Jeremiah 7:24-26

7:24 But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better. ¹  7:25 From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now, ²  I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again, ³  day after day. ⁴  7:26 But your ancestors ⁵  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ⁶  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

Jeremiah 11:10

11:10 They have gone back to the evil ways ⁷  of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to ⁸  other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah ⁹  have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

Jeremiah 16:11-12

16:11 Then tell them that the Lord says, ¹⁰  ‘It is because your ancestors ¹¹  rejected me and paid allegiance to ¹²  other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law. ¹³  16:12 And you have acted even more wickedly than your ancestors! Each one of you has followed the stubborn inclinations of your own wicked heart and not obeyed me. ¹⁴ 

Jeremiah 19:15

19:15 “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁵  says, ‘I will soon bring on this city and all the towns surrounding it ¹⁶  all the disaster I threatened to do to it. I will do so because they have stubbornly refused ¹⁷  to pay any attention to what I have said!’”

Isaiah 48:4

48:4 I did this ¹⁸  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ¹⁹ 

Ezekiel 20:13

20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out ²⁰  my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them. ²¹ 

Ezekiel 20:16

20:16 I did this ²²  because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols. ²³ 

Ezekiel 20:21

20:21 “‘But the children ²⁴  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ²⁵  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ²⁶  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

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, ²⁷  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 ²⁸  people, with uncircumcised ²⁹  hearts and ears! ³⁰  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ³¹  did!

[7:24]  ¹ tn Or “They went backward and not forward”; Heb “They were to the backward and not to the forward.” The two phrases used here appear nowhere else in the Bible and the latter preposition plus adverb elsewhere is used temporally meaning “formerly” or “previously.” The translation follows the proposal of J. Bright, Jeremiah (AB), 57. Another option is “they turned their backs to me, not their faces,” understanding the line as a variant of a line in 2:27.

[7:25]  ² tn Heb “from the day your ancestors…until this very day.” However, “day” here is idiomatic for “the present time.”

[7:25]  ³ tn On the Hebrew idiom see the note at 7:13.

[7:25]  ⁴ tc There is some textual debate about the legitimacy of this expression here. The text reads merely “day” (יוֹם, yom). BHS suggests the word is to be deleted as a dittography of the plural ending of the preceding word. The word is in the Greek and Latin, and the Syriac represents the typical idiom “day after day” as though the noun were repeated. Either יוֹם has dropped out by haplography or a ם (mem) has been left out, i.e., reading יוֹמָם (yomam, “daily”).

[7:26]  ⁵ tn Or “But your predecessors…”; Heb “But they….” There is a confusing interchange in the pronouns in vv. 25-26 which has led to some leveling in the ancient versions and the modern English versions. What is involved here are four levels of referents, the “you” of the present generation (vv. 21-22a), the ancestors who were delivered from Egypt (i.e., the “they” of vv. 22b-24), the “you” of v. 25 which involves all the Israelites from the Exodus to the time of speaking, and the “they” of v. 26 which cannot be the ancestors of vv. 22-24 (since they cannot be more wicked than themselves) but must be an indefinite entity which is a part of the “you” of v. 25, i.e., the more immediate ancestors of the present generation. If this is kept in mind, there is no need to level the pronouns to “they” and “them” or to “you” and “your” as some of the ancient versions and modern English versions have done.

[7:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “hardened [or made stiff] their neck.”

[11:10]  ⁷ tn Or “They have repeated the evil actions of….”

[11:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “have walked/followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[11:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “house of Israel and house of Judah.”

[16:11]  ¹⁰ tn These two sentences have been recast in English to break up a long Hebrew sentence and incorporate the oracular formula “says the Lord (Heb ‘oracle of the Lord’)” which occurs after “Your fathers abandoned me.” In Hebrew the two sentences read: “When you tell them these things and they say, ‘…’, then tell them, ‘Because your ancestors abandoned me,’ oracle of the Lord.”

[16:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 12, 13, 15, 19).

[16:11]  ¹² tn Heb “followed after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the explanation of the idiom.

[16:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “But me they have abandoned and my law they have not kept.” The objects are thrown forward to bring out the contrast which has rhetorical force. However, such a sentence in English would be highly unnatural.

[16:12]  ¹⁴ sn For the argumentation here compare Jer 7:23-26.

[19:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.”

[19:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all its towns.”

[19:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”

[48:4]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

[20:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “to bring them to an end.”

[20:16]  ²² tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 15-16 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.

[20:16]  ²³ tn Heb “for after their idols their heart was going.” The use of the active participle (“was going”) in the Hebrew text draws attention to the ongoing nature of their idolatrous behavior.

[20:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “sons.”

[20:21]  ²⁵ tn Or “carries them out.”

[20:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[7:12]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ³¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”