'My People' in the Bible

“Has a nation changed godsWhen they were not gods?But My people have changed their gloryFor that which does not profit.

“For My people have committed two evils:They have forsaken Me,The fountain of living waters,To hew for themselves cisterns,Broken cisternsThat can hold no water.

“O generation, heed the word of the Lord.Have I been a wilderness to Israel,Or a land of thick darkness?Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;We will no longer come to You’?

“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,Or a bride her attire?Yet My people have forgotten MeDays without number.

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse,

“For My people are foolish,They know Me not;They are stupid childrenAnd have no understanding.They are shrewd to do evil,But to do good they do not know.”

‘For wicked men are found among My people,They watch like fowlers lying in wait;They set a trap,They catch men.

The prophets prophesy falsely,And the priests rule on their own authority;And My people love it so!But what will you do at the end of it?

“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially,Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’But there is no peace.

O daughter of my people, put on sackclothAnd roll in ashes;Mourn as for an only son,A lamentation most bitter.For suddenly the destroyerWill come upon us.

“I have made you an assayer and a tester among My people,That you may know and assay their way.”

“But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.’

“Even the stork in the skyKnows her seasons;And the turtledove and the swift and the thrushObserve the time of their migration;But My people do not knowThe ordinance of the Lord.

“They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially,Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’But there is no peace.

Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land:“Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?”“Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?”

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken;I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me.

Is there no balm in Gilead?Is there no physician there?Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?

Oh that my head were watersAnd my eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and nightFor the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the desertA wayfarers’ lodging place;That I might leave my peopleAnd go from them!For all of them are adulterers,An assembly of treacherous men.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts,“Behold, I will refine them and assay them;For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

which I commanded your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice, and do according to all which I command you; so you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’

Thus says the Lord concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

Then if they will really learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, ‘As the Lord lives,’ even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, they will be built up in the midst of My people.

“You will say this word to them,‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day,And let them not cease;For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow,With a sorely infected wound.

“I will winnow them with a winnowing forkAt the gates of the land;I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people;They did not repent of their ways.

‘For My people have forgotten Me,They burn incense to worthless godsAnd they have stumbled from their ways,From the ancient paths,To walk in bypaths,Not on a highway,

Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord.

“Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

“But if they had stood in My council,Then they would have announced My words to My people,And would have turned them back from their evil wayAnd from the evil of their deeds.

who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?

Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the Lord, “because he has preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

For behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel and Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.’”

‘You shall be My people,And I will be your God.’”

“At that time,” declares the Lord, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.”

“I will fill the soul of the priests with abundance,And My people will be satisfied with My goodness,” declares the Lord.

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

“Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.

“My people have become lost sheep;Their shepherds have led them astray.They have made them turn aside on the mountains;They have gone along from mountain to hillAnd have forgotten their resting place.

“Come forth from her midst, My people,And each of you save yourselvesFrom the fierce anger of the Lord.