Jeremiah 5:3

5:3 Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. ¹ 

But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. ² 

Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.

They have become as hardheaded as a rock. ³ 

They refuse to change their ways. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 3:4-7

3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech ⁵  and difficult language, ⁶  but ⁷  to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand ⁸  – surely if ⁹  I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ¹⁰  because they are not willing to listen to me, ¹¹  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ¹² 

Daniel 5:20

5:20 And when his mind ¹³  became arrogant ¹⁴  and his spirit filled with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne and his honor was removed from him.

Romans 2:5

2:5 But because of your stubbornness ¹⁵  and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed! ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 3:13

3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception.

¹ tn Heb “O Lord, are your eyes not to faithfulness?” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

² tn Commentaries and lexicons debate the meaning of the verb here. The MT is pointed as though from a verb meaning “to writhe in anguish or contrition” (חוּל [khul]; see, e.g., BDB 297 s.v. חוּל 2.c), but some commentaries and lexicons repoint the text as though from a verb meaning “to be sick,” thus “to feel pain” (חָלָה [khalah]; see, e.g., HALOT 304 s.v. חָלָה 3). The former appears more appropriate to the context.

³ tn Heb “They made their faces as hard as a rock.”

⁴ tn Or “to repent”; Heb “to turn back.”

⁵ tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).

⁶ tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.

⁷ tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.

⁸ tn Heb “hear.”

⁹ tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.

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

¹¹ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

¹² tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

¹³ tn Aram “heart.”

¹⁴ sn The point of describing Nebuchadnezzar as arrogant is that he had usurped divine prerogatives, and because of his immense arrogance God had dealt decisively with him.

¹⁵ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

¹⁶ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”