---
title: John 12:39
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-12-39/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/john-12-39.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: John 12:39
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# John 12:39

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said:"

## JW Usage

Read as the introduction to John's second Isaiah quotation, explaining why those who would not believe could not believe — Jehovah had blinded their eyes. The Watchtower comfortably accepts the predestinarian-sounding language at the level of the original Isaiah context but does not engage with the implication of attributing the blinding action to the Christ of John's gospel.

## Protestant Usage

Verse 39 sits between two Isaiah quotations and inside the same continuous "him" referent established at 12:37. John is preparing the reader for the Isaiah 6:10 quotation (the throne-room vision of Jehovah), and his interpretive frame in verse 41 — "Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory" — covers both quotations. The blinding action of Isaiah 6:9-10 is attributed in John's frame to the Christ whose glory Isaiah saw. That is consistent with the hardening texts elsewhere (e.g., Romans 11:7-10) being divine acts; in John's reading, those divine acts trace through the same Person whose glory filled the temple in Isaiah 6.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Isaiah Saw Jesus' Glory](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/john12-isaiah6.md) — John 12:41 / Isaiah 6 [Deity of Christ]