'Ruin' in the Bible

It shall come about that just as the Lord delighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the Lord will delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will be uprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel [making an example of him], according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law.

Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar; your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul will grieve, and all those born in your house will die as men [in the prime of life].

For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, and he said, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram (Syria) helped them, I will sacrifice to them so that they may help me.” But they became the ruin and downfall of him and all of Israel.

“His children are far from safety [and included in their father’s ruin],They are oppressed and crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate,And there is no one to rescue them.

“For it is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (destruction, ruin, final torment);And [illicit passion] would burn and rage and uproot all my [life’s] increase [destroying everything].

For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous,But the way of the wicked shall perish.

The cords of death surrounded me,And the streams of ungodliness and torrents of destruction terrified me.

Destruction is within her;Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets and market places.

But those who seek my life to destroy itWill [be destroyed and] go into the depths of the earth [into the underworld].

Surely You set the wicked-minded and immoral on slippery places;You cast them down to destruction.

Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the graveOr Your faithfulness in Abaddon (the underworld)?

You have broken down all his [city] walls;You have brought his strongholds to ruin.

The Lord protects the strangers;He supports the fatherless and the widow;But He makes crooked the way of the wicked.

Do not be afraid of sudden fearNor of the storm of the wicked when it comes [since you will be blameless];

The rich man’s wealth is his fortress;The ruin of the poor is their poverty.

He who learns from instruction and correction is on the [right] path of life [and for others his example is a path toward wisdom and blessing],But he who ignores and refuses correction goes off course [and for others his example is a path toward sin and ruin].

The one who guards his mouth [thinking before he speaks] protects his life;The one who opens his lips wide [and chatters without thinking] comes to ruin.

In a multitude of people is a king’s glory,But in a lack of people is a [pretentious] prince’s ruin.

A fool’s mouth is his ruin,And his lips are the snare of his soul.

Discipline and teach your son while there is hope,And do not [indulge your anger or resentment by imposing inappropriate punishment nor] desire his destruction.

The righteous one keeps an eye on the house of the wicked—How the wicked are cast down to ruin.

When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous (the upright, the one in right standing with God),But to the evildoers it is disaster.

For their tragedy will rise suddenly,And who knows the punishment that both [the Lord and the king] will bring on the rebellious?

A lying tongue hates those it wounds and crushes,And a flattering mouth works ruin.

Do not give your [generative] strength to women [neither foreign wives in marriages of alliances, nor concubines],Nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

For in a multitude of dreams and in a flood of words there is worthlessness. Rather [reverently] fear God [and worship Him with awe-filled respect, knowing who He is].

Now look at the land of the Chaldeans (Babylonia)—this is the people which was not; the Assyrians allocated Tyre for desert creatures—they set up their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

For You have made a city into a heap [of trash],A fortified city into a ruin;A palace of foreigners is no longer a city,It will never be rebuilt.

As for the rogue, his weapons are evil;He conceives wicked plansTo ruin the poor with lies,Even when the plea of the needy one is just and right.

This is what the Lord says,“In a favorable time I have answered You,And in a day of salvation I have helped You;And I will keep watch over You and give You for a covenant of the people,To restore the land [from its present state of ruin] and to apportion and give as inheritances the deserted hereditary lands,

Why are we sitting still [the people wonder]?Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified citiesAnd let us die there,For the Lord our God has decreed our ruinAnd given us bitter and poisonous water to drink,Because we have sinned against the Lord.

The sound of an outcry [comes] from Babylon,And [the sound] of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!

How shall I console you?To what shall I compare you,O Daughter of Jerusalem?With what shall I compare you, so that I may comfort you,O Virgin Daughter of Zion?For your ruin is as vast as the sea;Who can heal you?

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each one in accordance with his conduct,” says the Lord God. “Repent (change your way of thinking) and turn away from all your transgressions, so that sin may not become a stumbling block to you.

“Your riches, your wares, your merchandiseYour oarsmen and your pilots,Your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,And all your men of war who are with you,With all your company that is in your midst,Will sink in the heart of the seasOn the day of your ruin.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostituteOr your brides when they commit adultery,For the men themselves slip away with prostitutes,And they offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes [who give their bodies in honor of the idol].So the people without understanding [stumble and fall and] come to ruin.

When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling and terror.He exalted himself [above the other tribes] in Israel;But through [the worship of] Baal he became guilty and died [spiritually, and then came ruin, sealing Israel’s doom as a nation].

Who drink wine from sacrificial bowlsAnd anoint themselves with the finest oils [reflecting their unrestrained celebration];Yet they are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph (Israel).

“Do not gaze and gloat [in triumph] over your brother’s day,The day when his misfortune came.Do not rejoice over the sons of JudahIn the day of their destruction;Do not speak arrogantly [jeering and maliciously mocking]In the day of their distress.

“Do not enter the gate of My peopleIn the day of their disaster;Yes, you, do not look [with delight] on their miseryIn the day of their ruin,And do not loot treasuresIn the day of their ruin.

That day is a day of [the outpouring of the] wrath [of God],A day of trouble and distress,A day of destruction and devastation,A day of darkness and gloom,A day of clouds and thick darkness,

But the one who has [merely] heard and has not practiced [what I say], is like a [foolish] man who built a house on the ground without any foundation, and the torrent burst against it; and it immediately collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

So I say, have they stumbled so as to fall [to spiritual ruin]? Certainly not! But by their transgression [their rejection of the Messiah] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous [when they realize what they have forfeited].

If your brother is being hurt or offended because of food [that you insist on eating], you are no longer walking in love [toward him]. Do not let what you eat destroy and spiritually harm one for whom Christ died.

they only kept hearing, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the [good news of the] faith which he once was trying to destroy.”

For the one who sows to his flesh [his sinful capacity, his worldliness, his disgraceful impulses] will reap from the flesh ruin and destruction, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

While they are saying, “Peace and safety [all is well and secure!]” then [in a moment unforeseen] destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains on a woman with child, and they will absolutely not escape [for there will be no way to escape the judgment of the Lord].

These people will pay the penalty and endure the punishment of everlasting destruction, banished from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

But those who [are not financially ethical and] crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [leading to personal misery].

and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;