Thematic Bible: Turning


Thematic Bible



Indeed, he has not yet appointed [a time] for man to go to God in the judgment. He shatters the mighty without investigation, and he sets others in their place. Therefore he knows their works, and he overturns [them] [in the] night {so that} they are crushed. read more.
He strikes them {where the wicked stood}, {where there are onlookers}, because they have turned aside from him and have not understood any of his ways, so that [they] cause [the] cry of distress from [the] helpless to come to him, and he hears [the] cry of distress from [the] needy,

because the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there {before you}, and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned [back] from Yahweh, and Yahweh will not be with you."

For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evil in the eyes of Yahweh, {provoking him with the work of your hands}."

For our ancestors acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh. {They have turned their backs} [on it]. They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. And they did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes. read more.
Now behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives [are] in captivity on account of this.

And you have seen their detestable things and their idols of wood and stone, silver, and gold that [were] among them, so that {there is not} among you a man or a woman or a clan or a tribe {whose heart} turns {today} from [being] with Yahweh our God to go to serve the gods of these nations, so that there is not among you a root sprouting poison and wormwood. And then when he hears the words of this oath, then {he will assure himself} in his heart, {saying}, '{Safety shall be mine even though I go in the stubbornness of my heart},' thereby destroying the well-watered [land] [along] with the parched. read more.
Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for [by then] the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law. "And the next generation, [that is], your children who will rise [up] after you, and the foreigner who will come from a distant land, when they will see the plagues of that land and its diseases that Yahweh has inflicted upon it, will say, 'All its land is brimstone and salt left by fire, {none of its land will be sown}, and it will not make plants sprout out and it will not grow any vegetation; [it is] as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adman and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in his anger and in his wrath.' And all the nations will say, '{Why} has Yahweh done {such a thing} to this land? What [caused] the fierceness of this great anger?' And they will say, '[It is] because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, which he {made} with them {when he brought them out} from the land of Egypt. And they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods whom they did not know them and he had not allotted to them. So {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against that land to bring upon it all the curses written in this scroll, and Yahweh uprooted them from their land in anger and in wrath and in great fury, and he cast them into another land, {just as it is today}.' "The hidden [things] {belong to Yahweh} our God, but the revealed [things] {belong to us} [to know] and to our children {forever}, [in order] to do all the words of this law."

{Take care} so that your heart is not easily deceived, and you turn away, and you serve other gods, and you bow down to them. And [then] {the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you}, and he will shut up the heavens, and there shall not be rain, and [so] the ground will not give its produce, and you will perish quickly from the good land that Yahweh [is] giving to you. "And you shall put these, my words, on your heart and on your inner self, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be as an emblem between your eyes.

"See, I am setting {before you} {today} life and prosperity and death and disaster; what I am commanding you {today} [is] to love Yahweh your God by going in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the {land where you are going}. However, if your heart turns aside and you [do] not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, read more.
I declare to you {today} that you will certainly perish; {you will not extend your time} on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it.

"If ever you or any of your descendants turn from [following] me and do not keep my commandments [and] my ordinances that I have set before you and you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then I will cut Israel off from the face of the land that I have given to them, [even] the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast away from my face; and Israel shall become a proverb and an object of taunting among all the peoples. This house shall become a heap of ruins; all those passing by will be appalled by it and hiss, and they will say, 'On what account did Yahweh do this to this land and to this house?' read more.
And they will say, 'Because they have forsaken Yahweh their God who brought their ancestors out from the land of Egypt and they embraced other gods and bowed down to them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh brought on them all of this disaster.'"

"I struck you with blight and with mildew. Frequently the cutting locust devoured your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh. "I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh. "I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a stick snatched from [the] fire, and yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh. read more.
"Therefore, thus I will do to you, Israel. Because I will do this to you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God!


"And even now," {declares} Yahweh, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing." Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.

Why should any living person complain about his sin? Let us test and examine our ways; let us return to Yahweh.

A {saying}: 'Look, [if] a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him {and she becomes another man's wife}, will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted [yourself] [with] many lovers, [would] you now return to me?" {declares} Yahweh.

But you, you must return to your God; keep love and justice, and wait continually for your God.

And in Lystra a certain man was sitting powerless in his feet, lame from {birth}, who had never walked. This man listened [while] Paul was speaking. {Paul}, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet!" And he leaped up and began walking. read more.
And [when] the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have become like men [and] have come down to us!" And they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the {principal speaker}. And the priest of the [temple] of Zeus that was just outside the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates [and] was wanting to offer sacrifice, along with the crowds. But [when] the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about [it], they tore their clothing [and] rushed out into the crowd, shouting and saying, "Men, why are you doing these [things]? We also are men with the same nature as you, proclaiming the good news [that] you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things [that are] in them--


In the path of the wicked do not go; do not walk in the way of those who do evil. Avoid it; do not transgress it; turn away from it and pass by.

Yahweh warned Israel and Judah by the hand of his every prophet, [with] every seer saying, "Turn from all of your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my ordinances, according to all the law which I commanded your ancestors, which I sent to you by the hand of my servants the prophets."

