Isaiah 50:7

50:7 But the sovereign Lord helps me,

so I am not humiliated.

For that reason I am steadfastly resolved; ¹ 

I know I will not be put to shame.

Ezekiel 2:4

2:4 The people ²  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ³  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ⁴ 

Ezekiel 2:6

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ⁵  and thorns ⁶  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ⁷  for they are a rebellious house!

Ezekiel 3:7-9

3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁸  because they are not willing to listen to me, ⁹  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ¹⁰ 

3:8 “I have made your face adamant ¹¹  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹²  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹³  for they are a rebellious house.”

¹ tn Heb “Therefore I set my face like flint.”

² tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

³ tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

⁴ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

⁵ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

⁶ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

⁷ tn Heb “of their faces.”

⁸ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

⁹ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

¹⁰ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

¹¹ tn Heb “strong, resolute.”

¹² tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.

¹³ tn Heb “of their faces.”