Psalms 81:12

So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart,

That they might walk in their own counsels. (R.V.).

God punishes men by leaving them to their own self-willed courses of action, which prove their ruin. Cp. Job 8:4; Proverbs 1:30 ff.; Romans 1:24 ff.; 2 Thessalonians 2:10 ff. -Stubbornness" is a favourite word with Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:24, &c.), occurring elsewhere only in Deuteronomy 29:19.

Most editions both of the Bible and of the Prayer Book wrongly print hearts"for heart's. See Scrivener, Auth. Ed. of Engl. Bible, p. 152, and Earle, Psalter of1539, p. 313.