Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn’t believe in Yahweh their God.
- BSB But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God.
- NKJV Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
- NASB However, they did not listen, but stiffened their neck like their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
- NLT But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel refused to listen and hardened their necks like their unbelieving ancestors. Their stubborn unbelief lay beneath their disobedience.
Overview
The people would not heed the prophets, stiffening their necks as their fathers had done in the wilderness. The narrator traces their disobedience to its root: they 'did not believe in the LORD their God.' This diagnosis shows that unbelief is the soil from which rebellion grows, underscoring why Scripture so prizes faith in God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Acts 7:51Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
- Deut 31:27For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
- Jer 7:26Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
- Rom 2:4–5Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
- Heb 3:7–8Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
- Ps 78:22Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:
- Ps 78:32For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.
- Prov 29:1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- Deut 1:32Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God,
- Heb 3:12Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
- Ps 106:24Yea, they despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word:
- Isa 48:4Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
- Exod 32:9And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
- 2 Chr 36:13And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Amid the long decline toward exile, the promise to David's house refuses to die; the flickering lamp kept burning anticipates the coming King who will not fail or be cut off.
How 2 Kings 17:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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