Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
He hath blinded (tetuflwken). Perfect active indicative of tuflow, old causative verb to make blind (from tuflov, blind), in N.T. only here, II Corinthians 4:4; I John 2:11.
He hardened (epwrwsen). First aorist active indicative of pwrow, a late causative verb (from pwrov, hard skin), seen already in Mark 6:52, etc. This quotation is from Isaiah 6:10 and differs from the LXX.
Lest they should see (ina mh idwsin). Negative purpose clause with ina mh instead of mhpote (never used by John) of the LXX. Matthew (Matthew 13:15) has mhpote and quotes Jesus as using the passage as do Mark (Mark 4:12) and Luke (Luke 8:10). Paul quotes it again (Acts 28:26) to the Jews in Rome. In each instance the words of Isaiah are interpreted as forecasting the doom of the Jews for rejecting the Messiah. Matthew (Matthew 13:15) has sunwsin where John has nohswsin (perceive), and both change from the subjunctive to the future (kai iasomai), "And I should heal them." John has here strafwsin (second aorist passive subjunctive of strefw) while Matthew reads epistreywsin (first aorist active of epistrefw).
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing John 12:40:
John 3:15
John 12:2
Acts 28:26
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