67 Bible Verses about ethics, incentives towards

For rulers are not a terror to the good work, but to the evil. Do you desire to have no fear of the authority? Do that which is good, and you will have praise from the same, for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.

You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. The man who does presumptuously, in not listening to the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel.

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked;

"Defend the weak, the poor, and the fatherless. Maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy. Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."

I exhort therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, be made for all men: for kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;read more.
who desires all people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.

Subject yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether to the king, as supreme; or to governors, as sent by him for vengeance on evildoers and for praise to those who do well.

"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you do not each forgive your brother from your heart."

For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Behold, you fast for strife and contention, and to strike with the fist of wickedness: you do not fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me; new moons, Sabbaths, and convocations: I can't bear with evil assemblies. My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They are a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.

They come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain.

"Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

But woe to you Pharisees. For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, but you bypass justice and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

They profess that they know God, but by their works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Do not throw me from your presence, and do not take your holy Spirit from me.

If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn't have listened.

They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.

Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil."

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command you this day, that all these curses shall come on you, and overtake you.

Your rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not judge the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them. Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: "Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself of my enemies;

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor men who have sexual relations with men,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Put to death, therefore, whatever is worldly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience.

Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,

For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

May it never be. We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer?

He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his doings, and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge after the image of his Creator,

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, even as Christ also loved us, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

I speak not by way of commandment, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity also of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.

who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.

By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But do not forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this pleases the Lord.

For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception. But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.

Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to live and to please God, even as you are living, that you excel more and more.

and whatever we ask, we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.

Who may ascend to the LORD's hill? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.

To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

"Isn't this the fast that I have chosen: to release the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Isn't it to distribute your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house? When you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling place with him.

Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command you this day for your good?

LORD, who shall dwell in your sanctuary? Who shall live on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart; He who doesn't slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man;read more.
In whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn't change; he who doesn't lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.

You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.

and all these blessings shall come on you, and overtake you, if you shall listen to the voice of the LORD your God.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield. The LORD will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

Thus says the LORD, "Keep justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, 'Here I am.' "If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly; and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then your light shall rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday; and the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.read more.
Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of the LORD honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:" for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.

so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

But when you make a feast, ask the poor, the maimed, the lame, or the blind; and you will be blessed, because they do not have the resources to repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous."