'Former' in the Bible

And there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine which had been in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech the king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

He called that place Bethel, although the former name of the town was Luz.

Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.

that is, he restored his senior security advisor to his former responsibilities, including attending to Pharaoh's personal wine cup,

And the thin and ugly cows ate the former seven healthy cows.

"If they do not believe you or pay attention to the former sign, then they may believe the latter sign.

Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.

So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand.

Then they must take different stones to replace the former ones and take additional plaster to replaster the house.

and he hath separated to Jehovah the days of his separation, and he hath brought in a lamb, a son of a year, for a guilt-offering, and the former days are fallen, for his separation hath been defiled.

For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than the former.

If, while she had been living in her late or former husband's house, she makes a vow or a promise that binds her with an oath,

For, ask, I pray thee, at the former days which have been before thee, from the day that God prepared man on the earth, and from the one end of the heavens even unto the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been as this great thing -- or hath been heard like it?

“At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the former ones, and come up to Me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood for yourself.

I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered, and you shall put them in the ark.’

So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone like the former ones, and went up on the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me.

And I -- I have stood in the mount, as the former days, forty days and forty nights, and Jehovah hearkeneth unto me also at that time; Jehovah hath not willed to destroy thee.

that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil.

'Thou dost not remove a border of thy neighbour, which they of former times have made, in thine inheritance, which thou dost inherit in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee to possess it.

A man may not marry his father's former wife and in this way dishonor his father.

Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Cursed is the one who has sexual relations with his father's former wife, for he dishonors his father.' Then all the people will say, 'Amen!'

And from there he went up against the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir [was] Kiriath Sepher).

And Judah went against the Canaanites living in Hebron (the former name of Hebron [was] Kiriath Arba). And they defeated Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

And from there they went to the inhabitants of Debir (the former name of Debir [was] Kiriath Sepher).

And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz).

They renamed the city Dan, after the name of their ancestor Dan, who had been born in Israel. The former name of the city was Laish.

Then he said, “May you be blessed by the Lord, my daughter. You have made your last kindness better than the first; for you have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich.

Now this was the manner in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm all things; a man plucked off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel.

(In former time in Israel, when a man went to ask counsel of God, he said, Come and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a Prophet was in former time called a Seer.)

And he turned from him toward another, and spake after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.

David's two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal's former wife, had been captured.

I will make a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they can dwell {in their own place}. They will not tremble [any] longer, and the children of wickedness will not afflict them again, as in the former days.

""I gave you your former master's household. ""I placed your former master's wives right in your arms. ""I gave you Israel and Judah. ""And if this had been too little, I would have added much more than that to you!

and she speaketh, saying, 'They spake often in former times, saying, Let them diligently ask at Abel, and so they finished.

If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the Lord's temple in Jerusalem, their loyalty could shift to their former master, King Rehoboam of Judah. They might kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah."

The king pled with the prophet, "Seek the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored." So the prophet sought the Lord's favor and the king's hand was restored to its former condition.

He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, fortified the hill, and named the city Samaria after Shemer, the former owner of the hill.

Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight.

Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;

Howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner.

They discovered abundant and excellent grazing lands there, where the land was very broad, secure, and tranquil, because the former inhabitants there were descendants of Ham.

David, accompanied by all of Israel, went up to Baalah (the former name of Kiriath-jearim), which belonged to Judah, to bring from there the Ark of God, the LORD, who sits enthroned on the cherubim, and who is called the Name.

These are the foundations that Solomon set in place for God's Temple. The length in terms of the former standard measurements: 60 cubits; its width: 20 cubits.

Now the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father David. He did not seek the Baals

"LORD God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven, are you not? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, don't you? In your own hands you grasp both strength and power, don't you? As a result, no one can oppose you, can they? You are our God, who expelled the former inhabitants of this land right in front of our people Israel, aren't you? Then you gave it to your friend Abraham's descendant forever, didn't you?

When they arrived at the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the families contributed toward building the Temple of God on its former site.

