Proverbs 21:29

21:29 A wicked person ¹  shows boldness with his face, ² 

but as for the upright, ³  he discerns ⁴  his ways.

Isaiah 48:4

48:4 I did this ⁵  because I know how stubborn you are.

Your neck muscles are like iron

and your forehead like bronze. ⁶ 

Ezekiel 3:7-9

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

3:8 “I have made your face adamant ¹⁰  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ¹¹  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹²  for they are a rebellious house.”

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, ¹³  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.

Romans 2:4-5

2:4 Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know ¹⁴  that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 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 12:9

12:9 Besides, we have experienced discipline from ¹⁷  our earthly fathers ¹⁸  and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life? ¹⁹ 

[21:29]  ¹ tn Heb “a wicked man.”

[21:29]  ² tn Heb “he hardens his face.” To make the face firm or hard means to show boldness (BDB 738 s.v. עָזַז Hiph); cf. NRSV “put on a bold face.”

[21:29]  ³ tn The “upright” is an independent nominative absolute; the pronoun becomes the formal (emphatic) subject of the verb.

[21:29]  ⁴ tc The Kethib is the imperfect of כּוּן (kun), “he establishes.” This reading has the support of the Syriac, Latin, and Tg. Prov 21:29, and is followed by ASV. The Qere is the imperfect tense of בִּין (bin), “he understands; he discerns.” It has the support of the LXX and is followed by NIV, NCV, NRSV, NLT. The difficulty is that both make good sense in the passage and both have support. The contrast is between the wicked who shows a bold face (reflecting a hardened heart) and the upright who either gives thought to his ways (or solidifies his ways). The sense of the Qere may form a slightly better contrast, one between the outer appearance of boldness and the inner discernment of action.

[48:4]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn The image is that of a person who has tensed the muscles of the face and neck as a sign of resolute refusal.

[3:7]  ⁷ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ⁸ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[3:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “strong, resolute.”

[3:9]  ¹¹ 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.

[3:9]  ¹² tn Heb “of their faces.”

[7:12]  ¹³ 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).

[2:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “being unaware.”

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “hardness.” Concerning this imagery, see Jer 4:4; Ezek 3:7; 1 En. 16:3.

[2:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”

[12:9]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “we had our earthly fathers as discipliners.”

[12:9]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the fathers of our flesh.” In Hebrews, “flesh” is a characteristic way of speaking about outward, physical, earthly life (cf. Heb 5:7; 9:10, 13), as opposed to the inward or spiritual dimensions of life.

[12:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and live.”