42 Bible Verses about Olives

“You shall sow but you shall not reap;
You shall tread olives, but shall not anoint yourself with oil,
And [you will extract juice from] the grapes, but you shall not drink the wine.

and with the one lamb there shall be one-tenth of a measure of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten [olive] oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering [to be poured out].

“Command the children of Israel to bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light [of the golden lampstand], to make a lamp burn continually.

also a tenth of an ephah of finely-milled flour as a grain offering, mixed with a fourth of a hin of pressed oil.

This also is yours: the heave offering of their gift, including all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you as a continual allotment; everyone in your household who is [ceremonially] clean may eat it. All the best of the fresh [olive] oil, and all the best of the new wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the Lord, I give them to you. The first ripe fruits of all that is in the land, which they bring to the Lord, shall be yours; everyone in your household who is [ceremonially] clean may eat it.

Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect]. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; read more.
a land where you will eat bread without shortage, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

Baal-hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive and sycamore trees in Shephelah (the lowlands); and Joash was in charge of the stores of [olive] oil.

Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built [fortified] cities for defense in Judah. He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, read more.
Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, which are fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He strengthened the fortresses and put officers in them, with supplies of food, [olive] oil, and wine.

As I was in the prime of my days,
When the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

When the Almighty was still with me
And my boys were around me,

When my steps [through rich pastures] were washed with butter and cream [from my livestock],
And the rock poured out for me streams of oil [from my olive groves].

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Tell the children of Israel to take an offering for Me. From every man whose heart moves him [to give willingly] you shall take My offering. This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, read more.
blue, purple, and scarlet fabric, fine twisted linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, [olive] oil for lighting, balsam for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting stones for the [priest’s] ephod and for the breastpiece.

Moreover, the Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself the best spices: five hundred shekels of liquid myrrh, half as much—two hundred and fifty—of sweet-scented cinnamon, and two hundred and fifty of fragrant cane, and five hundred shekels of cinnamon blossom according to the sanctuary shekel, and a hin of olive oil. read more.
You shall make of these a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture, the work of a perfumer; it shall be a sacred anointing oil. You shall anoint the Tent of Meeting with it, and the ark of the Testimony, and the table [for the bread] and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin [for cleansing] and its base. You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy (set apart for God). You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve as priests to Me. You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be a holy and sacred anointing oil, to Me [alone] throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on anyone’s body, nor shall you make any like it in the same composition. It is holy, and it shall be sacred to you. Whoever prepares any like it or puts any of it on a layman shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].’”

Now Jesus was also saying to the disciples, “There was a certain rich man who had a manager [of his estate], and accusations [against this man] were brought to him, that this man was squandering his [master’s] possessions. So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management [of my affairs], for you can no longer be [my] manager.’ The manager [of the estate] said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig [for a living], and I am ashamed to beg. read more.
I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people [who are my master’s debtors] will welcome me into their homes.’ So he summoned his master’s debtors one by one, and he said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of [olive] oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ And his master commended the unjust manager [not for his misdeeds, but] because he had acted shrewdly [by preparing for his future unemployment]; for the sons of this age [the non-believers] are shrewder in relation to their own kind [that is, to the ways of the secular world] than are the sons of light [the believers].

“And merchants of the earth will weep and grieve over her, because no one buys their cargo (goods, merchandise) anymore— cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet; all kinds of citron (scented) wood and every article of ivory and every article of very costly and lavish wood and bronze and iron and marble; and cinnamon and spices and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat; of cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and carriages; and of slaves and human lives.

Is the seed still in the barn? As to the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree—they have not produced. Yet from this day on I will bless you [in the harvest of your crops].’”

The dove came back to him in the evening, and there, in her beak, was a fresh olive leaf. So Noah knew that the water level had subsided from the earth.

