Psalms 68:6

68:6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes; ¹ 

he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity. ² 

But sinful rebels live in the desert. ³ 

Psalms 106:7

106:7 Our ancestors in Egypt failed to appreciate your miraculous deeds,

they failed to remember your many acts of loyal love,

and they rebelled at the sea, by the Red Sea. ⁴ 

Exodus 32:9

32:9 Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have seen this people. ⁵  Look ⁶  what a stiff-necked people they are! ⁷ 

Exodus 33:3

33:3 Go up ⁸  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ⁹  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ¹⁰  on the way.”

Exodus 33:5

33:5 For ¹¹  the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, ¹²  I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, ¹³  that I may know ¹⁴  what I should do to you.’” ¹⁵ 

Exodus 34:9

34:9 and said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, let my Lord ¹⁶  go among us, for we ¹⁷  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 ¹⁸  people!

Deuteronomy 9:13

9:13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn ¹⁹  lot!

Deuteronomy 31:27

31:27 for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. ²⁰  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! ²¹ 

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, ²²  and the Lord has said to me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’

Deuteronomy 17:14

Provision for Kingship

17:14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,”

Ezekiel 2:3-8

2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house ²³  of Israel, to rebellious nations ²⁴  who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted ²⁵  against me to this very day. 2:4 The people ²⁶  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ²⁷  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ²⁸  2:5 And as for them, ²⁹  whether they listen ³⁰  or not – for they are a rebellious ³¹  house ³²  – they will know that a prophet has been among them. 2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ³³  and thorns ³⁴  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ³⁵  for they are a rebellious house! 2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

Ezekiel 20:8

20:8 But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ³⁶  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ³⁷  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 20:18

20:18 “‘But I said to their children ³⁸  in the wilderness, “Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, ³⁹  nor defile yourselves with their idols.

Matthew 23:31-33

23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ⁴⁰ 

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ⁴¹  people, with uncircumcised ⁴²  hearts and ears! ⁴³  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ⁴⁴  did!

[68:6]  ¹ tn Heb “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in a house.” The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ² tn Heb “he brings out prisoners into prosperity.” Another option is to translate, “he brings out prisoners with singing” (cf. NIV). The participle suggests this is what God typically does.

[68:6]  ³ tn Or “in a parched [land].”

[106:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in vv. 9, 22). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[32:9]  ⁷ sn This is a bold anthropomorphism; it is as if God has now had a chance to get to know these people and has discovered how rebellious they are. The point of the figure is that there has been discernible evidence of their nature.

[32:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “and behold” or “and look.” The expression directs attention in order to persuade the hearer.

[32:9]  ⁹ sn B. Jacob says the image is that of the people walking before God, and when he called to them the directions, they would not bend their neck to listen; they were resolute in doing what they intended to do (Exodus, 943). The figure describes them as refusing to submit, but resisting in pride.

[33:3]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn This is a strong adversative here, “but.”

[33:3]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text also has “from on you.”

[33:5]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” two times here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[34:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “it is.” Hebrew uses the third person masculine singular pronoun here in agreement with the noun “people.”

[9:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “stiff-necked” (so KJV, NAB, NIV).

[9:13]  ²² tn Heb “stiff-necked.” See note on the word “stubborn” in 9:6.

[31:27]  ²⁵ tn Heb “stiffness of neck” (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV). See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[31:27]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁸ tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”

[2:3]  ³¹ tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).

[2:3]  ³² tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.

[2:3]  ³³ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

[2:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

[2:4]  ³⁵ tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

[2:4]  ³⁶ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

[2:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “they”; the phrase “And as for them” has been used in the translation for clarity.

[2:5]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew word implies obedience rather than mere hearing or paying attention.

[2:5]  ³⁹ tn This Hebrew adjective is also used to describe the Israelites in Num 17:25 and Isa 30:9.

[2:5]  ⁴⁰ sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

[2:6]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ⁴¹ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  ⁴² tn Heb “of their faces.”

[20:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

[20:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “sons,” reflecting the patriarchal idiom of the culture.

[20:18]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “standard of justice.” See Ezek 7:27.

[23:33]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”

[7:51]  ⁵² sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ⁵³ 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]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”