Isaiah 48:4
New International Version
For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was 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.

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

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

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

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

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

NASB 1995
“Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew And your forehead bronze,

NASB 1977
“Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew, And your forehead bronze,

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

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

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

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

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

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
I know that you are hard and your neck sinew is of iron, and your forehead is brass

Brenton Septuagint Translation
I know that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brazen.

Contemporary English Version
I knew you were stubborn and hardheaded.

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

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

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I know that you are stubborn. Like iron, you are hardheaded. Like bronze, nothing gets through your thick skull.

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

International Standard Version
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and because your neck is an iron sinew, and your forehead is bronze,

JPS Tanakh 1917
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, And thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;

Literal Standard Version
From My knowing that you are obstinate, | And your neck—a sinew of iron, | And your forehead—bronze,

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

New American Bible
Because I know that you are stubborn and that your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,

NET Bible
I did this because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze.

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

New Heart English Bible
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;

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

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

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel's Stubbornness
3I foretold the former things long ago; they came out of My mouth and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. 4For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze. 5Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’…

Cross References
Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

Exodus 32:9
The LORD also said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

Deuteronomy 31:27
For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

2 Chronicles 36:13
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.

Proverbs 29:1
A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.

Isaiah 46:12
Listen to Me, you stubborn people, far removed from righteousness:

Ezekiel 2:4
They are obstinate and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you are to say to them, 'This is what the Lord GOD says.'


Treasury of Scripture

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

I knew

Isaiah 46:12
Hearken unto me, ye stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:

Psalm 78:8
And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.

Zechariah 7:11,12
But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear…

obstinate.

Jeremiah 5:3
O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Ezekiel 3:4-7
And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them…

Daniel 5:20
But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:

and they

Exodus 32:9
And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

Exodus 33:3,5
Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way…

Deuteronomy 10:16
Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

they brow

Jeremiah 3:3
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Ezekiel 3:7-9
But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted…

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Isaiah 48
1. God, to convince the people of their foreknown obstinance, revealed his prophecies
9. He saves them for his own sake
12. He exhorts them to obedience, because of his power and providence
16. He laments their backwardness
20. He powerfully delivers his people out of Babylon














(4) Because I knew that thou art obstinate . . .--The point is that Jehovah foresees not only the conquests of Cyrus, but the obduracy of His own people. In Egypt (Jeremiah 44) and in Babylon, as of old, they were still a stiff-necked people, inclined (Isaiah 48:5), to ascribe their deliverance to another god, and to worship that god in the form of a graven image.

Verse 4. - I knew that thou art obstinate; literally, hard, or stiff - the adjective used in the phrase translated in our version "stiff-necked." The idea is still more forcibly expressed in the following clause - thy neck is an iron sinew; or rather, a band of iron, as stiff as if it were made-of the hardest metal. And thy brow brass. The exact simile here used does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It seems to be the origin of our expressions, "brazen,... brazen-faced," "to brazen a thing out." The forehead may be hardened for a good or for a bad purpose; in obstinacy or in a determination to resist evil (comp. Isaiah 1:7 and Ezekiel 3:8 with Jeremiah 5:3; Ezekiel 3:7; Zechariah 7:12). Here the hardening is evil, marking defiance and self-will.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
For I knew
מִדַּעְתִּ֕י (mid·da‘·tî)
Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1847: Knowledge

that
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you
אָ֑תָּה (’āt·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

are stubborn;
קָשֶׁ֖ה (qā·šeh)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7186: Hard, severe

your neck
עָרְפֶּ֔ךָ (‘ā·rə·pe·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6203: The nape, back of the neck, the back

is iron
בַּרְזֶל֙ (bar·zel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1270: Iron, an iron implement

and your forehead
וּמִצְחֲךָ֖ (ū·miṣ·ḥă·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 4696: Brow, forehead

[is] bronze.
נְחוּשָֽׁה׃ (nə·ḥū·šāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5154: Copper, bronze


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OT Prophets: Isaiah 48:4 Because I knew that you are obstinate (Isa Isi Is)
Isaiah 48:3
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