# stiff-necked, stubborn, stubbornness

## Definition:

The term “stiff-necked” is an idiom used in the Bible to describe people who keep disobeying God and refuse to repent. Such people are very proud and will not submit to God’s authority.

* Similarly, the term “stubborn” describes a person who refuses to change his mind or actions even when urged to do so. Stubborn people will not listen to good advice or warnings that other people give them.
* The Old Testament described the Israelites as “stiff-necked” because they did not listen to the many messages from God’s prophets who urged them to repent and turn back to Yahweh.
* If a neck is “stiff” it does not bend easily. The project language may have a different idiom that communicates that a person is “unbending” in that he refuses to change his ways.
* Other ways to translate this term could include “pridefully stubborn” or “arrogant and unyielding” or “refusing to change.”

(See also: [arrogant](../other/arrogant.md), [proud](../other/proud.md), [repent](../kt/repent.md))

## Bible References:

* [Acts 7:51](rc://en/tn/help/act/07/51)
* [Deuteronomy 9:13-14](rc://en/tn/help/deu/09/13)
* [Exodus 13:14-16](rc://en/tn/help/exo/13/14)
* [Jeremiah 3:17](rc://en/tn/help/jer/03/17)

## Word Data:

* Strong’s: H47, H3513, H5637, H6203, H6484, H7185, H7186, H7190, H8307, G483, G4644, G4645