'My People' in the Bible

"No, my lord, hear me. I give you the field and the cave which [is] in it, I [also] give it to you in the sight of the children of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead."

And Esau said, "Let me leave some of my people with you." But he said, "{What need is there}? Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord."

You shall be over my house, and to your word all my people shall submit. Only [with respect to] the throne will I be greater than you."

Then he instructed them and said to them, "I am [about to be] gathered to my people. Bury me among my ancestors in the cave that [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

And Yahweh said, "Surely I have seen the misery of my people who [are] in Egypt, and I have heard their cry of distress because of their oppressors, for I know their sufferings.

And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, and [you must] bring my people, the {Israelites}, out from Egypt."

And afterward, Moses and Aaron went, and they said to Pharaoh, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a festival for me in the desert.'"

And I will take you {as my people}, and I will be {your God}, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the {forced labor} of Egypt.

And Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will put my hand into Egypt and bring out my divisions, my people, the {Israelites}, from the land of Egypt with great punishments.

And you must say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Release my people that they may serve me in the desert, and, look, you have not listened until now."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to Yahweh, and let him remove the frogs from me and from my people, and let me release the people so that they can sacrifice to Yahweh."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

But if you are not [about to] release my people, look, I [am about] to send out flies among you and among your servants and among your people and in your houses; and the houses of Egypt will fill up with the flies and also the ground that they are on.

But on that day I will distinguish the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, by there not being flies there, so that you will know that I [am] Yahweh in the midst of the land.

And I will put a distinction between my people and your people; this sign will be tomorrow.'"

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me."

And Yahweh said to Moses, "Start early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh. Look, [he is] going out to the water, and you must say to him, 'Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people so that they may serve me.

Still you [are] behaving haughtily to my people by not releasing them.

And Pharaoh sent and called Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time. Yahweh [is] the righteous [one], and I and my people [are] the wicked [ones].

And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and they said to him, "Thus says Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, 'Until when will you refuse to submit before me? Release my people so that they may serve me.

But if you [are] refusing to release my people, look, I [am] about to bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

And he called Moses and Aaron [at] night, and he said, "Get up, go out from the midst of my people, both you as well as the {Israelites}, and go, serve Yahweh, as you have said.

" 'If you lend money [to] my people, [to] the needy with you, you will not be to him as a creditor; you will not {charge him interest}.

And I will walk about in your midst, and I shall be your God, and you shall be my people.

And now, look, I [am about] to go to my people; I will advise you what this people will do to your people {in the following days}."

And Jephthah said to them, "I and my people were engaged in great conflict with the {Ammonites}; I called you, but you did not deliver me from their hand.

And Samson's wife wept before him, and she said, "You must hate me; you do not love me. You told the riddle to {my people}, but you have not explained [it] to me." He said to her, "I have not explained [it] to my father and mother. [Why] should I explain it to you?"

But Ruth said, "{Do not urge} me to leave you [or] to return from {following you}! For where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people [will be] my people and your God [will be] my God.

And so then my daughter, do not be afraid. All that you ask I will do for you, for the entire assembly of my people knows that you [are] a worthy woman.

And I thought {I would tell you} and say, '{Buy it in the presence of} those sitting and before the elders of my people,' if you want to redeem [it], redeem [it]. But if you do not want to redeem, tell me so that I may know, for there is no one except you to redeem [it], and I [am] after you." And he said, "I want to redeem [it]."

Why do you despise my sacrifice and my offering which I commanded [for my] dwelling place, while you honored your sons more than me by making yourselves fat from the best of all the offerings of my people Israel?

"This time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you must anoint him as leader over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of [the] Philistines. For I have seen [the suffering of] my people, because their cry [of distress] has come to me."

When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh answered him, "Here [is] the man about whom I told you! This [is the] one [who] will govern my people."

Then he said, "I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh your God."

So then, bring it about, because Yahweh had said to David, "Through the hand of David my servant [I am about] to save my people Israel from the hand of [the] Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies."

{For some time}, when Saul was king over us, {you were leading Israel in and out}. Yahweh had said to you, 'You shall be the shepherd of my people Israel, and you will be the leader over Israel.'"

In all of my going about among all the {Israelites}, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, 'Why did you not build me a cedar house?'" '

So then, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture {from following} the sheep to be a leader over my people, over Israel,

I will make a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they can dwell {in their own place}. They will not tremble [any] longer, and the children of wickedness will not afflict them again, as in the former days.

{In the manner that} I appointed judges over my people Israel, I will give you rest from all your enemies. And Yahweh declares to you that Yahweh will build a house for you.

You delivered me from the strife of my people; you preserved me as the head of the nations. A people I had not known served me.

And I will dwell {among} the {Israelites}, and I will not forsake my people Israel."

'From the day that I brought out my people Israel from Egypt I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house where my name might be, but I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

Go, tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: "Because I raised you from the midst of the people and I made you leader over my people Israel,

"Because I exalted you from the dust and I made you a leader over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and you caused my people Israel to sin, to provoke me with their sins,

Then he said to Jehoshaphat, "Will you go with me to the battle for Ramoth-Gilead?" Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, "{I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}."

He went and sent [a message] to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, "The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me against Moab for the battle?" And he said, "I will go up. {I am like you}; {my people are like your people}; {my horses are like your horses}."

