But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they will not listen to me; for all the house of Israel are obstinate and hard-hearted.
Parallel translations
- KJV 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.
- BSB But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.
- NKJV But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
- NASB yet the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, since they are not willing to listen to Me. The entire house of Israel certainly is stubborn and obstinate.
- NLT But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn.
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 will not listen to Ezekiel because they refuse to listen to God Himself. Their hardness is fundamentally against the LORD.
Overview
Rejection of the prophet is ultimately rejection of God who sent him. The people's obstinacy and hard-heartedness reveal a deep spiritual problem. This prepares Ezekiel not to be discouraged by their refusal. It also points to humanity's need for the new heart God promises later in the book and grants through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Luke 10:16Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
- 1 Sam 8:7Yahweh said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them.
- Ezek 2:4The children are impudent and stiff-hearted. I am sending you to them, and you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh.’
- John 15:20–24Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his lord.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
- Luke 19:14But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, ‘We don’t want this man to reign over us.’
- Isa 3:9The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Jer 25:3–4From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened.
- Ezek 24:7For her blood is in the middle of her; she set it on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.
- Jer 44:4–5However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”
- Jer 3:3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s forehead. You refused to be ashamed.
- John 5:40–47Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
- Jer 5:3O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return.
- Luke 13:34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
- Jer 44:16“As for the word that you have spoken to us in Yahweh’s name, we will not listen to you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 3:7 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.