Because I have called, and ye refused. A pause may be imagined, and seems to be implied, between this and the preceding verses (22 and 23), when the address passes into a new phase—from that of invitation and promise to that of judgment and stern denunciation (Proverbs 1:24-27).
In the subsection the antecedent clauses are Proverbs 1:24, Proverbs 1:25, introduced by the conjunction "because" ( יַעַן, yaan; quia, Vulgate), which expresses the reason or cause for the conclusion in Proverbs 1:26 and Proverbs 1:27, introduced by "I also," to which the "because" answers.
A similar grammatical construction and judgment is to be found in Isaiah: "I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I Spake, they did not hear" (Isaiah 66:4; see also Jeremiah 7:13).
Refused; i.e. refused to hearken, as signified in the LXX. ὑπακούσατε. I have stretched out my hand. A forensic gesture to arrest attention. The expression is equivalent to "I have spread out my hands" (Isaiah 65:2); cf.
"Then Paul stretched forth the hand ( ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα)" (Acts 26:1). Regarded ( מַקְשִׁיב, mak'shiv). The original idea of the verb קַשַׁב (kashav), used here, is that of erecting or pricking up the ear, like the Latin arrigere, sc.
aures, in Plaut; 'Rud.,' 5, 2, 6; and cf. "arrectisque auribus adstant" (Virgil, 'AEneid,' 1:153).