Ezekiel 3:7

But the house of Israel will be unwilling to listen to you, since they are unwilling to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God addresses Ezekiel after commissioning him to the exiles, contrasting Israel’s refusal to heed him with the hypothetical receptivity of foreign nations.

The words — The Hebrew לֹא יֹאבוּ לִשְׁמֹעַ (lo yo’vu li-shmoa) literally means "they will not be willing to listen," while אֵינָם (ei-nam) translates "they are not," emphasizing a conscious refusal rather than a lack of capacity.

The thread — The text records this refusal in Ezekiel 3:7, links it to the stubbornness described in Ezekiel 2:4, and finds a parallel in the principle of messenger rejection outlined in Luke 10:16.

Why it lands — The verse states that the house of Israel will not listen because they will not listen to God, demanding the reader recognize that prophetic rejection stems from the people’s hardened refusal to heed the divine word itself.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.

Cross-references

Luke 10:16 Whoever listens to you listens to Me; whoever rejects you rejects Me; and whoever rejects Me rejects the One who sent Me.”
1 Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
Ezekiel 2:4 They are obstinate and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’
John 15:20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
Isaiah 3:9 The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than stone and refused to repent.
Jeremiah 25:3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
Jeremiah 44:4 Yet I sent you all My servants the prophets again and again, saying: ‘Do not do this detestable thing that I hate.’
Jeremiah 44:16 “As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you!