Ezekiel 2:4

2:4 The people ¹  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ²  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ³ 

Ezekiel 3:7

3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁴  because they are not willing to listen to me, ⁵  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ⁶ 

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¹ tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

² tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

³ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

⁴ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

⁵ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

⁶ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”