Isaiah 48:4

Revised Standard Version

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

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.

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 Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and who came forth from the loins of Judah; who swear by the name of the LORD, and confess the God of Israel, but not in truth or right. ² For they call themselves after the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the LORD of hosts is his name. ³ "The former things I declared of old, they went forth from my mouth and I made them known; then suddenly I did them and they came to pass. ⁴ Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass, ⁵ I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, 'My idol did them, my graven image and my molten image commanded them.' ⁶ "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forth I make you hear new things, hidden things which you have not known. ⁷ They are created now, not long ago; before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' ⁸ You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and that from birth you were called a rebel.

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
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

Genesis 17:8
And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."

Genesis 17:13
both he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money, shall be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant.

Genesis 22:17
I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies,

Genesis 26:4
I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves:

Genesis 28:3
God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples.

Genesis 32:12
But thou didst say, 'I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"

Genesis 35:11
And God said to him, "I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall spring from you.

Genesis 46:3
Then he said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation.

Genesis 47:27
Thus Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.

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).