Bible Strands
Proverbs 1:24
Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Wisdom addresses the simple and scoffers at the climax of her opening appeal, just before detailing the consequences of their persistent rejection.
The words — The Hebrew קָרָאתִי (qarati) means "I called," and נָטִיתִי (natiti) means "I offered" or "stretched out." These verbs establish the verse as a factual record of divine initiative met with human refusal.
The thread — This pattern of rejected calling appears in Isaiah 65:12, where God calls and receives no answer, and Romans 10:21, which describes God holding out hands to a disobedient people. Jeremiah 7:13 also records God speaking repeatedly to a people who ignored the warnings.
Why it lands — The text states that the opportunity for correction was genuinely presented and consciously declined. It requires the reader to acknowledge that persistent refusal of instruction closes the path to further guidance.
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
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 65:12 I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
- Romans 10:21 But as for Israel he says: “All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”
- Jeremiah 7:13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,
- Isaiah 66:4 So I will choose their punishment and I will bring terror upon them, because I called and no one answered, I spoke and no one listened. But they did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight.”
- Hebrews 12:25 See to it that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if the people did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns us from heaven?
- Ezekiel 8:18 Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”
- Zechariah 7:11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Matthew 22:5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business.
- Isaiah 50:2 Why was no one there when I arrived? Why did no one answer when I called? Is My hand too short to redeem you? Or do I lack the strength to deliver you? Behold, My rebuke dries up the sea; I turn the rivers into a desert; the fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
- Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!