Pro 29:1 | KingComments | STEP | This verse is a warning against persisting in sin and ignoring “much reproof” to repent. The reproofs can be given by parents, for example, or by the government. God can also use a particular event for it, such as an accident. Through all these reproofs, He wants to appeal to the conscience. We clearly see here the patience of God. He does not judge all at once, but calls for repentance. Every reproof He sends is a call. But he “who hardens [his] neck”, who time after time does not listen, and resists the reproofs, or concludes that all is not so bad, “will suddenly be broken beyond remedy”. The phrase “hardens [his] neck” brings to mind an ox that will not bend its neck under a yoke. Applied to a human being, it represents someone who, despite numerous attempts to get him to do so, refuses to do what is in his own best interest. Then a condition enters that no remedy is possible (cf. ). The verse also contains the serious message for the sinner that the time to repent is limited. “Behold, now is “the acceptable time”, behold, now is “the day of the salvation”“ ( ). God’s patience is great, repentance is still possible now, but it will stop sometime and then it will be forever too late. There will be no second chance.

‏ Proverbs 29:1

Who Hardens His Neck Will Suddenly Be Broken

This verse is a warning against persisting in sin and ignoring “much reproof” to repent. The reproofs can be given by parents, for example, or by the government. God can also use a particular event for it, such as an accident. Through all these reproofs, He wants to appeal to the conscience. We clearly see here the patience of God. He does not judge all at once, but calls for repentance. Every reproof He sends is a call.

But he “who hardens [his] neck”, who time after time does not listen, and resists the reproofs, or concludes that all is not so bad, “will suddenly be broken beyond remedy”. The phrase “hardens [his] neck” brings to mind an ox that will not bend its neck under a yoke. Applied to a human being, it represents someone who, despite numerous attempts to get him to do so, refuses to do what is in his own best interest. Then a condition enters that no remedy is possible (cf. 2Chr 36:16).

The verse also contains the serious message for the sinner that the time to repent is limited. “Behold, now is “the acceptable time”, behold, now is “the day of the salvation”“ (2Cor 6:2). God’s patience is great, repentance is still possible now, but it will stop sometime and then it will be forever too late. There will be no second chance.