en_tn/mrk/04/12.md

when they look ... when they hear

It is assumed that Jesus is speaking about the people looking at what he shows them and hearing what he tells them. Alternate translation: "when they look at what I am doing ... when they hear what I am saying" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-explicit)

they look, but do not see

Possible meanings are 1) the word "look" here refers to making an effort to see and "see" refers to actually being able to see what they have looked for and is a metaphor for "understand." Alternate translation: "they look, but they do not understand" Or 2) here the word translated "look" refers to seeing what one is looking at and the word translated "see" refers to understanding what they are seeing. (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)

they would turn

"they would turn to God." Here "turn" is a metaphor for "repent." Alternate translation: "they would repent" (See: rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-metaphor)