30 Bible Verses about Nations

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

Put them in [reverent] fear of You, O Lord,
So that the nations may know they are but [frail and mortal] men. Selah.

For the kingship and the kingdom are the Lord’s
And He rules over the nations.

This day I will begin to put the dread and the fear of you on the peoples (pagans) under the whole heaven, who, when they hear the reports about you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

But on that nation whom your descendants will serve I will bring judgment, and afterward they will come out [of that land] with great possessions.

You [Cyrus of Persia, soon to conquer Babylon] are My battle-ax or maul and weapon of war -- "for with you I break nations in pieces, with you I destroy kingdoms, With you I break in pieces the horse and his rider, with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer,

When the Son of Man comes in His glory (His majesty and splendor), and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them [the people] from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats; And He will cause the sheep to stand at His right hand, but the goats at His left.

Those who [attempt to] sanctify themselves and cleanse themselves to enter [and sacrifice to idols] in the gardens, following after one in the midst, eating hog's flesh and the abomination [creeping things] and the [mouse -- "their works and their thoughts] shall come to an end together, says the Lord. For I know their works and their thoughts. And the time is coming when I will gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

For behold, in those days and at that time when I shall reverse the captivity and restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, and there will I deal with and execute judgment upon them for [their treatment of] My people and of My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and [because] they have divided My land. And they have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for juice [of the grape] and have drunk it. read more.
Yes, and what are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon and all the [five small] divisions of Philistia? Will you pay Me back for something? Even if you pay Me back, swiftly and speedily I will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head, Because you have taken My silver and My gold and have carried into your temples and palaces My precious treasures, And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that you may remove them far from their border. Behold, I will stir them up out of the place to which you have sold them and will return your deed [of retaliation] upon your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken it. Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong [a warrior]! Hasten and come, all you nations round about, and assemble yourselves; there You, O Lord, will bring down Your mighty ones (Your warriors). Let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for the [vintage] harvest is ripe; come, get down and tread the grapes, for the winepress is full; the vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the peoples] is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

“Therefore [you of the godly remnant of Judah, patiently] wait for Me,” declares the Lord,
“[Wait] for the day when I rise up as a witness [against the nations].
For it is My decision and My right to gather the nations,
To assemble kingdoms,
To pour out on them My indignation,
All [the heat of] My burning anger;
For [in that day] all the earth shall be consumed
By the fire of My zeal.

The burden or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, Who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him: Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup or bowl of reeling to all the peoples round about, and in the siege against Jerusalem will there also be a siege against and upon Judah. And in that day I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who lift it or burden themselves with it shall be sorely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall come and gather together against it.

Put them in [reverent] fear of You, O Lord,
So that the nations may know they are but [frail and mortal] men. Selah.

“I will make those who oppress you consume their own flesh [in mutually destructive wars]
And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine;
And all mankind will know [with a knowledge grounded in personal experience] that I, the Lord, am your Savior
And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else.

Thus I shall magnify Myself and demonstrate My greatness and sanctify Myself, and I will be recognized and will make Myself known in the sight of many nations; they will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”’

Now to Him Who is able to strengthen you in the faith which is in accordance with my Gospel and the preaching of (concerning) Jesus Christ (the Messiah), according to the revelation (the unveiling) of the mystery of the plan of redemption which was kept in silence and secret for long ages, But is now disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, [to win them] to obedience to the faith,

“Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the Lord,
“For I am with you.
For I will make a full and complete end of all the nations
To which I have driven you;
Yet I will not make a full end of you.
But I will discipline and correct you appropriately
And by no means will I declare you guiltless or leave you unpunished.”

Therefore fear not, O My servant Jacob, says the Lord, nor be dismayed or cast down, O Israel; for behold, I will save you out of a distant land [of exile] and your posterity from the land of their captivity. Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease, and none will make him afraid or cause him to be terrorized and to tremble. For I am with you, says the Lord, to save you; for I will make a full and complete end of all the nations to which I have scattered you, but I will not make a full and complete end of you. But I will correct you in measure and with judgment and will in no sense hold you guiltless or leave you unpunished.

You [O degenerate children of Israel] are no more to Me than these [despised] Cushites, says the Lord. I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, but have I not [also] brought the Philistines out of Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom [of Israel's ten tribes] and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord.

You, O king, saw, and behold, [there was] a great image. This image which was mighty and of exceedingly great brightness stood before you, and the appearance of it was frightening and terrible. As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, Its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay [the baked clay of the potter]. read more.
As you looked, a Stone was cut out without human hands, which smote the image on its feet of iron and [baked] clay [of the potter] and broke them to pieces. Then the iron, the [baked] clay [of the potter], the bronze, the silver, and the gold were broken and crushed together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them could be found. And the Stone that smote the image became a great mountain or rock and filled the whole earth. This was the dream, and we will tell the interpretation of it to the king. You, O king, are king of the [earthly] kings to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory. And wherever the children of men dwell, and the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens -- "He has given them into your hand and has made you to rule over them all. You [king of Babylon] are the head of gold. And after you shall arise another kingdom [the Medo-Persian], inferior to you, and still a third kingdom of bronze [Greece under Alexander the Great] which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom [Rome] shall be strong as iron, since iron breaks to pieces and subdues all things; and like iron which crushes, it shall break and crush all these. And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of [baked] clay [of the potter] and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it some of the firmness and strength of iron, just as you saw the iron mixed with miry [earthen] clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of [baked] clay [of the potter], so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle and broken. And as you saw the iron mixed with miry and earthen clay, so they shall mingle themselves in the seed of men [in marriage bonds]; but they will not hold together [for two such elements or ideologies can never harmonize], even as iron does not mingle itself with clay. And in the days of these [final ten] kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break and crush and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.

