---
title: Isaiah 35:5
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-35-5/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/isaiah-35-5.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Isaiah 35:5
testament: OT
section: Prophets
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Isaiah 35:5

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

## JW Usage

Isaiah 35:5 — "at that time the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped" — is a Watchtower paradise-earth proof-text. The verse is read as describing conditions in the future thousand-year reign of Christ when Jehovah restores perfect health to obedient mankind. The fulfilment is taught as exclusively post-Armageddon.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus himself supplied the inspired interpretation of Isaiah 35:5 at Matthew 11:4-5 (and Luke 7:22). When John the Baptist sent his disciples asking "are you the Coming One?" Jesus answered: "go and report to John what you are hearing and seeing: the blind are receiving sight, and the lame are walking, the lepers are being cleansed and the deaf are hearing." Jesus is quoting Isaiah 35:5-6 — and presenting his present-tense ministry as the fulfilment. The miracles were not a preview; they were the prophecy in action. Pair with Romans 8:23 (firstfruits of the Spirit guaranteeing the final harvest) and 2 Corinthians 1:22 (the Spirit as deposit). Inaugurated eschatology again: the Messianic age has begun in Christ's ministry; the consummation is still ahead.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Isaiah's Healing Prophecy — Fulfilled in Christ's Ministry](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/isaiah-healing-fulfilled-in-christ.md) — Isaiah 35:5-6 / Matthew 11:4-5 [Eschatology]