a thorn · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
harder
חָזָ֥קcha.Zak
H2389
strong (usu. in a bad sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
flint
מִצֹּ֖רmi.Tzor
H6864
a stone (as if pressed hard or to a point) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
made
נָתַ֣תִּיna.Ta.ti
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
forehead
מִצְחֶ֑ךָmitz.Che.kha
H4696
the forehead (as open and prominent) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
fear
תִירָ֤אti.Ra'
H3372
to fear · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
dismayed
תֵחַ֣תte.Chat
H2865
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
looks
מִפְּנֵיהֶ֔םmi.pe.nei.Hem
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
rebellious
מְרִ֖יme.Ri
H4805
bitterness · noun, common masculine singular absolute
house
בֵּֽיתbeit-
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 2:6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell am…
Jeremiah 1:8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee…
Isaiah 50:7 For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not b…
Zechariah 7:12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spiri…
Isaiah 41:14 Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
Jeremiah 17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them th…
Micah 3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israe…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 3:1-15
These verses are fitly joined by some translators to the foregoing chapter, as being of a piece with it and a continuation of the same vision. The prophets received the word from God that they might deliver it to the people of God, furnished themselves that they might furnish them with the knowledge of the mind and will of God. Now here the prophet is taught,
I. How he must receive divine revelation himself, Eze 3:1. Christ (whom he saw upon the throne, Eze 1:26) said to him, "Son of man, eat this roll, admit this revelation into thy understanding, take it, take the meaning of it, understand it aright, admit it into thy heart, apply it, and be affected with it; imprint it in thy mind, rumina…
As . . . flint--so Messiah the antitype (Isa 50:7; compare Jer 1:8, Jer 1:17).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 3:7
Impudent and hard-hearted - "Stiff of forehead, and hard of heart." - Margin. The marginal readings on several verses here are very nervous and very correct.
John Gill on Ezekiel 3:9
As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead,.... Or, "than a rock" (o); the "adamant" has its name in Greek, because it cannot be conquered or subdued, neither by the hammer, nor by fire; the one cannot break, nor this other consume it; land it is called "shamir" in Hebrew, from its preserving itself from both; it will cut iron in pieces, which is harder than stone, and therefore must be harder than that. Bochart takes it to be the same with "smiris", a hard stone, which jewellers use to polish their gems with; see Jeremiah 17:1. The design of the simile is to set forth the courage and fortitude of mind the prophet was endowed with, in order to face an impudent and hardhearted p…
"Fear them not, neither be afraid at their face, for they are a rebellious house." This has already been said above. But it should be noted how harsh a house is held to be, whose harshness is repeated so frequently. Therefore the sinner must be rebuked and never feared, because it is a provoking house. For a man ought to have been feared if he himself had feared the Author of all things as a man should. For he who did not have the sense of reason for fearing God is to be feared in nothing, inasmuch as he is not what he ought to have been.
But what is a sinner except one who is wounded? And what is a preacher except a physician? If therefore the sinner who lies in his wound is not ashamed, why should the physician be ashamed who provides healing through medicines? Often indeed it happens that a preacher is listened to reverently; but sometimes he is so despised by the perverse as if he were speaking nothing useful to them. Hence it is rightly said now: "I have made your face like adamant and like flint." Both diamond and flint are hard; but one of them is precious, the other worthless. The diamond is taken for adornment, the flint is trodden underfoot by travelers. And it often happens that when we observe those who receive our correction too humbly, we are ashamed to say certain things to them. But sometimes it happens that when we see those who disregard and hold in contempt our rebuke, we are afraid to bring them the word of preaching. But if we think rightly, we take up the authority of exhortation or rebuke both toward those by whom we observe ourselves to be honored, and toward those by whom we see ourselves to be despised, so that we ought neither to blush at the humility of the former, nor to fear the pride of the latter. Let it therefore be said: "I have made your face like diamond," that is, if you are honored by your hearers; "I have made your face like flint," if you are trampled upon and despised by your hearers, so that neither through honor conferred may the tongue be restrained by shame, nor through contempt may it be silent from weakness.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adamant — (Heb. shamir), Ezek. 3:9. The Greek word adamas means diamond. This stone is not referred to, but corundum or some kind of hard steel. It is an emblem of firmness in resisting adversaries of the…
Diamond — (1.) A precious gem (Heb. yahalom’, in allusion to its hardness), otherwise unknown, the sixth, i.e., the third in the second row, in the breastplate of the high priest, with the name of Naphtali…
Flint — Abounds in all the plains and valleys of the wilderness of the forty years’ wanderings. In Isa. 50:7 and Ezek. 3:9 the expressions, where the word is used, means that the “Messiah would be firm and…
Adamant · A flint — A flint
Boldness, Holy · Exhortations to — Exhortations to
Courage · SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Flint · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prophets · Were required: To be bold and undaunted — Were required: To be bold and undaunted
Rebellion Against God · Ministers: Sent to those guilty of — Ministers: Sent to those guilty of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Ezekiel 3:8-9
Ezekiel 3:8-9
8. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
8. Ecce posui facies tuas (faciem tuam) duram contra facies ipsorum, et frontem tuam duram contra frontem ipsorum.
9. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
9. Tanquam adamantem fortiorem lapide (vel saxo) posui frontem tuam, ne timeas ipsos, et non frangaris a fade (vel a praesentia ipsorum) quia domus rebellionis sunt. [70]
Ezekiel was forewarned of the obstinacy of the people, yea, even of their desperate wickedness. Now God strengthens him lest he should desp…
After the Lord had pointed out to the prophet the difficulties of the call laid upon him, He prepared him for the performance of his office, by inspiring him with the divine word which he is to announce. - Eze 2:8. And thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee, Be not stiff-necked like the stiff-necked race; open thy mouth, and eat what I give unto thee. Eze 2:9. Then I saw, and, lo, a hand outstretched towards me; and, lo, in the same a roll of a book. Eze 2:10. And He spread it out before me; the same was written upon the front and back: and there were written upon it lamentations, and sighing, and woe. Eze 3:1. And He said to me: Son of man, what thou findest eat; eat the roll, and go and…
God would make Ezekiel as thoroughly persistent in presenting God’s message as the people were in rejecting it.
Rashi on Ezekiel 3:9
As shamir It is a kind of worm, to which they show a stone, and it [the stone] splits in front of it. [Gloss: Another explanation: Shumir is a term for a strong rock, and in Targum Yerushalmi it is used as the translation of צוּר, rock, and so too is the Targum of מִצוּר הָחֲלָמִישּׂ as מִשְּׂמִיר טִנָרָא “out of the flinty rock” (Deut. 8:15). Shamir also means the strongest iron. For just as the strongest rock is called shamir, so is the [element] iron called shamir because of its strength. [This does not appear in all editions.]
