'Evil' in the Bible

Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land.

“Israel was holy to the Lord,The first of His harvest.All who ate of it became guilty;Evil came upon them,” declares the Lord.’”

“Your own wickedness will correct you,And your apostasies will reprove you;Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitterFor you to forsake the Lord your God,And the dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord God of hosts.

‘Will He be angry forever?Will He be indignant to the end?’Behold, you have spokenAnd have done evil things,And you have had your way.”

At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

“Circumcise yourselves to the LordAnd remove the foreskins of your heart,Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,Or else My wrath will go forth like fireAnd burn with none to quench it,Because of the evil of your deeds.”

“Lift up a standard toward Zion!Seek refuge, do not stand still,For I am bringing evil from the north,And great destruction.

Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,That you may be saved.How long will your wicked thoughtsLodge within you?

“Your ways and your deedsHave brought these things to you.This is your evil. How bitter!How it has touched your heart!”

“For My people are foolish,They know Me not;They are stupid childrenAnd have no understanding.They are shrewd to do evil,But to do good they do not know.”

“Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin,From the midst of Jerusalem!Now blow a trumpet in TekoaAnd raise a signal over Beth-haccerem;For evil looks down from the north,And a great destruction.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.

For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of hosts.

“They bend their tongue like their bow;Lies and not truth prevail in the land;For they proceed from evil to evil,And they do not know Me,” declares the Lord.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked, each one, in the stubbornness of his evil heart; therefore I brought on them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.’”

The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering up sacrifices to Baal.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skinOr the leopard his spots?Then you also can do goodWho are accustomed to doing evil.

You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me.

if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.

So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your deeds.”’

But they will say, ‘It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’

Should good be repaid with evil?For they have dug a pit for me.Remember how I stood before YouTo speak good on their behalf,So as to turn away Your wrath from them.

O house of David, thus says the Lord:“Administer justice every morning;And deliver the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor,That My wrath may not go forth like fireAnd burn with none to extinguish it,Because of the evil of their deeds.

Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord.

For the land is full of adulterers;For the land mourns because of the curse.The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.Their course also is evilAnd their might is not right.

“But if they had stood in My council,Then they would have announced My words to My people,And would have turned them back from their evil wayAnd from the evil of their deeds.

I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.

saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the Lord has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever;

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Behold, evil is going forthFrom nation to nation,And a great storm is being stirred upFrom the remotest parts of the earth.

Perhaps they will listen and everyone will turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the calamity which I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.’

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and the Lord changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves.”

Indeed the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been doing only evil in My sight from their youth; for the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to anger by the work of their hands,” declares the Lord.

because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Also I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.

Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

Perhaps their supplication will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done.

So the Lord was no longer able to endure it, because of the evil of your deeds, because of the abominations which you have committed; thus your land has become a ruin, an object of horror and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day.

“But I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil that they have done in Zion before your eyes,” declares the Lord.

He did evil in the sight of the Lord like all that Jehoiakim had done.