'Deeds' in the Bible

and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land;

and in all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.

“Now then, if you acted in truth and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have dealt with him as he deserved—

Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.

The Lord will return his bloody deeds upon his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and honorable than he and killed them with the sword, without my father David knowing: Abner the son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, commander of the army of Judah.

Now as for the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his [treasonous] conspiracy which he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a courageous man of Kabzeel who had done great things, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Also he went down and killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day.

Remember [with gratitude] His marvelous deeds which He has done,His miracles and the judgments from His mouth,

“O Lord God, do not turn away and reject the face of Your anointed; remember Your lovingkindness and faithfulness to Your servant David.”

Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his godly achievements, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.

Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds of devotion and godly achievements as written in the Law of the Lord,

And after everything that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our wrongdoings deserve, and have given us survivors like these,

Also, they were speaking about Tobiah’s good deeds in my presence, and reporting to him what I said. Then Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

O my God, remember me concerning this and do not wipe out my loyal deeds and kindnesses which I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

On that night the king could not sleep; so he ordered that the book of records and memorable deeds, the chronicles, be brought, and they were read before the king.

“For God pays a man according to his work,And He will make every man find [appropriate] compensation according to his way.

Then He declares to them [the true character of] their deedsAnd their transgressions, that they have acted arrogantly [with presumption and notions of self-sufficiency].

I will give thanks and praise the Lord, with all my heart;I will tell aloud all Your wonders and marvelous deeds.

For the Lord is [absolutely] righteous, He loves righteousness (virtue, morality, justice);The upright shall see His face.

The [spiritually ignorant] fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”They are corrupt, they have committed repulsive and unspeakable deeds;There is no one who does good.

Walk about Zion, go all around her;Count her towers,

My mouth shall tell of Your righteousnessAnd of Your [deeds of] salvation all day long,For their number is more than I know.

I will [solemnly] remember the deeds of the Lord;Yes, I will [wholeheartedly] remember Your wonders of old.

I will meditate on all Your worksAnd thoughtfully consider all Your [great and wondrous] deeds.

We will not hide them from their children,But [we will] tell to the generation to come the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,And [tell of] His great might and power and the wonderful works that He has done.

For You, O Lord, have made me glad by Your works;At the works of Your hands I joyfully sing.

Sing to Him, sing praises to Him;Speak of all His wonderful acts and devoutly praise them.

Remember [with awe and gratitude] the wonderful things which He has done,His amazing deeds and the judgments uttered by His mouth [on His enemies, as in Egypt],

Who can put into words the mighty deeds of the Lord?Or who can proclaim all His praise [that is due Him]?

In this way they became unclean in their practices;They played the prostitute in their own deeds [by giving their worship, which belongs to God alone, to other “gods”].

And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving,And speak of His deeds with shouts of joy!

Do not incline my heart to [consent to or tolerate] any evil thing,Or to practice deeds of wickednessWith men who plan and do evil;And let me not eat of their delicacies (be tempted by their gain).

To make known to the sons of men Your mighty actsAnd the glorious majesty of Your kingdom.

The merciful and generous man benefits his soul [for his behavior returns to bless him],But the cruel and callous man does himself harm.

But better off than either of them is the one who has not yet been born, who has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,Because their words and their actions are against the Lord,To rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.

They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts;But they do not regard nor even pay attention to the deeds of the Lord,Nor do they consider the work of His hands.

So when the Lord has completed all His work [of judgment] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the fruit [the thoughts, the declarations, and the actions] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the haughtiness of his pride.”

And in that day you will say,“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name [in prayer].Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth];Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!”

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who [try to] deeply hide their plans from the Lord,Whose deeds are done in a dark place,And who say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

“I have not spoken in secret,In a corner of a land of darkness;I did not say to the descendants of Jacob,‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves].’I, the Lord, speak righteousness [the truth—trustworthy, a straightforward correlation between deeds and words],Declaring things that are upright.

As their deeds deserve, so He will repay:Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies;To the islands and coastlands He will repay.

I will tell of the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,According to all that the Lord has done for us,And His great goodness toward the house of Israel,Which He has shown them according to His compassionAnd according to the abundance of His lovingkindnesses.

For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper],And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags;We all wither and decay like a leaf,And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God’s favor, toward destruction].

‘They are fat and they are sleek (prosperous),They excel in acts of wickedness;They do not plead the cause,The cause of the orphan, so that they [the wicked] may prosper,And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)’”

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Take these deeds, both this purchase deed which is sealed and this unsealed deed, and put them in an earthen jar, that they may last a long time.”

great [are You] in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of men, to reward or repay each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds;

People will buy fields for money, sign deeds, seal them, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South (the Negev); for I will restore their fortunes and release them from exile,’ says the Lord.”

“I know his [insolent] wrath,” says the Lord,“But it is futile;His idle boasts [in his deeds] have accomplished nothing.

