67 Bible Verses about ethics, incentives towards

For those ruling are not a terror to the good works, but to the evil; and dost thou wish not to be afraid of the authority? that which is good be doing, and thou shalt have praise from it, for of God it is a ministrant to thee for good; and if that which is evil thou mayest do, be fearing, for not in vain doth it bear the sword; for of God it is a ministrant, an avenger for wrath to him who is doing that which is evil.

Judges and authorities thou dost make to thee within all thy gates which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, for thy tribes; and they have judged the people -- a righteous judgment.

'According to the tenor of the law which they direct thee, and according to the judgment which they say to thee thou dost do; thou dost not turn aside from the word which they declare to thee, right or left. And the man who acteth with presumption, so as not to hearken unto the priest (who is standing to serve there Jehovah thy God), or unto the judge, even that man hath died, and thou hast put away the evil thing from Israel,

'When there is a strife between men, and they have come nigh unto the judgment, and they have judged, and declared righteous the righteous, and declared wrong the wrong-doer,

Judge ye the weak and fatherless, The afflicted and the poor declare righteous. Let the weak and needy escape, From the hand of the wicked deliver them.

I exhort, then, first of all, there be made supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, for all men: for kings, and all who are in authority, that a quiet and peaceable life we may lead in all piety and gravity, for this is right and acceptable before God our Saviour,read more.
who doth will all men to be saved, and to come to the full knowledge of the truth;

Be subject, then, to every human creation, because of the Lord, whether to a king, as the highest, whether to governors, as to those sent through him, for punishment, indeed, of evil-doers, and a praise of those doing good;

For, if ye may forgive men their trespasses He also will forgive you -- your Father who is in the heavens; but if ye may not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

'Wherefore hast thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do the evil thing in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite thou hast smitten by the sword, and his wife thou hast taken to thee for a wife, and him thou hast slain by the sword of the Bene-Ammon. 'And now, the sword doth not turn aside from thy house unto the age, because thou hast despised Me, and dost take the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be to thee for a wife;

Happy the kind -- because they shall find kindness.

for in what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and in what measure ye measure, it shall be measured to you.

so also my heavenly Father will do to you, if ye may not forgive each one his brother from your hearts their trespasses.'

for the judgment without kindness is to him not having done kindness, and exult doth kindness over judgment.

Lo, for strife and debate ye fast, And to smite with the fist of wickedness, Ye fast not as to -day, To sound in the high place your voice.

Add not to bring in a vain present, Incense -- an abomination it is to Me, New moon, and sabbath, calling of convocation! Rendure not iniquity -- and a restraint! Your new moons and your set seasons hath My soul hated, They have been upon me for a burden, I have been weary of bearing. And in your spreading forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you, Also when ye increase prayer, I do not hear, Your hands of blood have been full.

And they come in unto thee as the coming in of a people, And they sit before thee -- My people, And have heard thy words, and they do them not, For doting loves with their mouth they are making, After their dishonest gain their heart is going.

'Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:

Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye give tithe of the mint, and the dill, and the cumin, and did neglect the weightier things of the Law -- the judgment, and the kindness, and the faith; these it behoved you to do, and those not to neglect.

'But woe to you, the Pharisees, because ye tithe the mint, and the rue, and every herb, and ye pass by the judgment, and the love of God; these things it behoveth to do, and those not to be neglecting.

God they profess to know, and in the works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work disapproved.

But your iniquities have been separating Between you and your God, And your sins have hidden The Presence from you -- from hearing.

Cast me not forth from Thy presence, And Thy Holy Spirit take not from me.

Iniquity, if I have seen in my heart, The Lord doth not hear.

With their flock and with their herd, They go to seek Jehovah, and do not find, He hath withdrawn from them.

Then do they cry unto Jehovah, And He doth not answer them, And hideth His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.

and make not sorrowful the Holy Spirit of God, in which ye were sealed to a day of redemption.

because he who is sowing to his own flesh, of the flesh shall reap corruption; and he who is sowing to the Spirit, of the Spirit shall reap life age-during;

'And it hath been, if thou dost not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God to observe to do all His commands, and His statutes, which I am commanding thee to-day, that all these revilings have come upon thee, and overtaken thee:

Thy princes are apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them. Therefore -- the affirmation of the Lord -- Jehovah of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: Ah, I am eased of Mine adversaries, And I am avenged of Mine enemies,

have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites,

for all of us it behoveth to be manifested before the tribunal of the Christ, that each one may receive the things done through the body, in reference to the things that he did, whether good or evil;

Put to death, then, your members that are upon the earth -- whoredom, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and the covetousness, which is idolatry -- because of which things cometh the anger of God upon the sons of the disobedience,

peace pursue with all, and the separation, apart from which no one shall see the Lord,

for ye were once darkness, and now light in the Lord; as children of light walk ye,

let it not be! we who died to the sin -- how shall we still live in it?

and for all he died, that those living, no more to themselves may live, but to him who died for them, and was raised again.

