'Great' in the Bible

“His sons will prepare for battle and assemble a multitude of great forces; which will keep on coming and overflow [the land], and pass through, so that they may again wage war as far as his fortress.

The king of the South (Ptolemy IV Philopator of Egypt) will be enraged and go out and fight with the king of the North (Antiochus III the Great); and the Syrian king will raise a great multitude (army), but the multitude shall be given into the hand of the Egyptian king.

For the king of the North will again raise a multitude (army) greater than the one before, and after several years he will advance with a great army and substantial equipment.

But he (Syria) who comes against him (Egypt) will do exactly as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand against him; he (Antiochus III the Great) will also stay for a time in the Beautiful and Glorious Land [of Israel], with destruction in his hand.

He will be determined to come with the power of his entire kingdom, and propose equitable conditions and terms of peace, which he will put into effect [by making an agreement with the king of the South]. He will also give him his daughter (Cleopatra I), in an attempt to overthrow the kingdom, but it will not succeed or be to his advantage.

After this, he (Antiochus III the Great, King of Syria) will turn his attention to the islands and coastlands and capture many [of them]. But a commander (Lucius Scipio Asiaticus of Rome) will put an end to his aggression [toward Rome’s territorial interests]; in fact, he will repay his insolence and turn his audacity back upon him.

He will stir up his strength and courage against [his former Egyptian ally] the king of the South (Ptolemy VI) with a great army; so the king of the South will prepare an extremely great and powerful army to wage war, but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him.

But rumors from the east and from the north will alarm and disturb him, and he will set out with great fury to destroy and to annihilate many.

“Now at that [end] time Michael, the great [angelic] prince who stands guard over the children of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; but at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the Book [of Life], will be rescued.

But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the scroll until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and search anxiously [through the scroll], and knowledge [of the purpose of God as revealed by His prophets] will [greatly] increase.”

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of [her] prostitution; for the land commits great acts of prostitution by not following the Lord.”

Then the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together,And they will appoint for themselves one leader,And they will go up from the land,For great and glorious will be the day of Jezreel.

When Ephraim saw his sickness,And Judah his wound,Then Ephraim went to Assyria [instead of the Lord]And sent to [Assyria’s] great King Jareb [for help].But he cannot heal youNor will he cure you of your wound [received in judgment].

Set the trumpet to your lips [announcing impending judgment]!Like a [great] vulture the enemy comes against the house of the Lord,Because they have broken My covenantAnd transgressed and rebelled against My law.

The days of punishment have come;The days of retribution are at hand;Let Israel know this!The prophet is [considered] a fool;The man [of God] who is inspired is [treated as if] demented,Because of the abundance of your wickedness and guilt,And because your deep antagonism [toward God and the prophets] is so great.

In this way it will be done to you at [idolatrous] Bethel because of your great wickedness;At daybreak the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

I knew and regarded you and cared for you in the wilderness,In the land of drought.

The Lord utters His voice before His army,For His camp is very great,Because strong and powerful is he who [obediently] carries out His word.For the day of the Lord is indeed great and very terrible [causing dread];Who can endure it?

“But I will remove the northern army far away from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,With its forward guard into the eastern sea (Dead Sea)And with its rear guard into the western sea (Mediterranean Sea).And its stench will arise and its foul odor of decay will come up [this is the fate of the northern army in the final day of the Lord],For He has done great things.”

Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice,For the Lord has done great things!

“And I will compensate you for the yearsThat the swarming locust has eaten,The creeping locust, the stripping locust, and the gnawing locust—My great army which I sent among you.

“The sun will be turned into darknessAnd the moon into bloodBefore the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

Put in the sickle [of judgment], for the harvest is ripe;Come, tread [the grapes], for the wine press is full;The vats overflow, for the wickedness [of the people] is great.

Proclaim on the fortresses in Ashdod (Philistia) and on the citadels in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see the great confusion within her and the oppressions and abuse of authority in her midst.

“And I shall tear down the winter house with the summer house;And the houses of ivory shall also perishAnd the great houses shall come to an end,”Says the Lord.

Go over to Calneh [in Babylonia] and look,And from there go [north of Damascus] to the great city of Hamath;Then go down to Gath of the Philistines.Are they better than these kingdoms [of yours],Or is their territory greater than yours?

For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for punishment with fire, and it devoured the great deep [underground sources of water] and began to consume the land.

saying,“When will the New Moon [festival] be overSo that we may sell grain,And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market,Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price]And to cheat by falsifying the scales,

“Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim [judgment] against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

But the Lord hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.

Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.”

Now the Lord had prepared (appointed, destined) a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

“Go to Nineveh the great city and declare to it the message which I am going to tell you.”

So Jonah went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk [about sixty miles in circumference].

He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I ran to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and great in lovingkindness, and [when sinners turn to You] You revoke the [sentence of] disaster [against them].

Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin], as well as many [blameless] animals?”

And He shall stand and shepherd and guide His flockIn the strength of the Lord,In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;And they shall dwell [secure in undisturbed peace],Because at that time He shall be great [extending His authority][Even] to the ends of the earth.

