12:40a–c

John 12:40 is a free (not exact) quotation of Isaiah 6:10. This verse is also quoted in Matthew 13:13–15, Mark 4:12, Luke 8:10, and Acts 28:26–27. The exact words of the quotation are not the same in each place, but the meaning is the same.

12:40a

He has blinded their eyes: It is implied that the pronoun He refers to God. However, in Isaiah, God commands Isaiah to do this. And the other quotations of this verse in the New Testament do not say that it was God. So it is good to not make clear who blinds (makes blind) their eyes. Just use a pronoun. For example:

Their eyes he had blinded

However, it was God’s will to blind their eyes, even if Isaiah did it. And John implies that it was God who acted. So if you have to identify who He refers to, you may mention God. For example:

The Lord has blinded the eyes of the people (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
God has blinded their eyes (Good News Translation)

has blinded their eyes: This phrase is a figure of speech, a metaphor. It means that the people were made unable to see or understand spiritual truth. So they could not understand the spiritual meaning of what Jesus did and said. See Deuteronomy 29:4.

This does not mean that the people wanted to see and God kept them from seeing. They are responsible for their not believing. But God’s purposes were fulfilled by their refusing to believe. There are several ways to translate this figure of speech:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

God blinded them (God’s Word)

• Translate it as a simile

It is like God made them blind

• Indicate some of the meaning. For example:

He has not enabled them to see ⌊spiritual things⌋

their eyes: The pronoun their refers to the Jewish people. You may want to use a noun instead of a pronoun here. For example:

the eyes of the people (Contemporary English Version)

hardened their hearts: This phrase is a figure of speech, another metaphor. The word hardened means “made hard,” so to harden one’s heart is to make it hard and stiff. It indicates that God confirmed the people in their wrong thinking so that they could not change. The meaning is similar to “has blinded their eyes.” He did not make them wise but rather allowed them to follow false and foolish thoughts. And so they could not understand who Christ was. There are several ways to translate this figure of speech:

• Keep the metaphor. For example:

hardened their hearts (New International Version)

• Translate it as a simile. For example:

It is like he has made their hearts hard.

• Indicate some of the meaning. For example:

dulled their mind (Revised English Bible)
-or-
closed their minds (Good News Translation)
-or-
made the people stubborn (Contemporary English Version)

Translate this figure of speech in a way that is natural and makes the meaning clear.

their hearts: The word hearts is a figurative way of referring to the center of one’s thoughts and emotions. In some languages it may be natural to refer to another body part. For example:

their minds (Good News Translation)

12:40b

so that they cannot see with their eyes: The words so that here introduce the effect or result of God’s judgment. God judged the people by blinding and hardening them, and this prevented them from seeing and understanding spiritual truth. God knew that this would happen and it was part of his judgment because they refused to believe. However, it was not what he wanted to happen. He preferred that the people repent so that he could heal them. But they refused to believe. Here are other ways to translate this clause:

so they can neither see with their eyes (New International Version)
-or-
so that their eyes don’t see (God’s Word)
-or-
so that their eyes cannot see (New Living Translation (2004))

In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. For example:

Otherwise they would see with their eyes (New Century Version)
-or-
The result is they will never see with their eyes… (TRT)

see with their eyes: This phrase continues the metaphor begun in 12:40a. Continue to translate it in the way you did there. For example:

their eyes cannot truly see
-or-
preventing them from truly seeing

understand with their hearts: This phrase here means to understand spiritual truth. John was referring to the fact that the people did not understand who Jesus was, that he was God’s Messiah. As in 12:40a, it may be natural to translate hearts as “mind.” For example:

their minds would not understand (Good News Translation)

their hearts: The word hearts refers to the center of thoughts and emotions. Translate it as you did in 12:40a, using either the singular or plural, whichever is most natural in your language.

General Comment on 12:40a–b

This verse contains an arrangement in poetry known as parallelism. In parallelism, the same idea is said twice, in different ways, in parallel lines (similar lines next to each other). Here a similar idea is said twice in 12:40a and another idea is said twice in 12:40b. However, in many languages it may be natural to change the arrangement of the clauses. For example:

40a–b He has blinded their eyes so that they might not see and hardened their minds/hearts so that they might not understand.

12:40c

and turn: These words refer to turning to God in faith. This was another result of God blinding the people’s eyes and hardening their hearts. If the people could see spiritually and truly understand, they would change their thinking and trust in Jesus the Messiah. They would ask God to forgive them. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:

turn to the Lord (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
turn to me, says God (Good News Translation)

I would heal them: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as heal here means “restore from sin and its consequences.” This clause indicates that God would certainly heal/restore the people if they turned to him in faith. He wanted to forgive them and make them whole. In some languages, the word heal only refers to physical healing from illnesses. In those languages, you may want to use another word here and perhaps say in a footnote that the word can mean “heal.” For example:

I would restore them
-or-
I will heal/save them (TRT)

General Comment on 12:40

In this verse the pronoun referring to God changes from “He” in 12:40a to “I” in 12:40c. If this confuses your readers, it may be necessary to make it explicit that God is speaking in 12:40c. For example:

and they would not turn to me, says God, for me to heal them (Good News Translation)

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