Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were,.... Obstinate and refractory, like heifers unaccustomed to the yoke, which draw back from it, and will not submit to it:
but yield yourselves unto the Lord; be subject unto him, or "give the hand" q to him, as a token of subjection and homage, or of entering into covenant with him, promising for the future to serve and obey him:
and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever; set apart for worship and service, until the Messiah should come:
and serve the Lord your God; there, in the temple, according to his prescribed will:
that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you; which had already broke out, in suffering the Assyrians to invade their land, and distress them.
q תנו יד "date manum", Pagninus, Montanus, &c.