This quote, a paraphrase of Isaiah 6:9, 10, suggests Jesus’ decision to speak in parables was judicial rather than gracious. This is clearly the context of Isaiah 6. Isaiah is commissioned by God to speak to Israel but is told that those to whom he preaches will not listen. Their refusal to hear is God’s judgment on this people who have sinned consciously and persistently, and they are doomed to go on in the way they have chosen “until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant” and “the