Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, “Speak to your servants in Aramaic, ¹  for we understand it. Don’t speak with us in the Judahite dialect ²  in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider ¹  and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me. ² 

So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. ¹  Then he said to me, “Understand, son of man, ²  that the vision pertains to the time of the end.”

his form was so marred he no longer looked human ¹  – so now ²  he will startle ³  many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, ⁴  for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.

But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, ¹  so that you may come to know ²  and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

So when Jesus ¹  had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table ²  again and said to them, “Do you understand ³  what I have done for you?

Wealthy people do not understand; ¹  they are like animals ²  that perish. ³ 

So ¹  with many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear.

But to this very day the Lord has not given you an understanding mind, perceptive eyes, or discerning ears! ¹ 

God looks down from heaven ¹  at the human race, ²  to see if there is anyone who is wise ³  and seeks God. ⁴ 

I said, ¹  “Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? ²  Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? ³  Why does the land lie in ruins? Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?”

So know and understand: From the issuing of the command ¹  to restore and rebuild Jerusalem ²  until an anointed one, a prince arrives, ³  there will be a period of seven weeks ⁴  and sixty-two weeks. It will again be built, ⁵  with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ ¹ 

He said to them, “Are you so foolish? Don’t you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?

For the heart of this people has become dull, ¹  and their ears are hard of hearing, ²  and they have closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, ³  and I would heal them.”’ ⁴ 

senseless, covenant-breakers, ¹  heartless, ruthless.

It is the same for you. If you do not speak clearly with your tongue, how will anyone know what is being said? For you will be speaking into the air.

Above all, understand this: ¹  In the last days blatant scoffers ²  will come, being propelled by their own evil urges ³ 

speaking of these things in all his letters. ¹  Some things in these letters ²  are hard to understand, things ³  the ignorant and unstable twist ⁴  to their own destruction, as they also do to the rest of the scriptures. ⁵ 

(Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.) ¹