Translation analysis: The Book of Mormon text varies from the KJV version of Isaiah:
Book of Mormon
And he said: Go and tell this people—
Hear ye indeed, but they understood not;
and see ye indeed, but they perceived not.
KJV
And he said, Go, and tell this people,
Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
The change in the Book of Mormon text “fixes” a perceptual problem in the KJV Isaiah. The Book of Mormon text removes the anomalous command from God that people not understand his message. Thus the Book of Mormon takes the approach of created a command/response structure rather than seeing both clauses as part of the command.
The potentially problematic reading of the KJV Isaiah is improved in other translations, however, without resorting to restructuring the commands into a command/response sequence. In Gileadi, for instance, he renders verse 9 as:
And he said, Go, and say to these people,
Go on hearing, but not understanding;
Go on seeing, but not perceiving.
In this translation, the sense is in a continuous action. Israel has not seen nor heard, and they continue to not see or hear. In the ascription of this blindness to the past, the Book of Mormon agrees with the sense of the text. What is lost is the ironic tone of the text. The message is one of scorn for the unheeding Israel. They have not repented, and the message is essentially “go on doing as you are, and the consequences will come.”
This reversal of expectation is part of the poetic license of Isaiah, and has been used in other contexts. The reading of verse 10 confirms this as the preferred reading of the text, for even in the Book of Mormon citation, the “command” is a negative one rather than a positive.
There is no sense in the Lord’s command to Isaiah to “make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes…” except in the same ironic mode as the previous verse. Just as the Lord is not really desiring that Israel see and not perceive, nor does the Lord really want the people to have their eyes shut so that they have no chance to perceive. The meaning of these two verses is found in the reversal of the meaning, not in the words themselves. God’s desire is the opposite. It is an ironic restatement of Israel’s condition, that they do not repent even with all of the care of the Lord.