Concerning evil, both of their hands pursue it and do it diligently and thoroughly;The prince asks, also the judge, for a bribe,And a great man speaks the [evil] desire of his soul.So they twist the course of justice between them.

The Lord is slow to anger and great in powerAnd He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm,And the clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

Horsemen charging,Swords flashing, spears gleaming,Many slain, a mass of corpses,No end of corpses—The horsemen stumble over the corpses!

Yet she became an exile;She went into captivity.Her young children were dashed to piecesAt the head of every street;They cast lots for her honorable men,And all her great men were bound with chains.

You have trampled on the sea with Your horses,On the surge of many waters.

“On that day,” declares the Lord,“There will be the sound of crying from the Fish (Damascus) Gate [in the northern wall of Jerusalem where invaders enter]And wailing from the Second Quarter [of the city],And a loud crash from the hills.

The great [judgment] day of the Lord is near,Near and coming very quickly.Listen! The [voice of the] day of the Lord!The warrior cries out bitterly [unable to fight or to flee].

So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am jealous [with a burning, fiery passion] for Jerusalem and for Zion [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine] with a great jealousy.

‘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!”’”

They made their hearts [hard] like flint, so that they could not hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], and I am jealous for her with great wrath [against her enemies].’

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘It will come to pass that peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come [to Jerusalem].

For how great is God’s goodness and how great is His beauty! And how great [He will make Israel’s] goodliness and [Israel’s] beauty!Grain and new wine will make the young men and virgins flourish.

“Then Ephraim will be like a mighty warrior,And their heart will rejoice as if from wine;Yes, their children will see it and rejoice;Their heart will rejoice and shout triumphantly in the Lord.

In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of [the city of] Hadadrimmon in the Valley of Megiddo [over beloved King Josiah].

In that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from the east to the west by a very large valley, and half of the mountain will move toward the north and half of it toward the south.

In that day a great panic and dismay from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other.

Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together—gold and silver and garments in great abundance.

Your own eyes will see this and you will say, “The Lord is great and shall be magnified beyond the border of Israel!”

For from the rising of the sun, even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations. In every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of hosts.

“But cursed is the swindler who has a male in his flock and vows [to offer] it, but sacrifices to the Lord a blemished or diseased thing! For I am a great King,” says the Lord of hosts, “and My name is to be [reverently and greatly] feared among the nations.”

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

“The people who were sitting (living) in [spiritual] darkness have seen a great Light,And for those who were sitting (living) in the land and shadow of [spiritual and moral] death,Upon them a Light has dawned.”

Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and the other side of the Jordan.

Be glad and exceedingly joyful, for your reward in heaven is great [absolutely inexhaustible]; for in this same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So whoever breaks one of the least [important] of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.

And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great and complete was its fall.”

When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him.

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to cast off for the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was [at once] a great and wonderful calm [a perfect peacefulness].

But such large crowds gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat there [positioning Himself as a teacher], while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

and upon finding a single pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt [profound] compassion for them and healed their sick.

Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith [your personal trust and confidence in My power] is great; it will be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that moment.

And great crowds came to Him, bringing with them the lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they put them down at His feet; and He healed them.

The disciples said to Him, “Where are we to get enough bread in this isolated place to feed so large a crowd?”

but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble and sin [by leading him away from My teaching], it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone [as large as one turned by a donkey] hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Then his master called him and said to him, ‘You wicked and contemptible slave, I forgave all that [great] debt of yours because you begged me.

and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

But when the young man heard this, he left grieving and distressed, for he owned much property and had many possessions [which he treasured more than his relationship with God].

But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles have absolute power and lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them].

It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

This is the first and greatest commandment.

Because lawlessness is increased, the love of most people will grow cold.

For at that time there will be a great tribulation (pressure, distress, oppression), such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will [again].

For false Christs and false prophets will appear and they will provide great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones).

And at that time the sign of the Son of Man [coming in His glory] will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth [and especially Israel] will mourn [regretting their rebellion and rejection of the Messiah], and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory [in brilliance and splendor].

As Jesus was still speaking, Judas [Iscariot], one of the twelve [disciples], came up accompanied by a large crowd with swords and clubs, [who came as representatives] from the chief priests and elders of the people.

And a great earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone [from the opening of the tomb], and sat on it.

So the women left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell [the good news to] the disciples.

Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a large crowd from Galilee followed Him; and also people from Judea,

Again Jesus began to teach beside the sea [of Galilee]. And a very large crowd gathered around Him, so He got into a boat [anchoring it a short distance out] on the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the shore.

And He got up and [sternly] rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still (muzzled)!” And the wind died down [as if it had grown weary] and there was [at once] a great calm [a perfect peacefulness].

They were filled with great fear, and said to each other, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Now there was a large herd of pigs grazing there on the mountain.

When Jesus had again crossed over in the boat to the other side [of the sea], a large crowd gathered around Him; and so He stayed by the seashore.

And Jesus went with him; and a large crowd followed Him and pressed in around Him [from all sides].

When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd [waiting], and He was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd [lacking guidance]; and He began to teach them many things.

When they came [back] to the [other nine] disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes questioning and arguing with them.