Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. After God has called to grace in vain, He now denounces wrath (Isaiah 65:12; Isaiah 66:4). God calls externally by His ministers, by His written Word, and by His judgments, and inwardly by His awakening appeals, and by the stings of conscience. Compare Luke 13:8-9, the barren fig-tree; showing how God spares no means, gentle or severe, of moving sinners to repentance: and it is only when all have proved unavailing, through the sinner's own perversity, that He at last 'cuts him down.' Stretching out the hands is the gesture of entreaty (Isaiah 65:2; Romans 10:21).