He said to him, "Please say to her, 'Look, you took all this trouble, showing care for us; what is there [for me] to do for you? To speak for you to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She said, "I [am] living among my people."

"Return; you must say to Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'Thus says Yahweh the God of David your ancestor, "I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Look, I [am about to] heal you. On the third day you shall go up [to] the temple of Yahweh.

{For some time now}, even when Saul was king, you were {the one who led the army of Israel in battle}. And Yahweh your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel and will be leader over my people Israel.'"

In every [place] I have moved about, did I say one word [with] the judges of Israel I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, 'Why have you not built for me a house of cedar?'" '

So now, thus you shall say to my servant David, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, "I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over my people Israel,

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place and be in anguish no longer. And wicked men will no longer wear them down as before,

from the day that I commanded judges over my people Israel. And I will subdue your enemies, and I declare to you [that] Yahweh will build for you a house.

And King David rose to his feet and said, "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. {I myself wanted} to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and the footstool of our God, and I prepared to build.

And indeed, who [am] I, and who [are] my people that we retain power to offer according to these [offerings] willingly? For everything [is] from you, and from your hand we have given to you.

Then God said to Solomon, "Because this was with your heart and you did not ask for wealth, possessions, honor, and the lives of your enemies, and also did not ask for {long life}, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge that you might judge my people over whom I have made you king,

'From the day that I brought my people out of the land of Egypt I did not choose a city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in order for my name [to be] there. Nor did I choose a man to be leader over my people Israel.

But I have chosen my name to be there in Jerusalem, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.'

When I hold back the heavens so that there is not rain, and when I command the locust to devour the earth, and if I send disease among my people,

[then if] my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and will turn from their evil ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

And Ahab the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, "Will you go up with me to Ramoth-Gilead?" And he answered him, "I [am] as you [are], and my people [are] as your people with you in war."

Then Queen Esther answered, and she said, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it is good to the king, let my life be given to me at my petition and my people at my request;

I and my people have been sold to be destroyed and killed, to be annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves I would have kept quiet, because this is not a need sufficient to trouble the king."

For {how can I bear} to look on the disaster that will find my people, and {how can I bear} to look on the destruction of my family?"

All who do evil--do they not know, [they] who eat my people [as though] they were eating bread? They do not call on Yahweh.

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God.

Do not evildoers know, [they] who eat my people [as though] they were eating bread? They do not call on God.

Do not kill them, lest my people forget. Make them [to] wander by your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

Listen, O my people, to my teaching. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you; O Israel, if you would [but] listen to me.

But my people did not listen to my voice, and Israel did not yield to me.

Oh that my people would listen to me; [that] Israel would walk in my ways.

An ox knows its owner and a donkey the manger of its master. Israel does not know; my people do not understand.

My people--children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders are misleading [you], and they confuse the course of your paths.

{Why} do you crush my people and grind [the] face of [the] poor?" {declares} the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

Therefore my people will go into exile without knowledge, [and] their nobles [will be] men of hunger, and their multitude [is] parched [with] thirst.

to guide [the] needy away from legal claims, and to rob the justice from the poor of my people, to make widows their spoil; and they plunder orphans.

Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh of hosts: "My people who live [in] Zion, you must not be afraid of Assyria. It beats you with the rod, and it lifts up its staff against you {as the Egyptians did}.

whom Yahweh of hosts blessed, saying, "May Egypt my people be blessed, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and my inheritance, Israel."

Therefore I said, "Look away from me, let me {weep bitterly}; you must not insist on comforting me for the destruction of the daughter of my people."

Go, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors behind you; hide for {a very little} while, until [the] wrath has passed over.

over the soil of my people. It goes up [in] thorns [and] briers, indeed over all of [the] houses of joy [in the] jubilant city.

And my people will dwell in a settlement of peace and in a dwelling place of security and in undisturbed resting places.

"Comfort; comfort my people," says your God.

I was angry with my people; I profaned my inheritance, and I gave them into your hand. You did not {give} them mercy; on [the] aged you made your yoke very heavy.

"Listen attentively to me, my people, and my nation, listen to me! For a teaching will go out from me, and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to [the] peoples.

And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant [the] heavens and to found [the] earth, saying to Zion, 'You [are] my people.'"

For thus says the Lord Yahweh: "My people went down [to] Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him {without cause}.

And now what do I have here?"{declares} Yahweh, "for my people is taken without cause. Its rulers howl," {declares} Yahweh--"and my name [is] reviled continually, all day.

Therefore my people shall know my name, therefore in that day, that I [am] the one who speaks. {Here am I}."

He was taken by restraint of justice, and who concerned himself with his generation? For he was cut off from the land of [the] living; he [received a] blow because of the transgression of my people.

And one shall say, "Build up, build up! Clear [the] way! Remove [the] obstacles from the way of my people!"

"Call with [the] throat; you must not keep back! lift up your voice like trumpet, and declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

And he said, "Surely my people [are] children; they will not break faith." And he became a Savior to them.

And Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks, and the valley of Achor a resting place for herds for my people who have sought me.

And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem, and I will rejoice over my people, and [the] sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it, or [the] sound of a cry for help.

They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat. For the days of my people [shall be] like the days of tree, and my chosen ones shall enjoy the work of their hands.

Has a nation exchanged gods? And they [are] not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.