Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
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And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
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And the LORD said unto Moses: 'I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Exodus 32:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Isaiah 48:4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze;
- Deuteronomy 9:13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
- Exodus 33:3 Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
- Exodus 33:5 Yahweh had said to Moses, “Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’ ”
- Exodus 34:9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
- Deuteronomy 31:27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?
- 2 Chronicles 30:8 Now don’t be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
- Deuteronomy 9:6 Know therefore that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.
- Deuteronomy 10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked.
- Nehemiah 9:17 and refused to obey. They weren’t mindful of your wonders that you did among them, but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But you are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and didn’t forsake them.
- Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Proverbs 29:1 He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.
- Zechariah 7:11-12 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which Yahweh of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Yahweh of Armies.
- Jeremiah 13:27 I have seen your abominations, even your adulteries, and your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution, on the hills in the field. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You will not be made clean. How long will it yet be?”
- Hosea 6:10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I…
Exo 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it [is] a stiffnecked people:
Ver. 9. A stiffnecked people.] And so they are still to this very day. Jerome {a} complains that in his time they thrice a day curse {a} Christ in their synagogue, and closed up their prayers with Maledic, Domine, Nazaraeis. They are thought to advise most of that mischief which the Turk puts in execution against Christians. They counterfeit Christianity in Portugal even to the degree of priesthood, and think they may do it, either for the avoiding of danger, or increasing their substance. There are very few of them that turn Christians in good earnest: Adeo in cordibus eorum radices fixit pertinacitas. {b} So stubborn they are to this day, and stiffnecked, their necks are wholly possessed with an iron sinew.
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{a} Jerome, in Isa., lib. xii. cap. 49, tom. 5, et lib. xiv. cap. 42.
{b} Rivet., Jesuita Vapul., 322.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Untractable, wilful, and stubborn, incorrigible by my judgments, ungovernable…
Untractable, wilful, and stubborn, incorrigible by my judgments, ungovernable by mine or by any laws. A metaphor from those beasts that will not bend their necks to receive the yoke or bridle.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen…
And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people,.... He had observed their ways and works, their carriage and behaviour; he had seen them before this time; he knew from all eternity what they would be, that their neck would be as an iron sinew, and their brow brass; but now he saw that in fact which he before saw as future, and they proved to be the people he knew they would be; besides, this is said to give Moses the true character of them, which might be depended upon, since it was founded upon divine knowledge and observation:
and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people; obstinate and self-willed, resolute in their own ways, and will not be reclaimed, inflexible and not subjected to the yoke of the divine law; a metaphor taken from such creatures as will not submit their necks or suffer the yoke or bridle to be put upon them, but draw back and slip away; or, as Aben Ezra thinks, to a man that goes on his way upon a run, and will not turn his neck to him that calls him, so disobedient and irreclaimable were these people.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain It is a stiff-necked people - Unapt to come…
It is a stiff-necked people - Unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse to all good, and prone to evil, obstinate to the methods of cure.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. A stiff-necked people] Probably an allusion to…
Verse 9. A stiff-necked people] Probably an allusion to the stiff-necked ox, the object of their worship.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 32:9. A stiff-necked people — Untractable, wilful, and…
Exo 32:9. A stiff-necked people — Untractable, wilful, and stubborn; unapt to come under the yoke of the divine law, averse from all good, and prone to all evil, incorrigible by judgments, and obstinate to all the methods of cure.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain And again. The Septuagint omit this verse. Moses, at…
And again. The Septuagint omit this verse. Moses, at the first intimation of the people’s sin, fell prostrate before the Lord, to sue for pardon, and pleaded the natural weakness of an ungovernable multitude, in order to extenuate their fault. This God admits. --- I see, &c. But while he seems bent on punishing them, to try his servant, he encourages him inwardly to pray with fervour. (Salien.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. A stiffnecked people — Unmanageable and perverse, like…
9. A stiffnecked people — Unmanageable and perverse, like the ox that stoutly resists all efforts to guide or drive him. Comp. the same expression in Exo_33:3; Exo_33:5; Exo_34:9; Deu_9:6; Deu_9:13.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. stiffnecked] so Exo_33:3; Exo_33:5; Exo_34:9; Deu_9:6; Deu_9:13 (repeated…
9. stiffnecked] so Exo_33:3; Exo_33:5; Exo_34:9; Deu_9:6; Deu_9:13 (repeated from here)†.
9–14. Jehovah declares that He will exterminate the people: but allows Himself to be diverted from His purpose by Moses’ intercession.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) It is a stiff-necked people.—This phrase, afterwards so…
(9) It is a stiff-necked people.—This phrase, afterwards so common (Exo_33:3; Exo_33:5; Exo_34:5; Deu_9:6; Deu_9:13; Deu_10:16; 2Ch_30:8; 2Ch_36:13; Psa_75:5; Jer_17:23; Act_7:51), occurs here for the first time. It is generally explained as “obstinate,” but rather means “perverse,” the metaphor being taken from the horse that stiffens his neck against the pull of the rein, and will not be guided by the rider. The LXX. omit the verse, for no intelligible reason.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain A stiffnecked people. This epithet, which becomes epitheton usitatum,…
A stiffnecked people. This epithet, which becomes epitheton usitatum, is here used for the first time. It does not so much mean "obstinate" as "perverse" like a horse that stiffens the neck when the driver pulls the right or left rein, and will not go the way he is wanted to go. (Compare Exo_33:3, 5 34:9; Deu_9:6, 13 31:27; etc.)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I have seen this people
I have seen this people
Here Yahweh compares knowing the people to seeing them. AT: "I know this people" (See: Metaphor)
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a stiff-necked people
Yahweh speaks of the people being stubborn as if they had stiff necks. AT: "a stubborn people" (See: Metaphor)
Now then
The word "now" is used here to mark a break in what Yahweh was telling Moses. Here Yahweh tells what he will do to the people.
My anger will burn hot against them
Yahweh speaks of his anger as if it were a fire that could burn hot. AT: "My anger towards them will be terrible" or "I am extremely angry with them" (See: Metaphor)
from you
The word "you" refers to Moses. (See: Forms of You)
why does your anger burn against your people ... a mighty hand?
Moses used this question to to try to persuade Yahweh not to be so angry with his people. This rhetorical question can be translated as a statement. AT: "Do not let your anger burn against your people ... a mighty hand." or "Do not be so angry with your people ... a mighty hand." (See: Metaphor and Rhetorical Question)
great power ... mighty hand
These two phrases share similar meanings and are combined for emphasis. (See: Doublet)
a mighty hand
Here the word "hand" refers to the things Yahweh did. AT: "and the powerful things you did" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Yahweh
stiff-necked
anger
nation
power
might
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 32:9-10 God was apparently prepared to disown his people,…
32:9-10 God was apparently prepared to disown his people, since they had broken their covenant with him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.