Lie not one to another, having put off the old man with his practices, and having put on the new, which is renewed in regard to knowledge, after the image of Him who did create him;

Become, then, followers of God, as children beloved, and walk in love, as also the Christ did love us, and did give himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odour of a sweet smell,

I am Jehovah thy God, who hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants.

I call upon you, therefore, brethren, through the compassions of God, to present your bodies a sacrifice -- living, sanctified, acceptable to God -- your intelligent service;

not according to command do I speak, but because of the diligence of others, and of your love proving the genuineness, for ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that because of you he became poor -- being rich, that ye by that poverty may become rich.

who did give himself for us, that he might ransom us from all lawlessness, and might purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;

in this we have known the love, because he for us his life did lay down, and we ought for the brethren the lives to lay down;

and of doing good, and of fellowship, be not forgetful, for with such sacrifices God is well-pleased.

Wherefore also we are ambitious, whether at home or away from home, to be well pleasing to him,

the children! obey the parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord;

for our exhortation is not out of deceit, nor out of uncleanness, nor in guile, but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the good news, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who is proving our hearts,

As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more,

and whatever we may ask, we receive from Him, because His commands we keep, and the things pleasing before Him we do,

Who goeth up into the hill of Jehovah? And who riseth up in His holy place? The clean of hands, and pure of heart, Who hath not lifted up to vanity his soul, Nor hath sworn to deceit.

To do righteousness and judgment, Is chosen of Jehovah rather than sacrifice.

For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.

Is not this the fast that I chose -- To loose the bands of wickedness, To shake off the burdens of the yoke, And to send out the oppressed free, And every yoke ye draw off? Is it not to deal to the hungry thy bread, And the mourning poor bring home, That thou seest the naked and cover him, And from thine own flesh hide not thyself?

and to love Him out of all the heart, and out of all the understanding, and out of all the soul, and out of all the strength, and to love one's neighbour as one's self, is more than all the whole burnt-offerings and the sacrifices.'

religion pure and undefiled with the God and Father is this, to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation -- unspotted to keep himself from the world.

Jesus answered and said to him, 'If any one may love me, my word he will keep, and my Father will love him, and unto him we will come, and abode with him we will make;

'And now, Israel, what is Jehovah thy God asking from thee, except to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, to keep the commands of Jehovah, and His statutes which I am commanding thee to-day, for good to thee?

A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who doth sojourn in Thy tent? Who doth dwell in Thy holy hill? He who is walking uprightly, And working righteousness, And speaking truth in his heart. He hath not slandered by his tongue, He hath not done to his friend evil; And reproach he hath not lifted up Against his neighbour.read more.
Despised in his eyes is a rejected one, And those fearing Jehovah he doth honour. He hath sworn to suffer evil, and changeth not; His silver he hath not given in usury, And a bribe against the innocent Hath not taken; Whoso is doing these is not moved to the age!

he who is overcoming shall inherit all things, and I will be to him -- a God, and he shall be to me -- the son,

Righteousness -- righteousness thou dost pursue, so that thou livest, and hast possessed the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.

and all these blessings have come upon thee, and overtaken thee, because thou dost hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God:

And he hath been as a tree, Planted by rivulets of water, That giveth its fruit in its season, And its leaf doth not wither, And all that he doth he causeth to prosper.

For a sun and a shield is Jehovah God, Grace and honour doth Jehovah give. He withholdeth not good To those walking in uprightness.

Thus said Jehovah: 'Keep ye judgment, and do righteousness, For near is My salvation to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.' O the happiness of a man who doth this, And of a son of man who keepeth hold on it, Keeping the sabbath from polluting it, And keeping his hand from doing any evil.

Then thou callest, and Jehovah answereth, Thou criest, and He saith, 'Behold Me.' If thou turn aside from thy midst the yoke, The sending forth of the finger, And the speaking of vanity, And dost bring out to the hungry thy soul, And the afflicted soul dost satisfy, Then risen in the darkness hath thy light, And thy thick darkness is as noon. And Jehovah doth lead thee continually, And hath satisfied in drought thy soul, And thy bones He armeth, And thou hast been as a watered garden, And as an outlet of waters, whose waters lie not.read more.
And they have built out of thee the wastes of old, The foundations of many generations thou raisest up, And one calleth thee, 'Repairer of the breach, Restorer of paths to rest in.' If thou dost turn from the sabbath thy foot, Doing thine own pleasure on My holy day, And hast cried to the sabbath, 'A delight,' To the holy of Jehovah, 'Honoured,' And hast honoured it, without doing thine own ways, Without finding thine own pleasure, And speaking a word. Then dost thou delight thyself on Jehovah, And I have caused thee to ride on high places of earth, And have caused thee to eat the inheritance of Jacob thy father, For the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken!

that thou mayest not appear to men fasting, but to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father, who is seeing in secret, shall reward thee manifestly.

but when thou mayest make a feast, be calling poor, maimed, lame, blind, and happy thou shalt be, because they have not to recompense thee, for it shall be recompensed to thee in the rising again of the righteous.'