21 Bible Verses about Backsliding

But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Therefore, a lion from the forest will strike them down.
A wolf from an arid plain will ravage them.
A leopard keeps watch over their cities.
Anyone who leaves them will be torn to pieces
because their rebellious acts are many,
their unfaithful deeds numerous.

The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”

But as for those who turn aside to crooked ways,
the Lord will banish them with the evildoers.

Peace be with Israel.

But your iniquities have built barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have made Him hide His face from you
so that He does not listen.

So the couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the hand of the king and his officials, and according to the king’s command, saying, “Israelites, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel so that He may return to those of you who remain, who have escaped from the grasp of the kings of Assyria.

Return to the One the Israelites have greatly rebelled against.

Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,
for I am unfailing in My love.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.

“Return, you faithless children”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.
“Here we are, coming to You,
for You are the Lord our God.

You were running well. Who prevented you from obeying the truth?

But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a complete and pure devotion to Christ.

You foolish Galatians! Who has hypnotized you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed as crucified? I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now going to be made complete by the flesh?

You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace.

Isn’t Ephraim a precious son to Me,
a delightful child?
Whenever I speak against him,
I certainly still think about him.
Therefore, My inner being yearns for him;
I will truly have compassion on him.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,
for I am unfailing in My love.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.

and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their wrongdoing and their sin.”

Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,
brood of evildoers,
depraved children!
They have abandoned the Lord;
they have despised the Holy One of Israel;
they have turned their backs on Him.

The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves,
and a good man, what his deeds deserve.

Though our guilt testifies against us,
Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake.
Indeed, our rebellions are many;
we have sinned against You.

My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call to Him on high,
He will not exalt them at all.

But they were disobedient and rebelled against You.
They flung Your law behind their backs
and killed Your prophets
who warned them
in order to turn them back to You.
They committed terrible blasphemies.

They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’”

The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn cow.
Can the Lord now shepherd them
like a lamb in an open meadow?

For our transgressions have multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgression and deception against the Lord, turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far off. For truth has stumbled in the public square, and honesty cannot enter.

Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree
and have not obeyed My voice.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

Though our guilt testifies against us, Lord, act for Your name's sake. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You. Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are You like an alien in the land, like a traveler stopping only for the night? Why are You like a helpless man, like a warrior unable to save? Yet You are among us, Lord, and we are called by Your name. Don't leave us!

Restore us, God;
look on us with favor,
and we will be saved.

Return to us, God of our salvation,
and abandon Your displeasure with us.

Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;
renew our days as in former times,

I will listen to what God will say;
surely the Lord will declare peace
to His people, His godly ones,
and not let them go back to foolish ways.

So, whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.

Happy is the one who is always reverent,
but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

You will keep in perfect peace the mind [that is] dependent [on You], for it is trusting in You. Trust in the Lord forever, because in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting rock!

The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves,
and a good man, what his deeds deserve.

Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

The one who leads the upright into an evil way
will fall into his own pit,
but the blameless will inherit what is good.

“But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea!

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won’t be tempted.

My brothers, if any among you strays from the truth, and someone turns him back, he should know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his life from death and cover a multitude of sins.

But My righteous one will live by faith;
and if he draws back,
I have no pleasure in him.

For if, having escaped the world’s impurity through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in these things and defeated, the last state is worse for them than the first.

Why have these people turned away?
Why is Jerusalem always turning away?
They take hold of deceit;
they refuse to return.

Though our guilt testifies against us,
Yahweh, act for Your name’s sake.
Indeed, our rebellions are many;
we have sinned against You.

"Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept [them]. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of Hosts. But you ask: "How can we return?" "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me!" You ask: "How do we rob You?" "[By not making the payments] of 10 percent and the contributions. You are suffering under a curse, yet you-the whole nation-are [still] robbing Me. read more.
Bring the full 10 percent into the storehouse so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this way," says the Lord of Hosts. "See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.

Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed,
because the Lord holds his hand.

Though a righteous man falls seven times,
he will get up,
but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call to Him on high,
He will not exalt them at all.

Though a righteous man falls seven times,
he will get up,
but the wicked will stumble into ruin.

Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.
“Here we are, coming to You,
for You are the Lord our God.

I will heal their apostasy;
I will freely love them,
for My anger will have turned from him.

But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

They treacherously turned away like their fathers;
they became warped like a faulty bow.

God heard and became furious;
He completely rejected Israel.

But he denied it in front of everyone: "I don't know what you're talking about!" When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, "This man was with Jesus the Nazarene!" And again he denied it with an oath, "I don't know the man!" read more.
After a little while those standing there approached and said to Peter, "You certainly are one of them, since even your accent gives you away." Then he started to curse and to swear with an oath, "I do not know the man!" Immediately a rooster crowed,

“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” So Samuel became angry and cried out to the Lord all night.

But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves,
and a good man, what his deeds deserve.

Pride comes before destruction,
and an arrogant spirit before a fall.

But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first.

Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and bankrupt elemental forces? Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.

I will not set anything worthless before my eyes.
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.

I will depart and return to My place
until they recognize their guilt and seek My face;
they will search for Me in their distress.

I will not set anything worthless before my eyes.
I hate the practice of transgression;
it will not cling to me.

For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry or associate with them and they with you, know for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.