It is interesting to note that all of the phrases in 2 Nephi 16:10, such as "Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes--lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart," are culturally applicable to the process of making a people accountable -- see Galatians 6:7, and Revelations 20:12.
It is also interesting that these phrases are listed in a chiastic style of Hebrew parallelism:
A. Make the heart of this people fat,
B. and make their ears heavy,
C. and shut their eyes--
C' lest they see with their eyes,
B' and hear with their ears,
A' and understand with their heart,
[Donald W. Parry, The Book of Mormon Text Reformatted according to Parallelistic Patterns, F.A.R.M.S., p. 84]