Isaiah Chapter 48 verse 4 Holy Bible

ASV Isaiah 48:4

Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
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BBE Isaiah 48:4

Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;
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DARBY Isaiah 48:4

Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
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KJV Isaiah 48:4

Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
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WBT Isaiah 48:4


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WEB Isaiah 48:4

Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
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YLT Isaiah 48:4

From my knowing that thou art obstinate, And a sinew of iron thy neck, And thy forehead brass,
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - I knew that thou art obstinate; literally, hard, or stiff - the adjective used in the phrase translated in our version "stiff-necked." The idea is still more forcibly expressed in the following clause - thy neck is an iron sinew; or rather, a band of iron, as stiff as if it were made-of the hardest metal. And thy brow brass. The exact simile here used does not occur elsewhere in Scripture. It seems to be the origin of our expressions, "brazen,... brazen-faced," "to brazen a thing out." The forehead may be hardened for a good or for a bad purpose; in obstinacy or in a determination to resist evil (comp. Isaiah 1:7 and Ezekiel 3:8 with Jeremiah 5:3; Ezekiel 3:7; Zechariah 7:12). Here the hardening is evil, marking defiance and self-will.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Because I knew that thou art obstinate . . .--The point is that Jehovah foresees not only the conquests of Cyrus, but the obduracy of His own people. In Egypt (Jeremiah 44) and in Babylon, as of old, they were still a stiff-necked people, inclined (Isaiah 48:5), to ascribe their deliverance to another god, and to worship that god in the form of a graven image.