For [they are] impudent children and stiffhearted. I do send thee unto them; and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 4. For they are impudent children.] Heb., Hard of face. Sin hath added such an impudence in their faces, that they can blush no more than a sackbut. Os tuum ferreum, saith Cicero to Piso, that brazen face of thine; and Durus hic vultus lachrimare nescit, thou canst not blush, much less bleed, for thine offences, saith Seneca to one.
And stiff hearted.] Duri cordes, incurvi cervicati, quosque citius fregeris quam flexeris, such as will sooner break than bend. Many of our hearers, alas! are no better. We do even wash a tile sheard, draw water with a sieve, &c.
I do send thee unto them.] About hard service; sed curare exegeris, non curationem, a It is the care, and not the cure, of the charge that is charged upon thee.
Thou shalt say unto them.] Proficiscere et prophetato. Thou shalt be as my mouth. Jer 15:19
a Bernard.