But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
- KJV Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
- BSB Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.
- NKJV Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
- NASB Behold, I have made your face just as hard as their faces, and your forehead just as hard as their foreheads.
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
God makes Ezekiel's face and forehead as hard as the people's. He gives the prophet resolve to match their stubbornness.
Overview
God graciously equips Ezekiel with firmness so he will not crumble under opposition. The prophet's God-given hardness is steadfast determination, not sinful stubbornness. Divine strengthening enables faithful endurance in a hostile setting. This shows that God supplies what He demands, fortifying His servants for difficult tasks.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Jer 1:18For, behold, I have made you today a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against its princes, against its priests, and against the people of the land.
- Acts 7:51–56“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Exod 4:15–16You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.
- Heb 11:32–37What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets;
- 1 Kgs 21:20Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight.
- Mic 3:8But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.
- Exod 11:4–8Moses said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘About midnight I will go out into the middle of Egypt,
- Isa 50:7For the Lord Yahweh will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
- Heb 11:27By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
- Jer 15:20I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; and they shall fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to save you and to deliver you,” says Yahweh.
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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 3:8 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.