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. ¹ 

Psalms 78:40

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ²  in the desert!

Psalms 78:49

78:49 His raging anger lashed out against them, ³ 

He sent fury, rage, and trouble

as messengers who bring disaster. ⁴ 

Psalms 78:56

78:56 Yet they challenged and defied ⁵  the sovereign God, ⁶ 

and did not obey ⁷  his commands. ⁸ 

Psalms 95:9-11

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, ⁹ 

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ¹⁰  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ¹¹ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ¹² 

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” ¹³ 

Ezekiel 6:9

6:9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize ¹⁴  how I was crushed by their unfaithful ¹⁵  heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves ¹⁶  because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices.

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ¹⁷  people, with uncircumcised ¹⁸  hearts and ears! ¹⁹  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ²⁰  did!

Ephesians 4:30

4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

[78:8]  ¹ 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).

[78:40]  ² tn Or “caused him pain.”

[78:49]  ³ tn Heb “he sent against them the rage of his anger.” The phrase “rage of his anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[78:49]  ⁴ tn Heb “fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of messengers of disaster.”

[78:56]  ⁵ tn Or “tested and rebelled against.”

[78:56]  ⁶ tn Heb “God, the Most High.”

[78:56]  ⁷ tn Or “keep.”

[78:56]  ⁸ tn Heb “his testimonies” (see Ps 25:10).

[95:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

[95:10]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ¹² tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.

[95:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).

[6:9]  ¹⁴ tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”

[6:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling, but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.

[6:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb adds “in their faces.”

[7:51]  ¹⁷ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ²⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”