I did this ¹  because I know how stubborn you are. Your neck muscles are like iron and your forehead like bronze. ² 

But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our ¹  God had made him obstinate ²  and stubborn ³  so that he might deliver him over to you ⁴  this very day.

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 

Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ¹ 

But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ¹  because they are not willing to listen to me, ²  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ³ 

But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!” ¹ 

But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not release the Israelites.

Then the Lord said to Moses: “I have seen this people. ¹  Look ²  what a stiff-necked people they are! ³ 

The lips of the righteous know ¹  what is pleasing, ²  but the speech ³  of the wicked is perverse.

Thorns and snares ¹  are in the path of the perverse, but the one who guards himself keeps far from them.

But the magicians of Egypt did the same ¹  by their secret arts, and so ²  Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ³  and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron ⁴  – just as the Lord had predicted.

But the Lord hardened ¹  Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had predicted to Moses.

So Pharaoh’s heart remained hard, ¹  and he did not release the Israelites, as the Lord had predicted through Moses.

Go up ¹  to a land flowing with milk and honey. But ²  I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you ³  on the way.”

“The rebellious ¹  children are as good as dead,” ²  says the Lord, “those who make plans without consulting me, ³  who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, ⁴  and thereby compound their sin. ⁵ 

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired. ¹ 

That is why the rains have been withheld, and the spring rains have not come. Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. ¹  You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

But your ancestors ¹  did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate ²  and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out to oppose you because what you are doing ¹  is perverse before me. ² 

for the Lord determined to make them obstinate so they would attack Israel. He wanted Israel to annihilate them without mercy, as he had instructed Moses. ¹