'People' in the Bible

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, and you must say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says.'

For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel --

And the Lord said, "This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations where I will banish them."

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars.

The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!"

He said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing -- the great abominations that the people of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!"

The Lord said to him, "Go through the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it."

While I listened, he said to the others, "Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare anyone!

He said to them, "Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!" So they went out and struck people down throughout the city.

A wind lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord's temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.

You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.'

so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.

Then say to the people of the land, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it.

My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council of my people, nor be written in the registry of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

"'This is because they have led my people astray saying, "All is well," when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, they coat it with whitewash.

When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, "Where is the whitewash you coated it with?"

"As for you, son of man, turn toward the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination. Prophesy against them

You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

I will tear off your headbands and rescue my people from your power; they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you will know that I am the Lord.'"

I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

"'As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word -- I, the Lord, have made a fool of that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.

so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

"Son of man, suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply, cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals.

"Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, 'Let a sword pass through the land,' and I were to kill both people and animals.

"Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.

"For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments -- sword, famine, wild animals, and plague -- to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals!

Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion. He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.

He walked about among the lions; he became a young lion. He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.

Cry out and moan, son of man, for it is wielded against my people; against all the princes of Israel. They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people. Therefore, strike your thigh.

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice.

So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. In the morning I acted just as I was commanded.

Then the people said to me, "Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?"

So this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her, and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die by the sword.

I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience my vengeance, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

"For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people.

With his horses' hoofs he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground.

then I will bring you down to bygone people, to be with those who descend to the pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth, among the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand in the land of the living.

Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, Libya, and the people of the covenant land will die by the sword along with them.

He and his people with him, the most terrifying of the nations, will be brought there to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with corpses.

"Son of man, speak to your people, and say to them, 'Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman.

He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, and warns the people,

But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person's death.'

"And you, son of man, say to your people, 'The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness if he sins.'

"Yet your people say, 'The behavior of the Lord is not right,' when it is their behavior that is not right.

"But as for you, son of man, your people (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, 'Come hear the word that comes from the Lord.'

They come to you in crowds, and they sit in front of you as my people. They hear your words, but do not obey them. For they talk lustfully, and their heart is set on their own advantage.

Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.

And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.'"

"'You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.

So prophesy and say: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip and slander among the people,

"'But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon.

I will multiply your people -- the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt.

I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times, and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord.

But when they arrived in the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name. It was said of them, 'These are the people of the Lord, yet they have departed from his land.'

Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

"This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: I will multiply their people like sheep.

Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord."

Therefore prophesy, and tell them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.

Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people.

When your people say to you, 'Will you not tell us what these things mean?'

They will not defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, and all their rebellious deeds. I will save them from all their unfaithfulness by which they sinned. I will purify them; they will become my people and I will become their God.

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

to loot and plunder, to attack the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth."

"Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice

You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land so that the nations may acknowledge me, when before their eyes I magnify myself through you, O Gog.

The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the wild beasts, all the things that creep on the ground, and all people who live on the face of the earth will shake at my presence. The mountains will topple, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast.

"'I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; I will not let my holy name be profaned anymore. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

All the people of the land will bury them, and it will be a memorial for them on the day I magnify myself, declares the sovereign Lord.

When the priests enter, then they will not go out from the sanctuary to the outer court without taking off their garments in which they minister, for these are holy; they will put on other garments, then they will go near the places where the people are."

He said to me: "Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die.

This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my sanctuary.

Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

"'But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments.

Moreover, they will teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and show them how to distinguish between the ceremonially unclean and the clean.

of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

"'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, declares the sovereign Lord.

All the people of the land will contribute to this offering for the prince of Israel.

On that day the prince will provide for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

The people of the land will bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

"'When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship will go out by way of the south gate; whoever enters by way of the south gate will go out by way of the north gate. No one will return by way of the gate they entered but will go out straight ahead.

The prince will not take away any of the people's inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.'"

He said to me, "This is the place where the priests will boil the guilt offering and the sin offering, and where they will bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out to the outer court to transmit holiness to the people."

Then he said to me, "These are the houses for boiling, where the ministers of the temple boil the sacrifices of the people."

You must allot it as an inheritance among yourselves and for the foreigners who reside among you, who have fathered sons among you. You must treat them as native-born among the people of Israel; they will be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

This will be for the priests who are set apart from the descendants of Zadok who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel strayed off, like the Levites did.