Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed.” ¹ 

They will be imprisoned in a pit, ¹  locked up in a prison, and after staying there for a long time, ²  they will be punished. ³ 

They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern. ¹ 

I ¹  said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning, ²  until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. ³  Position residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their guard stations and some near their homes.”

When the evening shadows ¹  began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered ²  the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned ³  some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.

“I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ¹  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered ¹  him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates.” ² 

This is what the Lord says to his chosen ¹  one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold ²  in order to subdue nations before him, and disarm kings, ³  to open doors before him, so gates remain unclosed:

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 woe to you, experts in the law ¹  and you Pharisees, hypocrites! ²  You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! ³  For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in. ⁴ 

Then David went to his palace ¹  in Jerusalem. The king took the ten concubines he had left to care for the palace and placed them under confinement. ²  Though he provided for their needs, he did not have sexual relations with them. ³  They remained in confinement until the day they died, living out the rest of their lives as widows.

The Lover to His Beloved: You are a locked garden, ¹  my sister, my bride; you are an enclosed spring, a sealed-up fountain.

“But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, ¹  and knowledge will increase.”

They court you eagerly, ¹  but for no good purpose; ²  they want to exclude you, so that you would seek them eagerly. ³ 

Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. ¹  The king ²  sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, ³  Elisha ⁴  said to the leaders, ⁵  “Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?” ⁶  Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him.” ⁷ 

If he comes by ¹  and confines ²  you ³  and convenes a court, ⁴  then who can prevent ⁵  him?

But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing; I am like a mute who cannot speak. ¹ 

The one who gives to the poor will not lack, ¹  but whoever shuts his eyes to them ²  will receive ³  many curses. ⁴ 

Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am no longer allowed to go ¹  into the Lord’s temple.

But whenever you pray, go into your room, ¹  close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ²