Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.







A curse on him who gets evil profits for his family, so that he may put his resting-place on high and be safe from the hand of the wrongdoer!


For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.

Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

And having knowledge of their thoughts he said to them, Every kingdom having division in itself is made waste, and every town or house having division in itself will come to destruction.

But he, having knowledge of their thoughts, said to them, Every kingdom in which there is division is made waste; and a house in which there is division comes to destruction.




And one of the people said to him, Master, give an order to my brother to make division of the heritage with me. But he said, Man, who made me a judge or a maker of decisions for you? And he said to them, Take care to keep yourselves free from the desire for property; for a man's life is not made up of the number of things which he has. read more.
And he said to them, in a story, The land of a certain man of great wealth was very fertile: And he said to himself, What is to be done? for I have no place in which to put all my fruit. And he said, This I will do: I will take down my store-houses and make greater ones, and there I will put all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have a great amount of goods in store, enough for a number of years; be at rest, take food and wine and be happy. But God said to him, You foolish one, tonight I will take your soul from you, and who then will be the owner of all the things which you have got together? So that is what comes to the man who gets wealth for himself, and has not wealth in the eyes of God.

All you beasts of the field, come together for your meat, even all you beasts of the wood. His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dogs without tongues, unable to make a sound; stretched out dreaming, loving sleep. Yes, the dogs are for ever looking for food; while these, the keepers of the sheep, are without wisdom: they have all gone after their pleasure, every one looking for profit; they are all the same. read more.
Come, they say, I will get wine, and we will take strong drink in full measure; and tomorrow will be like today, full of pleasure.

He whose desires are fixed on profit is a cause of trouble to his family; but he who has no desire for offerings will have life.


Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

My son, if sinners would take you out of the right way, do not go with them. If they say, Come with us; let us make designs against the good, waiting secretly for the upright, without cause; Let us overcome them living, like the underworld, and in their strength, as those who go down to death; read more.
Goods of great price will be ours, our houses will be full of wealth; Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag: My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways: For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life. Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird: And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves. Such is the fate of everyone who goes in search of profit; it takes away the life of its owners.


Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill: And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes. And now, you people of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, be the judges between me and my vine-garden. read more.
Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes? And now, this is what I will do to my vine-garden: I will take away the circle of thorns round it, and it will be burned up; its wall will be broken down and the beasts of the field will go through it; And I will make it waste; its branches will not be touched with the knife, or the earth worked with the spade; but blackberries and thorns will come up in it: and I will give orders to the clouds not to send rain on it. For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help. Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.


Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! The Lord of armies has said to me secretly, Truly, numbers of great and fair houses will be waste, with no one living in them. For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain. read more.
Cursed are those who get up early in the morning to give themselves up to strong drink; who keep on drinking far into the night till they are heated with wine! And corded instruments and wind-instruments and wine are in their feasts: but they give no thought to the work of the Lord, and they are not interested in what his hands are doing. For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water. For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it. And the poor man's head is bent, and the great man goes down on his face, and the eyes of pride are put to shame: But the Lord of armies is lifted up as judge, and the Holy God is seen to be holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will get food as in their grass-lands, and the fat cattle will be feasting in the waste places. Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin! Who say, Let him do his work quickly, let him make it sudden, so that we may see it: let the design of the Holy One of Israel come near, so that it may be clear to us. Cursed are those who give the name of good to evil, and of evil to what is good: who make light dark, and dark light: who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter! Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge! Cursed are those who are strong to take wine, and great in making mixed drinks! Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him. For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel. For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town. And he will let a flag be lifted up as a sign to a far-off nation, whistling to them from the ends of the earth: and they will come quickly and suddenly. There is no weariness among them, and no man is feeble-footed: they come without resting or sleeping, and the cord of their shoes is not broken. Their arrows are sharp, and every bow is bent: the feet of their horses are like rock, and their wheels are like a rushing storm. The sound of their armies will be like the voice of a lion, and their war-cry like the noise of young lions: with loud cries they will come down on their food and will take it away safely, and there will be no one to take it out of their hands. And his voice will be loud over him in that day like the sounding of the sea: and if a man's eyes are turned to the earth, it is all dark and full of trouble; and the light is made dark by thick clouds.



So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's. And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other. Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land. read more.
Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh; here is seed for you to put in your fields. And when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones. And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. Then Joseph made a law which is in force to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part; only the land of the priests did not become his.

A curse on the designers of evil, working on their beds! in the morning light they do it, because it is in their power. They have a desire for fields and take them by force; and for houses and take them away: they are cruel to a man and his family, even to a man and his heritage.