In that day will the Lord guard and defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he who is [spiritually] feeble and stumbles among them in that day [of persecution] shall become [strong and noble] like David; and the house of David [shall maintain its supremacy] like God, like the Angel of the Lord Who is before them. And it shall be in that day that I will make it My aim to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Now [in Haran] the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favors] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others]. And I will bless those who bless you [who confer prosperity or happiness upon you] and curse him who curses or uses insolent language toward you; in you will all the families and kindred of the earth be blessed [and by you they will bless themselves].

since Abraham is destined to become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him?

The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time And said, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld [from Me] or begrudged [giving Me] your son, your only son, In blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. And your Seed (Heir) will possess the gate of His enemies, read more.
And in your Seed [ Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice.

Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants to multiply as the stars of the heavens, and will give to your posterity all these lands (kingdoms); and by your Offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, or by Him bless themselves,

You are the sons (descendants) of the prophets and [heirs] of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed (descendant) all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

I saw in the night visions, and behold, on the clouds of the heavens came One like a Son of man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And there was given Him [the Messiah] dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is one which shall not be destroyed.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations will bow down and worship before You,

As for Ishmael, I have heard and listened to you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will greatly multiply him [through his descendants]. He will be the father of twelve princes (chieftains, sheiks), and I will make him a great nation.

And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. Now Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking [Isaac]. Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be an heir with my son Isaac. read more.
And the thing was very grievous (serious, evil) in Abraham's sight on account of his son [Ishmael]. God said to Abraham, Do not let it seem grievous and evil to you because of the youth and your bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said to you, do what she asks, for in Isaac shall your posterity be called. And I will make a nation of the son of the bondwoman also, because he is your offspring.

Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God's hand which does it [and God's way]? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food? read more.
With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power]. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans]. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned]. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive].

The Lord at Your right hand will shatter kings in the day of His indignation. He will execute judgment [in overwhelming punishment] upon the nations; He will fill the valleys with the dead bodies, He will crush the [chief] heads over lands many and far extended.

And many people shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between the nations and shall decide [disputes] for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

But in the latter days it shall come to pass that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains; and it shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways, and we may walk in His paths. For the law shall go forth out of Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide for strong nations afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

The sons of Noah who went forth from the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan [born later]. These are the three sons of Noah, and from them the whole earth was overspread and stocked with inhabitants.

This is the history of the generations (descendants) of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. The sons born to them after the flood were: The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. read more.
The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. From these the coastland peoples spread. [These are the sons of Japheth] in their lands, each with his own language, by their families within their nations. The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt [Mizraim], Put, and Canaan. The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan. Cush became the father of Nimrod; he was the first to be a mighty man on the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar [in Babylonia]. Out of the land he [Nimrod] went forth into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, And Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; all these [suburbs combined to form] the great city. And Egypt [Mizraim] became the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines), and Caphtorim. Canaan became the father of Sidon his firstborn, Heth [the Hittites], The Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, The Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, The Arvadites, the Zemarites and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread abroad And the territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon as one goes to Gerar as far as Gaza, and as one goes to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations. To Shem also, the younger brother of Japheth and the ancestor of all the children of Eber [including the Hebrews], children were born. The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram. The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber. To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg [division], because [the inhabitants of] the earth were divided up in his days; and his brother's name was Joktan. Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. The territory in which they lived extended from Mesha as one goes toward Sephar to the hill country of the east. These are Shem's descendants by their families, their languages, their lands, and their nations. These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, within their nations; and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood.

As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.

The wicked flee when no man pursues them, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous are bold as a lion. When a land transgresses, it has many rulers, but when the ruler is a man of discernment, understanding, and knowledge, its stability will long continue.

Righteousness [moral and spiritual integrity and virtuous character] exalts a nation,
But sin is a disgrace to any people.

For as I passed along and carefully observed your objects of worship, I came also upon an altar with this inscription, To the unknown god. Now what you are already worshiping as unknown, this I set forth to you. The God Who produced and formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade shrines. Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything, for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people]. read more.
And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),

Say to God, How awesome and fearfully glorious are Your works! Through the greatness of Your power shall Your enemies submit themselves to You [with feigned and reluctant obedience]. All the earth shall bow down to You and sing [praises] to You; they shall praise Your name in song. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]! Come and see the works of God; see how [to save His people He smites their foes; He is] terrible in His doings toward the children of men. read more.
He turned the sea into dry land, they crossed through the river on foot; there did we rejoice in Him. He rules by His might forever, His eyes observe and keep watch over the nations; let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored by God] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
The people whom He has chosen as His own inheritance.

Why do the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) an empty scheme? The kings of the earth take their places; the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ). They say, Let us break Their bands [of restraint] asunder and cast Their cords [of control] from us. read more.
He Who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision [and in supreme contempt He mocks them]. He speaks to them in His deep anger and troubles (terrifies and confounds) them in His displeasure and fury, saying, Yet have I anointed (installed and placed) My King [firmly] on My holy hill of Zion.

The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
Even all the nations who forget God.