“You will bring out a great quantity of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locusts will consume it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because the worm will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourselves with the oil, because your olives will drop off.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: “Surrender to me and come out to [meet] me, and every man may eat from his own vine and fig tree, and every man may drink the waters of his own well, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, so that you may live and not die.” Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads and incites you, saying, “The Lord will rescue us!”

“I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia, the myrtle and the olive tree;
I will place the juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,

“I wounded you with blight [from the hot, blasting east wind] and with mildew;
And the caterpillar devoured
Your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

So they proclaimed and published an announcement in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, “Go out to the hills and bring olive branches, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy branches to make booths, as it is written.”

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these who are the natural branches back into [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree?

And I will grant authority to My two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years), dressed in sackcloth.” These [witnesses] are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. read more.
These [two witnesses] have the power [from God] to shut up the sky, so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophesying [regarding judgment and salvation]; and they have power over the waters (seas, rivers) to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every [kind of] plague, as often as they wish.

And the angel who was speaking with me came back and awakened me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side [supplying it continuously with oil].” read more.
So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?” Then the angel who was speaking with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This [continuous supply of oil] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel [prince of Judah], saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of whom the oil is a symbol],’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘What are you, O great mountain [of obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who will rebuild the temple] you will become a plain (insignificant)! And he will bring out the capstone [of the new temple] with loud shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’” Also the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know (recognize, understand fully) that the Lord of hosts has sent me [as His messenger] to you. Who [with reason] despises the day of small things (beginnings)? For these seven [eyes] shall rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord which roam throughout the earth.” Then I said to him [who was speaking with me], “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on its left?” And a second time I said to him, “What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes by which the golden oil is emptied?” And he answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said, “These are the two sons of fresh oil [Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah] who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth [as His anointed ones].”

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust [confidently] in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.

Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us!’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I give up my fatness by which God and men are honored, and go to wave over the trees?’

“He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,
And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
Within the innermost part of your house;
Your children will be like olive plants
Around your table.

“Now in that day the [former] glory of Jacob [Israel—his might, his population, his prosperity] will fade,
And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

“And it will be like the reaper gathering the standing grain,
As his arm harvests the ears of grain;
Yes, it will be like one gleaning ears of grain
In the [fertile] Valley of Rephaim.

“Yet gleanings will be left in the land [of Israel] like the shaking of the olive tree,
Two or three olives on the topmost branch,
Four or five on the [outermost] branches of the fruitful tree,”
Declares the Lord, the God of Israel.

The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.

There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All jubilation is darkened,
The joy of the earth is banished.

Horrible desolation is left in the city,
And the gate is battered into ruins.
read more.

For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over [and only a little of the fruit remains].

The Lord [acknowledged you once as worthy and] called your name,
“A green olive tree, fair and beautiful in fruit and form”;
But with the roar of a great tempest
He has set fire to it,
And its branches are worthless. For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil and horror against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me [to anger] by offering sacrifices and burning incense to Baal.

I shall be like the dew to Israel;
He will blossom like the lily,
And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

His shoots will sprout,
And his beauty will be like the olive tree
And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

I say then, has God rejected and disowned His people? Certainly not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His [chosen] people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left [of the prophets], and they are seeking my life.” read more.
But what is God’s response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too then, at the present time there has come to be a remnant [a small believing minority] according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace [God’s unmerited favor], it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace [it would not be a gift but a reward for works]. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking [that is, God’s favor by obedience to the Law], but the elect [those chosen few] obtained it, while the rest of them became hardened and callously indifferent; just as it is written [in Scripture],

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear,
[a spiritual apathy that has continued] to this very day.” And David says,

“Let their table (abundance) become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a retribution to them.

“Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see,
And make their backs bend [under their burden] forever.” So I say, have they stumbled so as to fall [to spiritual ruin]? Certainly not! But by their transgression [their rejection of the Messiah] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous [when they realize what they have forfeited]. Now if Israel’s transgression means riches for the world [at large] and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment and reinstatement be! But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in the hope of somehow making my fellow countrymen jealous [by stirring them up so that they will seek the truth] and perhaps save some of them. For if their [present] rejection [of salvation] is for the reconciliation of the world [to God], what will their acceptance [of salvation] be but [nothing less than] life from the dead? If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites). But if some of the branches were broken off, and you [Gentiles], being like a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share with them the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the [broken] branches and exalt yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by your faith [as believers understanding the truth of Christ’s deity]. Do not be conceited, but [rather stand in great awe of God and] fear [Him]; for if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], He will not spare you either. Then appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: to those who fell [into spiritual ruin], severity, but to you, God’s gracious kindness—if you continue in His kindness [by faith and obedience to Him]; otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they [the unbelieving Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these who are the natural branches back into [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree? I do not want you, believers, to be unaware of this mystery [God’s previously hidden plan]—so that you will not be wise in your own opinion—that a partial hardening has [temporarily] happened to Israel [to last] until the full number of the Gentiles has come in; and so [at that time] all Israel [that is, all Jews who have a personal faith in Jesus as Messiah] will be saved; just as it is written [in Scripture],

“The Deliverer (Messiah) will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”

“This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel, the Jews [at present] are enemies [of God] for your sake [which is for your benefit], but from the standpoint of God’s choice [of the Jews as His people], they are still loved by Him for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call]. Just as you once were disobedient and failed to listen to God, but have now obtained mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient so that they too may one day receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all [Jew and Gentile alike]. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

“You shall sow your land six years and harvest its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat [what the land grows naturally]; whatever they leave the animals of the field may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

“Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore (solemnly promised) to [give] your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give you, [a land with] great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn (excavated) cisterns (wells) which you did not dig out, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are full and satisfied,

I gave you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you live in them; you eat from vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches and turning the foxes tail to tail, he put a torch between each pair of tails. When he had set the torches ablaze, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and he burned up the heap of sheaves and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves.

He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them for himself to his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. He will appoint them for himself to be commanders over thousands and over fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his implements of war and equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers. read more.
He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.

So I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunting by the [pagan] nations, our enemies? And likewise I, my brothers, and my servants are lending them money and grain. Please, let us stop [charging] this interest. Please, give back to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, and also a hundredth part of the money, the grain, the new wine, and the oil that you are lending them.”

“They captured fortified cities and a fertile land.
They took possession of houses full of all good things,
Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves,
And fruit trees in abundance.
So they ate and were filled and became fat,
And they reveled and were delighted in Your great goodness.

Having said these things, Jesus left with His disciples and went across the ravine of the Kidron. There was a garden there, which He and His disciples entered. Now Judas, who was betraying Him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with His disciples. So Judas, having obtained the Roman cohort and some officers from the high priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns and torches and weapons.

Within the Holy of Holies he made two cherubim (sculptured figures) of olive wood, each ten cubits high. One wing of the cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was also five cubits long; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The [wingspan of the] other cherub was also ten cubits. The measurements and cut (shape) of the two cherubim were the same; read more.
the height of the one cherub was ten cubits, as was the other. He put the cherubim [above the ark] inside the innermost room of the house, and their wings were spread out so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub was touching the other wall; and their inner wings were touching each other in the middle of the house. Solomon also overlaid the cherubim with gold.

For the entrance of the Holy of Holies he made two [folding] doors of olive wood, the lintel (header above the door) and five-sided doorposts (frames). So he made two doors of olive wood, and he carved on them carvings of cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers; and overlaid them with gold; and he hammered out overlays of gold on the cherubim and palm decorations. Also he made for the entrance of the [outer] sanctuary (the Holy Place) four-sided doorposts (frames) of olive wood read more.
and two doors of cypress wood; the two leaves of the one door turned on pivots and were folding, and the two leaves of the other door also turned on pivots. He carved cherubim, palm-shaped decorations, and open flowers on the doors, and overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work.