“ But our people before us became proud and stubborn. They didn’t obey your commands.

“但我们的列祖行事狂傲，硬着颈项不听从你的诫命；

“‘但我们的祖先行事狂傲，硬着颈项不听从你的诫命。

“‘但我们的祖先行事狂傲，硬着颈项不听从你的诫命。

但我们的祖先行事狂傲，顽固不化，不肯听从你的诫命。

但是我们的列祖狂妄自大，硬着颈项，不听从你的命令。

「但我們的列祖行事狂傲，硬着頸項不聽從你的誡命；

「『但我們的祖先行事狂傲，硬着頸項不聽從你的誡命。

「『但我們的祖先行事狂傲，硬着頸項不聽從你的誡命。

但我們的祖先行事狂傲，頑固不化，不肯聽從你的誡命。

但是我們的列祖狂妄自大，硬著頸項，不聽從你的命令。

『但是他們、我們的祖宗、狂妄傲慢，硬着脖子，不聽你的誡命，

惟我列祖、驕矜強項、不聽爾命、

當時之民、即我列祖、妄自矜詡、強項不馴、不聽從爾命、

當時之民、即我列祖、狂妄強項、不聽主命、

“ But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff- necked, and they did not obey your commands.

“ But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments.

“ But our ancestors were proud and stubborn, and they paid no attention to your commands.

But our ancestors acted arrogantly; they became stiff-necked and did not listen to your commands.

“ But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments.

“ But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks, And did not heed Your commandments.

But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

But our ancestors acted arrogantly; they became stiff-necked and did not listen to Your commands.

But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

“ But they– our ancestors– behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments.

“ But they and our fathers behaved proudly, hardened their neck, didn’t listen to your commandments,

I know how you refuse to obey the Lord. I know how stubborn you are. You have refused to obey him while I’ve been living among you. So you will certainly refuse to obey him after I’m dead!

You sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh. You sent plagues on all his officials. In fact, you sent them on all the people of Egypt. You knew how they treated our people. They looked down on them. But you made a name for yourself. That name remains to this very day.

“ You warned them so that they would obey your law again. But they became proud. They didn’t obey your commands. They sinned against your rules. You said,‘ Anyone who obeys my rules will live by them.’ But the people didn’t care about that. They turned their backs on you. They became very stubborn. They refused to listen to you.

“ But my people wouldn’t listen to me. Israel wouldn’t obey me.So I let them go their own stubborn way. I let them follow their own sinful plans.“ I wish my people would listen to me! I wish Israel would live as I want them to live!Then I would quickly bring their enemies under control. I would use my power against their attackers.

“ You stubborn people! You won’t obey! You won’t listen! You are just like your people of long ago! You always oppose the Holy Spirit!

“ The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says,‘ Listen! I am going to punish this city and all the villages around it. I am going to bring against them all the trouble I have announced. That’s because my people were stubborn. They would not listen to what I said.’ ”

They would not be like their people who lived long ago. Those people were stubborn. They refused to obey God. They turned away from him. Their spirits were not faithful to him.The soldiers of Ephraim were armed with bows. But they ran away on the day of battle.They didn’t keep the covenant God had made with them. They refused to live by his law.They forgot what he had done. They didn’t remember the wonders he had shown them.He did miracles right in front of their people who lived long ago. At that time they were living in Egypt, in the area of Zoan.God parted the Red Sea and led them through it. He made the water stand up like a wall.He guided them with the cloud during the day. He led them with the light of a fire all night long.He broke the rocks open in the desert. He gave them as much water as there is in the oceans.He brought streams out of a rocky cliff. He made water flow down like rivers.But they continued to sin against him. In the desert they refused to obey the Most High God.They were stubborn and tested God. They ordered him to give them the food they wanted.They spoke against God. They said,“ Can God really put food on a table in the desert?It is true that he struck the rock, and streams of water poured out. Huge amounts of water flowed down. But can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?”When the Lord heard what they said, he was very angry. His anger broke out like fire against the people of Jacob. He became very angry with Israel.That was because they didn’t believe in God. They didn’t trust in his power to save them.But he gave a command to the skies above. He opened the doors of the heavens.He rained down manna for the people to eat. He gave them the grain of heaven.Mere human beings ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.He made the east wind blow from the heavens. By his power he caused the south wind to blow.He rained down meat on them like dust. He sent them birds like sand on the seashore.He made the birds come down inside their camp. The birds fell all around their tents.People ate until they couldn’t eat any more. He gave them what they had wanted.But even before they had finished eating, God acted. He did it while the food was still in their mouths.His anger rose up against them. He put to death the strongest among them. He struck down Israel’s young men.But even after all that, they kept on sinning. Even after the wonderful things he had done, they still didn’t believe.So he brought their days to an end like a puff of smoke. He ended their years with terror.Every time God killed some of them, the others would seek him. They gladly turned back to him again.They remembered that God was their Rock. They remembered that God Most High had set them free.But they didn’t mean it when they praised him. They lied to him when they spoke.They turned away from him. They weren’t faithful to the covenant he had made with them.But he was full of tender love. He forgave their sins and didn’t destroy his people. Time after time he held back his anger. He didn’t let all his burning anger blaze out.He remembered that they were only human. He remembered they were only a breath of air that drifts by and doesn’t return.How often they refused to obey him in the desert! How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!Again and again they tested God. They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.They didn’t remember his power. They forgot the day he set them free from those who had treated them so badly.They forgot how he had shown them his signs in Egypt. They forgot his miracles in the area of Zoan.He turned the river of Egypt into blood. The people of Egypt couldn’t drink water from their streams.He sent large numbers of flies that bit them. He sent frogs that destroyed their land.He gave their crops to the grasshoppers. He gave their food to the locusts.He destroyed their vines with hail. He destroyed their fig trees with sleet.He killed their cattle with hail. Their livestock were struck by lightning.Because he was so angry with Egypt, he caused them to have great trouble. In his great anger he sent destroying angels against them.God prepared a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their lives. He gave them over to the plague.He killed the oldest son of each family in Egypt. He struck down the oldest son in every house in the land of Ham.But he brought his people out like a flock. He led them like sheep through the desert.He guided them safely, and they weren’t afraid. But the Red Sea swallowed up their enemies.And so he brought his people to the border of his holy land. He led them to the central hill country he had taken by his power.He drove out the nations to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He gave the tribes of Israel a place to make their homes.But they tested God. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn’t keep his laws.They were like their people who lived long ago. They turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn’t shoot straight. They couldn’t be trusted.They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.When God saw what the people were doing, he was very angry. He turned away from them completely.He deserted the holy tent at Shiloh. He left the tent he had set up among his people.He allowed the ark to be captured. Into the hands of his enemies he sent the ark where his glory rested.He let his people be killed by swords. He was very angry with them.Fire destroyed their young men. Their young women had no one to marry.Their priests were killed by swords. Their widows weren’t able to weep.Then the Lord woke up as if he had been sleeping. He was like a warrior waking up from the deep sleep caused by wine.He drove back his enemies. He put them to shame that will last forever.He turned his back on the tents of the people of Joseph. He didn’t choose to live in the tribe of Ephraim.Instead, he chose to live in the tribe of Judah. He chose Mount Zion, which he loved.There he built his holy place as secure as the heavens. He built it to last forever, like the earth.He chose his servant David. He took him from the sheep pens.He brought him from tending sheep to be the shepherd of his people Jacob. He made him the shepherd of Israel, his special people.David cared for them with a faithful and honest heart. With skilled hands he led them.

When Israel grew fat, they became stubborn. When they were filled with food, they became fat and heavy. They left the God who made them. They turned away from the Rock who saved them.

I knew how stubborn you were. Your neck muscles were as unbending as iron. Your forehead was as hard as bronze.

He says,“ Don’t be stubborn as you were at Meribah. Don’t be stubborn as you were that day at Massah in the desert.There your people of long ago really tested me. They did it even though they had seen what I had done for them.For 40 years I was angry with them. I said,‘ Their hearts are always going astray. They do not know how I want them to live.’

It has just been said,“ Listen to his voice today. If you hear it, don’t be stubborn. You were stubborn when you opposed me.”( Psalm 95:7, 8)

We have sinned, just as our people of long ago did. We too have done what is evil and wrong.

Zedekiah also refused to remain under the control of King Nebuchadnezzar. The king had forced Zedekiah to make a promise in God’s name. But Zedekiah’s heart became very stubborn. He wouldn’t turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.

“ You who are now living, consider my message. I am saying,“ Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been like a land of deep darkness? Why do my people say,‘ We are free to wander. We won’t come to you anymore’?

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Forgive the Israelites for being so stubborn. Don’t judge them for the evil and sinful things they’ve done.

But the people wouldn’t listen. They were as stubborn as their people of long ago had been. Those people didn’t trust in the Lord their God.

“ I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses.“ They are stubborn.

But I wish they would always have respect for me in their hearts. I wish they would always obey all my commands. Then things would go well with them and their children forever.

But they refused to obey him. They made his Holy Spirit sad. So he turned against them and became their enemy. He himself fought against them.

But build one another up every day. Do it as long as there is still time. Then none of you will become stubborn. You won’t be fooled by sin’s tricks.

But you wouldn’t go up. You refused to obey the command of the Lord your God.You spoke against him in your tents. You said,“ The Lord hates us. That’s why he brought us out of Egypt to hand us over to the Amorites. He wanted to destroy us.Where can we go? The men who checked out the land have made us afraid. They say,‘ The people are stronger and taller than we are. The cities are large. They have walls that reach up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ ”Then I said to you,“ Don’t be terrified. Don’t be afraid of them.The Lord your God will go ahead of you. He will fight for you. With your own eyes you saw how he fought for you in Egypt.You also saw how the Lord your God brought you through the desert. He carried you everywhere you went, just as a father carries his son. And now you have arrived here.”In spite of that, you didn’t trust in the Lord your God.He went ahead of you on your journey. He was in the fire at night and in the cloud during the day. He found places for you to camp. He showed you the way you should go.

The Lord your God is giving you this good land to take as your own. But you must understand that it isn’t because you are a godly nation. In fact, you are stubborn.

The Lord sent you out from Kadesh Barnea. He said,“ Go up and take over the land I have given you.” But you refused to do what the Lord your God had commanded you to do. You didn’t trust him or obey him.You have been refusing to obey the Lord as long as I’ve known you.

I wish you would pay attention to my commands. If you did, peace would flow over you like a river. Godliness would sweep over you like the waves of the ocean.

Whoever still won’t obey after being warned many times will suddenly be destroyed. Nothing can save them.

He said,“ I am the Lord your God. Listen carefully to me. Do what is right in my eyes. Pay attention to my commands. Obey all my rules. If you do, I will not send on you any of the sicknesses I sent on the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.”

“ My people, listen and I will warn you. Israel, I wish you would listen to me!

The Lord also said to me,“ I have seen these people. They are so stubborn!

Don’t be stubborn. Don’t be as your people were. Obey the Lord. Come to his temple. He has set it apart to himself forever. Serve the Lord your God. Then he’ll stop being angry with you.

But you are stubborn. In your heart you are not sorry for your sins. You are storing up anger against yourself. The day of God’s anger is coming. Then his way of judging fairly will be shown.