Exodus 33:3

33:3 Go up ¹  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ³  on the way.”

Exodus 33:5

33:5 For ⁴  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ⁵  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ⁶  that I may know ⁷  what I should do to you.’” ⁸ 

Exodus 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ⁹  go among us, for we ¹⁰  are a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Deuteronomy 9:6

9:6 Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn ¹¹  people!

Deuteronomy 9:13

9:13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn ¹²  lot!

Deuteronomy 10:16

10:16 Therefore, cleanse ¹³  your heart and stop being so stubborn! ¹⁴ 

Deuteronomy 31:27

31:27 for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. ¹⁵  Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the Lord; you will be even more rebellious after my death! ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 31:2

31:2 He said to them, “Today I am a hundred and twenty years old. I am no longer able to get about, ¹⁷  and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’

Deuteronomy 30:8

30:8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving ¹⁸  you today.

Nehemiah 9:17

9:17 They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. ¹⁹  But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. ²⁰  You did not abandon them,

Psalms 78:8

78:8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that was not committed

and faithful to God. ²¹ 

Proverbs 29:1

29:1 The one who stiffens his neck ²²  after numerous rebukes ²³ 

will suddenly be destroyed ²⁴  without remedy. ²⁵ 

Isaiah 48:4

48:4 I did this ²⁶  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ²⁷ 

Zechariah 7:11-12

7:11 “But they refused to pay attention, turning away stubbornly and stopping their ears so they could not hear. 7:12 Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, ²⁸  so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ²⁹  people, with uncircumcised ³⁰  hearts and ears! ³¹  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ³²  did!

[33:3]  ¹ tn This verse seems to be a continuation of the command to “go up” since it begins with “to a land….” The intervening clauses are therefore parenthetical or relative. But the translation is made simpler by supplying the verb.

[33:3]  ² tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ³ tn The clause is “lest I consume you.” It would go with the decision not to accompany them: “I will not go up with you…lest I consume (destroy) you in the way.” The verse is saying that because of the people’s bent to rebellion, Yahweh would not remain in their midst as he had formerly said he would do. Their lives would be at risk if he did.

[33:5]  ⁴ tn The verse simply begins “And Yahweh said.” But it is clearly meant to be explanatory for the preceding action of the people.

[33:5]  ⁵ tn The construction is formed with a simple imperfect in the first half and a perfect tense with vav (ו) in the second half. Heb “[in] one moment I will go up in your midst and I will destroy you.” The verse is certainly not intended to say that God was about to destroy them. That, plus the fact that he has announced he will not go in their midst, leads most commentators to take this as a conditional clause: “If I were to do such and such, then….”

[33:5]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”

[33:5]  ⁷ tn The form is the cohortative with a vav (ו) following the imperative; it therefore expresses the purpose or result: “strip off…that I may know.” The call to remove the ornaments must have been perceived as a call to show true repentance for what had happened. If they repented, then God would know how to deal with them.

[33:5]  ⁸ tn This last clause begins with the interrogative “what,” but it is used here as an indirect interrogative. It introduces a noun clause, the object of the verb “know.”

[34:9]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

[9:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

[9:13]  ¹² tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.

[10:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).

[10:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[31:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stiffness of neck” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV). See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[31:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “How much more after my death?” The Hebrew text has a sarcastic rhetorical question here; the translation seeks to bring out the force of the question.

[31:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”

[30:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

[9:17]  ¹⁹ tc The present translation follows a few medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX in reading בְּמִצְרָיִם (bÿmitsrayim, “in Egypt”; so also NAB, NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT) rather than the MT reading בְּמִרְיָם (bÿmiryam, “in their rebellion”).

[9:17]  ²⁰ tc The translation follows the Qere reading חֶסֶד (khesed, “loyal love”) rather than the Kethib reading וְחֶסֶד (vÿkhesed, “and loyal love”) of the MT.

[78:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “a generation that did not make firm its heart and whose spirit was not faithful with God.” The expression “make firm the heart” means “to be committed, devoted” (see 1 Sam 7:3).

[29:1]  ²² tn The idiom “to harden the neck” (מַקְשֶׁה־עֹרֶף, maqsheh-’oref) is the idea of resisting the rebukes and persisting in obstinacy (e.g., Exod 32:9). The opposite of a “stiff neck” would be the bending back, i.e., submission.

[29:1]  ²³ tn The Hebrew construction is אִישׁ תּוֹכָחוֹת (’ish tokhakhot, “a man of rebukes”), meaning “a man who has (or receives) many rebukes.” This describes a person who is deserving of punishment and who has been given many warnings. The text says, then, “a man of rebukes hardening himself.”

[29:1]  ²⁴ sn The stubborn person refuses to listen; he will suddenly be destroyed when the calamity strikes (e.g., Prov 6:15; 13:18; 15:10).

[29:1]  ²⁵ tn Or “healing” (NRSV).

[48:4]  ²⁶ tn The words “I did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 4 is subordinated to v. 3.

[48:4]  ²⁷ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

[7:12]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew term שָׁמִיר (shamir) means literally “hardness” and since it is said in Ezek 3:9 to be harder than flint, many scholars suggest that it refers to diamond. It is unlikely that diamond was known to ancient Israel, however, so probably a hard stone like emery or corundum is in view. The translation nevertheless uses “diamond” because in modern times it has become proverbial for its hardness. A number of English versions use “flint” here (e.g., NASB, NIV).

[7:51]  ²⁹ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ³⁰ tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ³¹ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ³² tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”