⁹ The Lord also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked^(A) people.

²⁷ For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the Lord now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!

⁴ The descendants are obstinate^[a] and hardhearted.^(A) I am sending you to them, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’

⁷ But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me.^(A) For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted. ⁸ Look, I have made your face as hard as their faces and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.^{(B) 9} I have made your forehead like a diamond, harder than flint. Don’t be afraid of them or discouraged by the look on their faces, though they are a rebellious house.”