching is a fulfillment of prophecy.

# Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues to explain to his disciples why he teaches in parables.

# to them ... they

All occurrences of "them" and "they" refer to the people in the crowd.

# Though they are seeing, they do not see; and though they are hearing, they do not hear, or understand.

Jesus uses this parallelism to tell and emphasize to the disciples that the crowd refuses to understand God's truth. (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-parallelism]])

# Though they are seeing

Possible meanings are 1) this refers to them seeing what Jesus does. Alternate translation: "Though they see what I do" or 2) this refers to their ability to see. Alternate translation: "Though they are able to see"

# they do not see

Here "see" represents understanding. Alternate translation: "they do not understand" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])

# though they are hearing

Possible meanings are 1) this refers to them hearing what Jesus teaches. Alternate translation: "Though they hear what I say" or 2) this refers to their ability to hear. Alternate translation: "Though they are able to hear"

# they do not hear

Here "hear" represents listening well. Alternate translation: "they do not listen well" or "they do not pay attention" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metaphor]])