'People' in the Bible

It also came throughout the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

Then the Lord said to me, Out of the north evil will come, bursting out on all the people of the land.

In this way I will pass sentence on the people of Jerusalem and Judah because of all their wickedness. For they rejected me and offered sacrifices to other gods, worshiping what they made with their own hands."

"But you, Jeremiah, get yourself ready! Go and tell these people everything I instruct you to say. Do not be terrified of them, or I will give you good reason to be terrified of them.

For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

"Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: 'This is what the Lord says: "I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

"They didn't ask, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through the land of desert and pits, through the land of dryness and deep darkness, a land that people don't pass through, and where no one lives?'

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this;Be shocked and shudder with horror [at the behavior of the people],” says the Lord.

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Also, people from Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skull.

Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel will suffer dishonor for what they have done. So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets.

"It did no good for me to punish your people. They did not respond to such correction. You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion."

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

"Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them, 'Come back to me, wayward Israel,' says the Lord. 'I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,' says the Lord. 'I will not be angry with you forever.

"Return, unfaithful people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I'll take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I'll bring you to Zion.

"And in those days when you increase in numbers and multiply in the land," declares the LORD, "people will no longer say, "The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD,' and it won't come to mind, and they won't remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again.

At that time people will call Jerusalem, "The Throne of the LORD," and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. They'll no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.

"A noise is heard on the hilltops. It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods. Indeed they have followed sinful ways; they have forgotten to be true to the Lord their God.

"Turn back, unfaithful people, and I'll heal your unfaithfulness." "Look, we're coming to you because you are the LORD our God.

Yes, the Lord has this to say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: "Like a farmer breaking up hard unplowed ground, you must break your rebellious will and make a new beginning; just as a farmer must clear away thorns lest the seed is wasted, you must get rid of the sin that is ruining your lives.

Just as ritual circumcision cuts away the foreskin as an external symbol of dedicated covenant commitment, you must genuinely dedicate yourselves to the Lord and get rid of everything that hinders your commitment to me, people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my anger will blaze up like a flaming fire against you that no one will be able to extinguish. That will happen because of the evil you have done."

Raise a signal flag that tells people to go to Zion. Run for safety! Do not delay! For I am about to bring disaster out of the north. It will bring great destruction.

Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,

a wind too strong and full for this comes at My word. Now I will also speak judgment against My people.”

"Oh people of Jerusalem, purify your hearts from evil so that you may yet be delivered. How long will you continue to harbor up wicked schemes within you?

My soul, my soul! I writhe in anguish and pain! Oh, the walls of my heart!My heart is pounding and throbbing within me;I cannot be silent,For you have heard, O my soul,The sound of the trumpet,The alarm of war.

How long [O Lord] must I see the banner [marking the way for flight]And hear the sound of the trumpet [urging the people to run for safety]?

For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

I looked, and no people were there. All the birds of the sky had gone.

At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers the people of every town will flee. Some of them will hide in the thickets. Others will climb up among the rocks. All the cities will be deserted. No one will remain in them.

These people make promises in the name of the Lord. But the fact is, what they swear to is really a lie."

Lord, I know you look for faithfulness. But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse. Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected. They have become as hardheaded as a rock. They refuse to change their ways.

Then I said, "[They are] just simple people, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Yahweh, the law of their God.

The Lord asked, "How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? Your people have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me. They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.

“Shall I not punish these people,” declares the Lord,“And on a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?

The Lord commanded the enemy, "March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord.

For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have been very false to me, says the Lord.

"These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said, 'That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine.

Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

People of Israel, I'm now bringing a nation from far away to attack you," declares the LORD. "It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you don't know. And you won't understand what they say.

When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them: Just as you abandoned Me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:

But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.

For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord,‘On a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?’

The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

"Flee to safety, you people of Benjamin, leave Jerusalem. Sound the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem! For calamity and terrible destruction are turning toward you from the north.

As a well continually pours out fresh water so it continually pours out wicked deeds. Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. All I see are sick and wounded people.'

And their houses will be handed over to others, their fields and their wives together: for my hand will be stretched out against the people of the land, says the Lord.

They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

The Lord said to his people: "You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not follow it!"

So the Lord said, "Hear, you nations! Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Thus saith the LORD, Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

The people cry out, "We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people, that thou mayest know and try their way.

“Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and there call out this word: Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.

But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

And I will drive you out of my sight just like I drove out your relatives, the people of Israel.'"

Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: "I'm about to pour out my anger and my wrath on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn, and it won't be put out."

The Lord said to the people of Judah, "The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: 'You might as well go ahead and add the meat of your burnt offerings to that of the other sacrifices and eat it, too!

But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Yet they did not listen to Me and obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but stiffened their neck; they did more evil and behaved worse than their fathers.

So tell them: 'This is a nation that has not obeyed the Lord their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.

So, mourn, you people of this nation. Cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a song of mourning on the hilltops. For the Lord has decided to reject and forsake this generation that has provoked his wrath!'"

"For the people of Judah have done evil in my eyes," declares the LORD. "They have put their detestable idols in the house that is called by my name in order to defile it.

So, watch out!" says the Lord. "The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.

And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

The Lord says, "When that time comes, the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves.

They will be spread out and exposed to the sun, the moon and the stars. These are things they adored and served, things to which they paid allegiance, from which they sought guidance, and worshiped. The bones of these people will never be regathered and reburied. They will be like manure used to fertilize the ground.

"In all the places where the people remain, where I've banished them, death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

“You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says:Do people fall and not get up again?If they turn away, do they not return?

Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.

For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.

The people say, "Why are we just sitting here? Let us gather together inside the fortified cities. Let us at least die there fighting, since the Lord our God has condemned us to die. He has condemned us to drink the poison waters of judgment because we have sinned against him.

The loud breathing of the horses comes to our ears from Dan: at the sound of the outcry of his war-horses, all the land is shaking with fear; for they have come, and have made a meal of the land and everything in it; the town and the people living in it.

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?

“The harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over,But we are not saved,” [comes the voice of the people again].

For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.

Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

The Lord says, "These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. Indeed, they do one evil thing after another and do not pay attention to me.

People deceive their friends, and they don't tell the truth. They have taught their tongues to tell lies. They exhaust themselves practicing evil.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?

The Lord answered, "This has happened because these people have rejected my laws which I gave them. They have not obeyed me or followed those laws.

Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known anything about. I will send people chasing after them with swords until I have destroyed them.'"

The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"

Speak! "This is what the LORD says: "The corpses of people will fall like dung on the surface of the field, and like a row of cut grain behind the harvester when there is no one to gather it."'"

The Lord says, "Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich.

If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things," says the Lord.