Proverbs 1:24

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 (; ). 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, 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 (; ).