And in Lystra a certain man was sitting powerless in his feet, lame from {birth}, who had never walked. This man listened [while] Paul was speaking. {Paul}, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet!" And he leaped up and began walking. read more.
And [when] the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have become like men [and] have come down to us!" And they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the {principal speaker}. And the priest of the [temple] of Zeus that was just outside the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates [and] was wanting to offer sacrifice, along with the crowds. But [when] the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about [it], they tore their clothing [and] rushed out into the crowd, shouting and saying, "Men, why are you doing these [things]? We also are men with the same nature as you, proclaiming the good news [that] you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things [that are] in them--

And [yet] they, the house of Israel, say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [Are] not my ways fair, house of Israel? {Are not your ways unfair?} "Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each one according to his ways," {declares} the Lord Yahweh. "Repent and turn around from all of your transgression, and it will not be as a stumbling block of iniquity to you.

"Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Return from your evil ways and your evil deeds!" ' But they did not hear and they did not pay attention to me," {declares} Yahweh.


Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 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 the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying}, "Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?" {declares} Yahweh. "Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so [are] you in my hand, O house of Israel. One moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to uproot, and to tear down, and to destroy [it]. read more.
But [if] that nation turns back from its evil that I have threatened against it, then I will relent concerning the disaster that I planned to do to it.


Only be strong and very courageous {to observe diligently the whole law} that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn aside from it, [to] the right or left, so that you may succeed {wherever you go}.

Be very strong to observe carefully all that is written in the scroll of the law of Moses so as not to turn aside from it, [to] the right or left,

"[So] you must be careful to do [just] as Yahweh your God commanded you; you shall not turn [to the] right or [to the] left. {In exactly the path} that Yahweh your God has commanded, you must go, so that you may live and {it will go well} for you and {you may live long} in the land that you will take possession of."


Say to them, '{As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{Surely I have no delight} in the death of the wicked, {except} in [the] wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil [ones], for why should you die, house of Israel?' "So you, son of man, say to {your people} [that] the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked {will not cause him to stumble} on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and [the] righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. When I say to the righteous, 'Certainly he will live,' and he trusted in his righteousness, and he [turns and he] does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. read more.
And when I say to the wicked, 'Certainly you will die,' but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness-- [for example], [the] wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores {stolen property}, he goes in the statutes of life [so as] not to do injustice--certainly he will live; he will not die. All of his {sins that he committed}, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live. "Yet {your people} say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [yet] their way is not fair. When [the] righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die {because of it}. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it {he will certainly live}! Yet you said, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' I will judge you, house of Israel, each [person] according to his ways."

And {when the righteous turns from his righteousness} and does injustice, and I place a stumbling block {before him}, he will die, for you did not warn him. Because of his sin he will die, and his righteousness that he did will not be remembered, and his blood I shall seek from your hand. And if you warn him, the righteous, not to sin, and [the] righteous does not sin, surely he will live, for he heeded a warning. And you will have saved your life."

And {when the righteous turns} from his righteousness, so that he does injustice, and does all of the detestable things that the wicked do, then will he live [because of] all of his righteousness that he did? [Those things] will not be remembered because of his infidelity that he displayed, and because of his {sin that he committed}. Through them he shall die. "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' Listen, now, house of Israel, is my way not fair? [Is it] not your ways [that] are not fair? When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and he does injustice, then he will die because of them; because of his injustice that he did he will die!


But if the wicked returns from all of his sins that he has done and he keeps all of my statutes and he does justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die! All of his transgressions that he committed will not be remembered against him. Through his righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I delight by any means [in the] death of [the] wicked, {declares} the Lord Yahweh, [and] not at his turning from his way, {so that} he lives?

Say to them, '{As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{Surely I have no delight} in the death of the wicked, {except} in [the] wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil [ones], for why should you die, house of Israel?' "So you, son of man, say to {your people} [that] the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked {will not cause him to stumble} on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and [the] righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin. When I say to the righteous, 'Certainly he will live,' and he trusted in his righteousness, and he [turns and he] does injustice, all of his righteousness will not be remembered, and because of his injustice that he did, because of it he will die. read more.
And when I say to the wicked, 'Certainly you will die,' but he returns from his sin and he does justice and righteousness-- [for example], [the] wicked returns a pledge for a loan, he restores {stolen property}, he goes in the statutes of life [so as] not to do injustice--certainly he will live; he will not die. All of his {sins that he committed}, they will not be remembered against him, and he did justice and righteousness; certainly he will live. "Yet {your people} say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' [yet] their way is not fair. When [the] righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, then he will die {because of it}. And when the wicked turns from his wickedness, and he does justice and righteousness, because of it {he will certainly live}! Yet you said, 'The way of the Lord is not fair!' I will judge you, house of Israel, each [person] according to his ways."


But know this, that in the last days difficult times will come, for people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, hardhearted, irreconcilable, slanderous, without self-control, savage, with no interest for what is good, read more.
traitors, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God, maintaining a form of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid these [people].


You must not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal; I [am] Yahweh your God.