The “deaf” and the “blind” are those who have been deafened or blinded by the precepts of men. The Lord had described the same condition in existence at the time of Isaiah’s call (see Isaiah 6:9). The effects of the book’s coming forth are then described by Isaiah: the deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, and the meek and the poor shall rejoice in the Lord. The spiritually blind and deaf will be healed and see the kingdom of God, and hear the gospel. Elder Orson Pratt saw a literal fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in the physically deaf being restored to hearing: “Those who were so deaf that they could not hear the loudest sound, have had their ears opened to hear the glorious and most precious words of the Book of Mormon, and it has been done by the power of God and not of man.”