Isaiah 48:4

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Because I know that you are stubborn,and your neck is ironand your forehead bronze,

Hebrew Names Version
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;

King James Version
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

English Standard Version
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

New American Standard Bible
"Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron tendon And your forehead bronze,

New Century Version
I knew you were stubborn; your neck was like an iron muscle, and your head was like bronze.

Amplified Bible
"Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron tendon And your brow is bronze [both unyielding],

World English Bible
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Because I knewe, that thou art obstinate, & thy necke is an yron sinew, & thy brow brasse,

Legacy Standard Bible
Because I know that you are stiff,And your neck is an iron sinewAnd your forehead bronze,

Berean Standard Bible
For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.

Contemporary English Version
I knew you were stubborn and hardheaded.

Complete Jewish Bible
Because I knew that you were stubborn, your neck an iron sinew, your forehead bronze,

Darby Translation
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,

Easy-to-Read Version
I did that because I knew you were stubborn. You were like iron that will not bend, with heads as hard as bronze.

George Lamsa Translation
Because I knew that you are obstinate and your neck is an iron sinew and your brow brass;

Good News Translation
I knew that you would prove to be stubborn, as rigid as iron and unyielding as bronze.

Lexham English Bible
because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck an iron sinew, and your forehead bronze.

Literal Translation
Because I knew that you are hard, and your neck is a sinew of iron, and your brow bronze.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Howbeit I knewe that thou art obstinate, and that thy neck hath an yron vane, and that thy brow is of brasse.

American Standard Version
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

Bible in Basic English
Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

King James Version (1611)
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy necke is an yron sinew, and thy brow brasse:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Howbeit I knowe that thou art obstinate, and that thy necke hath an iron sinowe, and that thy browe is of brasse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I know that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brazen.

English Revised Version
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For Y wiste that thou art hard, and thi nol is a senewe of irun, and thi forhed is of bras.

Update Bible Version
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;

Webster's Bible Translation
Because I knew that thou [art] obstinate, and thy neck [is] an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

New English Translation
I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze.

New King James Version
Because I knew that you were obstinate, And your neck was an iron sinew, And your brow bronze,

New Living Translation
For I know how stubborn and obstinate you are. Your necks are as unbending as iron. Your heads are as hard as bronze.

New Life Bible
I know that your heart is hard. Your neck is like iron, and your forehead is like brass.

New Revised Standard
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Because I knew that - Obstinate, thou wast, - And, a sinew of iron, was thy neck, And thy brow, brazen,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass.

Revised Standard Version
Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

Young's Literal Translation
From my knowing that thou art obstinate, And a sinew of iron thy neck, And thy forehead brass,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew And your forehead bronze,

Contextual Overview

¹ "And now listen to this, family of Jacob, you who are called by the name Israel: Who got you started in the loins of Judah, you who use God 's name to back up your promises and pray to the God of Israel? But do you mean it? Do you live like it? You claim to be citizens of the Holy City; you act as though you lean on the God of Israel, named God -of-the-Angel-Armies. For a long time now, I've let you in on the way I work: I told you what I was going to do beforehand, then I did it and it was done, and that's that. I know you're a bunch of hardheads, obstinate and flint-faced, So I got a running start and began telling you what was going on before it even happened. That is why you can't say, ‘My god-idol did this.' ‘My favorite god-carving commanded this.' You have all this evidence confirmed by your own eyes and ears. Shouldn't you be talking about it? And that was just the beginning. I have a lot more to tell you, things you never knew existed. This isn't a variation on the same old thing. This is new, brand-new, something you'd never guess or dream up. When you hear this you won't be able to say, ‘I knew that all along.' You've never been good listeners to me. You have a history of ignoring me, A sorry track record of fickle attachments— rebels from the womb. But out of the sheer goodness of my heart, because of who I am, I keep a tight rein on my anger and hold my temper. I don't wash my hands of you. Do you see what I've done? I've refined you, but not without fire. I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction. Out of myself, simply because of who I am, I do what I do. I have my reputation to keep up. I'm not playing second fiddle to either gods or people.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I knew: Isaiah 46:12, Psalms 78:8, Zechariah 7:11, Zechariah 7:12

obstinate: Heb. hard, Jeremiah 5:3, Ezekiel 3:4-7, Daniel 5:20, Romans 2:5, Hebrews 3:13, and they, Exodus 32:9, Exodus 33:3, Exodus 33:5, Deuteronomy 10:16, Deuteronomy 31:27, 2 Kings 17:14, 2 Chronicles 30:8, 2 Chronicles 36:13, Nehemiah 9:16, Nehemiah 9:17, Nehemiah 9:28, Psalms 75:5, Proverbs 29:1, Jeremiah 7:26, Jeremiah 19:15, Zechariah 7:12, Acts 7:51