Now a number of the priests, the Levities, and the leading officials of the elders who were very elderly had seen the former Temple with their own eyes. When they observed the foundation of the Temple being laid, they wept with a loud voice, while the rest of them shouted for joy.

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin learned that the former exiles were building a temple for the Lord God of Israel,

The former exiles observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month

because the priests and descendants of Levi had purified themselves together all of them were pure and they killed the Passover lamb for every former exile, for their relatives the priests, and for themselves.

But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God.

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:

“If he is snatched from his place [in the garden],Then his place will forget him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

So man lies down and does not rise [again].Until the heavens are no longer,The dead will not awake nor be raised from their sleep.

For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

All his brothers, sisters, and former acquaintances came to his house and dined with him in his house. They sympathized with him and comforted him concerning all the adversity the Lord had brought on him. Each one gave him a qesitah and a gold earring.

The LORD blessed Job during the latter part of his life more than the former, since he owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.

Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

I remember the former times, meditating on everything you have done. I think about the work of your hands.

From the age I was anointed, from the first, From former states of the earth.

Great is the Former of all, And He is rewarding a fool, And is rewarding transgressors.

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after.

The former can come out of prison to reign, while the latter, even if born to kingship, may become poor.

Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this.

I will restore your judges to what they once were,and your advisers to their former state.Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,a Faithful City.”

Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future He will bring honor to the Way of the Sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations.

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their own place (Judea), and the house of Israel will possess them as an inheritance in the land of the Lord as male and female servants; and they will take captive those whose captives they have been, and they will rule over their [former] oppressors.

Sheol below is stirred up about you, ready to meet you when you arrive. It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the former leaders of the earth; it makes all the former kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

“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.

The [wicked] dead will not live [again], the spirits of the dead will not rise and return;Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].

In the withering of its branch it is broken off, Women are coming in setting it on fire, For it is not a people of understanding, Therefore pity it not doth its Maker, And its Former doth not favour it.

For, arranged from former time is Tophet, Even it for the king is prepared, He hath made deep, He hath made large, Its pile is fire and much wood, The breath of Jehovah, As a stream of brim stone, is burning in it!

Let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen: let them shew the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.

Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?Surely there was no one who declared,Surely there was no one who proclaimed,Surely there was no one who heard your words.

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.

Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.

Thus said Jehovah, thy Maker, and thy Former, From the womb He doth help thee; Fear not, my servant Jacob, And Jeshurun, whom I have fixed on.

Woe to him who is striving with his Former, (A potsherd with potsherds of the ground!) Doth clay say to its Framer, 'What dost thou?' And thy work, 'He hath no hands?'

Thus said Jehovah, The Holy One of Israel, and his Former: Ask Me of the things coming concerning My sons, Yea, concerning the work of My hands, ye command Me.'

For thus said Jehovah, Creator of heaven, He is God, Former of earth, and its Maker, He established it -- not empty He prepared it, For inhabiting He formed it: 'I am Jehovah, and there is none else.

Declare and present [your case], also let them consult together! Who {made this known} from {former times}, declared it from {of old}? [Was it] not I, Yahweh? And there is no [other] god besides [me], a righteous God besides me, and no savior besides me.

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,

I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity! Did you not smash the Proud One? Did you not wound the sea monster?

And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

Instead of your [former] shame you will have a double portion;And instead of humiliation your people will shout for joy over their portion.Therefore in their land they will possess double [what they had forfeited];Everlasting joy will be theirs.

Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.

“And you will leave your name behind to My chosen ones [who will use it] as a curse,And the Lord God will put you to death,But He will call His servants by another name [a much greater name, just as the name Israel was greater than the name Jacob].

That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

The portion of Jacob is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their former ancestors, who refused to obey my words, and they have gone after other gods, to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I {made} with their ancestors."

“What will you say when He appoints over you—And you yourself had taught them—Former companions to be head over you?Will not pangs take hold of youLike a woman in childbirth?

But at that time they will affirm them with "I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them." At that time they will live in their own land.'"