Isaiah Chapter 48 verse 4 Holy Bible
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
read chapter 48 in ASV
Because I saw that your heart was hard, and that your neck was an iron cord, and your brow brass;
read chapter 48 in BBE
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass,
read chapter 48 in DARBY
Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
read chapter 48 in KJV
read chapter 48 in WBT
Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
read chapter 48 in WEB
From my knowing that thou art obstinate, And a sinew of iron thy neck, And thy forehead brass,
read chapter 48 in YLT
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.