thy brow: Jeremiah 3:3, Ezekiel 3:7-9

Reciprocal: Exodus 9:7 - the heart Exodus 34:9 - stiffnecked Deuteronomy 2:30 - obstinate Deuteronomy 9:6 - a stiffnecked Job 40:18 - General Job 41:24 - as hard Ecclesiastes 8:3 - stand Isaiah 9:9 - in the pride Isaiah 43:12 - declared Isaiah 48:8 - I knew Jeremiah 17:23 - they obeyed Jeremiah 44:5 - they Ezekiel 2:4 - they Ezekiel 11:19 - I will take Ezekiel 22:18 - brass Amos 6:12 - horses

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."

Genesis 28:3
"And may The Strong God bless you and give you many, many children, a congregation of peoples; and pass on the blessing of Abraham to you and your descendants so that you will get this land in which you live, this land God gave Abraham."

Genesis 35:11
God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants.

Genesis 46:3
God said, "I am the God of your father. Don't be afraid of going down to Egypt. I'm going to make you a great nation there. I'll go with you down to Egypt; I'll also bring you back here. And when you die, Joseph will be with you; with his own hand he'll close your eyes."

Genesis 47:27
And so Israel settled down in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property and flourished. They became a large company of people. Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years. In all, he lived 147 years.

Exodus 1:11
So they organized them into work-gangs and put them to hard labor under gang-foremen. They built the storage cities Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the harder the Egyptians worked them the more children the Israelites had—children everywhere! The Egyptians got so they couldn't stand the Israelites and treated them worse than ever, crushing them with slave labor. They made them miserable with hard labor—making bricks and mortar and back-breaking work in the fields. They piled on the work, crushing them under the cruel workload.

Deuteronomy 32:8
When the High God gave the nations their stake, gave them their place on Earth, He put each of the peoples within boundaries under the care of divine guardians. But God himself took charge of his people, took Jacob on as his personal concern.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Because I knew that thou art obstinate,.... Or "hard" a, hard hearted, an obdurate and rebellious people, contradicting and gainsaying:

and thy neck is as an iron sinew; stiffnecked, inflexible, not compliant with the will of God, and his commands; unwilling to admit his yoke, and bear it:

and thy brow brass; impudent, not ashamed of sin, nor blushing at it, refusing to receive correction for it, having a whore's forehead. This the Lord knew and foreknew, and therefore declared before hand what would come to pass unto them; who otherwise would have had the assurance to have ascribed them to themselves, or their idols, and not to him.

a כי קשה אתה "quod durus tu es", Pagninus, Montanus; "te durum esse", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Because I knew that thou art obstinate - I made these frequent predictions, and fulfilled them in this striking manner, because I knew that as a people, you were prone to unbelief, and in order that you might have the most full and undoubted demonstration of the truth of what was declared. As they were disinclined to credit his promises, and as he saw that in their long captivity they would be prone to disbelieve what he had said respecting their deliverance under Cyrus, he had, therefore, given them these numerous evidences of the certainty of the fulfillment of all his prophecies, in order that their minds might credit what he said about their return to their own land.

That thou art obstinate - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Hard,’ The sense is, that they were obstinate and intractable - an expression probably taken from a bullock which refuses to receive the yoke. The word hard, as expressive of obstinacy, is often combined with others. Thus, in Exodus 32:9; Exodus 34:9, ‘hard of neck,’ that is, stiff-necked, stubborn; ‘hard of face’ Ezekiel 2:4; ‘hard of heart’ Ezekiel 3:7. The idea is, that they were, as a people, obstinate, rebellious, and indisposed to submit to the laws of God - a charge which is often brought against them by the sacred writers, and which is abundantly verified by all their history as a people (compare Exodus 32:9; Exodus 33:3-5; Exodus 34:9; Deuteronomy 9:6-13; Deuteronomy 31:27; 2 Chronicles 30:8; Ezekiel 2:4; Acts 7:51).

Thy neck is an iron sinew - The word גיד giyd means properly a cord, thong, or band; then a nerve, sinew, muscle, or tendon. The metaphor is taken from oxen when they make their neck stiff, and refuse to submit it to the yoke.

And thy brow brass - Thy forehead is hard and insensible as brass. The phrase is applied to the shameless brow of a harloi Jeremiah 3:3; Ezekiel 3:7, where there is an utter want of modesty, and consummate impudence. A brow of brass is an image of insensibility, or obstinacy (so in Jeremiah 6:28).