“Call together many [archers] against Babylon,All those who bend the bow.Encamp against her on every side;Let no one from there escape.Repay her according to her actions;Just as she has done, do to her.For she has been proudly defiant and presumptuous against the Lord,Against the Holy One of Israel.

Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness (right standing with God) and sins, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but you will be responsible for his blood.

But as for those whose heart longs for and follows after their detestable things and their repulsive things [associated with idolatry], on their own head I will repay [them in full for] their [vile] conduct,” says the Lord God.

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” says the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other repulsive acts.

“But when the righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits sin and acts in accordance with all the repulsive things that the wicked man does, will he live? All of his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered because of the treachery that he has committed and for his sin which he has committed; for them he shall die.

There you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all your evil deeds which you have done.

When I say to the righteous that he will most certainly live, and he trusts in his [previous acts of] righteousness [to save him] and commits injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die for his injustice that he committed.

Also I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the countries. I judged and punished them in accordance with their conduct and their [idolatrous] behavior.

Then you will remember [clearly] your [own] evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your sins and for your outrageous atrocities.

The Lord has sworn [an oath] by the pride of Jacob,“Surely I shall never forget [nor leave unpunished] any of their [rebellious] acts.

Then they will cry to the Lord,But He will not answer them;Instead, He will even hide His face from them at that time [withholding His mercy]Because they have practiced and tolerated and ignored evil acts.

“On that day you [Israel] will feel no shameBecause of all your actsBy which you have rebelled and sinned against Me;Then I will remove from among youYour rejoicing ones who delight in their pride;And you will never again behave arrogantlyOn My holy mountain [Mount Zion].

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven.

“Be [very] careful not to do your good deeds publicly, to be seen by men; otherwise you will have no reward [prepared and awaiting you] with your Father who is in heaven.

so that your charitable acts will be done in secret; and your Father who sees [what is done] in secret will reward you.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, ‘Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]!’ Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by her deeds [in the lives of those who respond to Me].”

Since [as is well known] many have undertaken to compile an orderly account of the things which have been fulfilled among us [by God],

Yet wisdom is vindicated and shown to be right by all her children [by the lifestyle, moral character, and good deeds of her followers].”

So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers, because they [actually] killed them, and you repair or build their tombs.

This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned.

Jesus answered them, “I showed you many good works [and many acts of mercy] from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?”

If I do not do the works of My Father [that is, the miracles that only God could perform], then do not believe Me.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power].

So Moses was educated in all the wisdom and culture of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, (which translated into Greek means Dorcas). She was rich in acts of kindness and charity which she continually did.

He will pay back to each person according to his deeds [justly, as his deeds deserve]:

Then what becomes of [our] boasting? It is excluded [entirely ruled out, banished]. On what principle? On [the principle of good] works? No, but on the principle of faith.

For we maintain that an individual is justified by faith distinctly apart from works of the Law [the observance of which has nothing to do with justification, that is, being declared free of the guilt of sin and made acceptable to God].

For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.

for if you are living according to the [impulses of the] flesh, you are going to die. But if [you are living] by the [power of the Holy] Spirit you are habitually putting to death the sinful deeds of the body, you will [really] live forever.

The night [this present evil age] is almost gone and the day [of Christ’s return] is almost here. So let us fling away the works of darkness and put on the [full] armor of light.

As it is written and forever remains written,“He [the benevolent and generous person] scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,His righteousness endures forever!”

Let such people realize that what we say by word in letters when we are absent, is the same as what we are in action when present.

So it is no great surprise if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, but their end will correspond with their deeds.

Do not participate in the worthless and unproductive deeds of darkness, but instead expose them [by exemplifying personal integrity, moral courage, and godly character];

but instead adorned by good deeds [helping others], as is proper for women who profess to worship God.

and has a reputation for good deeds; [she is eligible] if she has brought up children, if she has shown hospitality to strangers, if she has washed the feet of the saints (God’s people), if she has assisted the distressed, and has devoted herself to doing good in every way.

Likewise, good deeds are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be hidden [indefinitely].

And in all things show yourself to be an example of good works, with purity in doctrine [having the strictest regard for integrity and truth], dignified,

who [willingly] gave Himself [to be crucified] on our behalf to redeem us and purchase our freedom from all wickedness, and to purify for Himself a chosen and very special people to be His own possession, who are enthusiastic for doing what is good.

Our people must learn to do good deeds to meet necessary demands [whatever the occasion may require], so that they will not be unproductive.

“For I will be merciful and gracious toward their wickedness,And I will remember their sins no more.”

and let us consider [thoughtfully] how we may encourage one another to love and to do good deeds,

So too, faith, if it does not have works [to back it up], is by itself dead [inoperative and ineffective].

In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works too, when she received the [Hebrew] spies as guests and protected them, and sent them away [to escape] by a different route?

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Keep your behavior excellent among the [unsaved] Gentiles [conduct yourself honorably, with graciousness and integrity], so that for whatever reason they may slander you as evildoers, yet by observing your good deeds they may [instead come to] glorify God in the day of visitation [when He looks upon them with mercy].

(for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts),