Matthew 13:13-14

13:13 For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand. 13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully ¹  yet will never understand,

you will look closely ²  yet will never comprehend.

Matthew 15:17

15:17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer? ³ 

Matthew 16:9

16:9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

Matthew 16:11

16:11 How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

Matthew 24:15

The Abomination of Desolation

24:15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation ⁴  – spoken about by Daniel the prophet – standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

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¹ tn Grk “with hearing,” a cognate dative that intensifies the action of the main verb “you will listen” (ExSyn 168-69).

² tn Grk “look by looking.” The participle is redundant, functioning to intensify the force of the main verb.

³ tn Or “into the latrine.”

⁴ sn The reference to the abomination of desolation is an allusion to Dan 9:27. Though some have seen the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy in the actions of Antiochus IV (or a representative of his) in 167 b.c., the words of Jesus seem to indicate that Antiochus was not the final fulfillment, but that there was (from Jesus’ perspective) still another fulfillment yet to come. Some argue that this was realized in a.d. 70, while others claim that it refers specifically to Antichrist and will not be fully realized until the period of the great tribulation at the end of the age (cf. Mark 13:14, 19, 24; Rev 3:10).