5093. That it was previously foretold that they would neither know the Lord, nor understand, nor receive Him.

In Isaiah: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken; I have begotten and brought up children, but they have rejected me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel hath not known me, and my people hath not perceived me. Ah sinful nation, a people filled with sins, a wicked seed, corrupting children: ye have forsaken the Lord, and have sent that Holy One of Israel into anger.”^38293829    Isa. i. 2–4. In the same also the Lord says: “Go and tell this people, Ye shall hear with the ear, and shall not understand; and seeing, ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people hath waxed gross, and they hardly hear with their ears, and they have shut up their eyes, lest haply they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should return, and I should heal them.”^38303830    Isa. vi. 9, 10. Also in Jeremiah the Lord says: “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug for themselves worn-out cisterns, which could not hold water.”^38313831    Jer. ii. 13. Moreover, in the same:  “Behold, the word of the Lord has become unto them a reproach, and they do not wish for it.”^38323832    Jer. vi. 10. Again in the same the Lord says: “The kite knoweth his time, the turtle, and the swallow;^38333833    According to the Oxford edition: “The turtle and the swallow knoweth its time,” etc. the sparrows of the field keep the time of their coming in; but my people doth not know the judgment of the Lord. How say ye, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? The false measurement^38343834    Six ancient authorities have “your measurement.” has been made vain; the scribes are confounded; the wise men have trembled, and been taken, because they have rejected the word of the Lord.”^38353835    Jer. viii. 7–9. In Solomon also: “Evil men seek me, and shall not find me; for they held wisdom in hatred and did not receive the word of the Lord.”^38363836    Prov. i. 28, 29. Also in the twenty-seventh Psalm: “Render to them their deserving, because they have not perceived in the works of the Lord.”^38373837    Ps. xxviii. 4, 5. Also in the eighty-first Psalm: “They have not known, neither have they understood; they shall walk on in darkness.”^38383838    Ps. lxxxii. 5. In the Gospel, too, according to John: “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God who believe on His name.”^38393839    John i. 11, 12.