“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
And the law of the Lord is with us [and we are learned in its language and teachings]’?
Behold, [the truth is that] the lying pen of the scribes
Has made the law into a lie [a mere code of ceremonial observances].

Oh that I had in the wilderness
A lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men,
That I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For they are all adulterers [worshiping idols instead of the Lord],
[They are] an assembly of treacherous men [of weak character, men without integrity].

things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

but it is in vain they worship Me, while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'"

"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah," said Jesus; "for mere human nature has not revealed this to you, but my Father in Heaven.

For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high. For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth; they will be among mere mortals, with those who descend to the pit.

Man is like a mere breath;
His days are like a passing shadow.

nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

But idle is their devotion while they lay down precepts which are mere human rules.'

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear [as if he were deity]; do not be afraid of him,’ says the Lord, ‘for [he is a mere man, but I am the living, omniscient God and] I am with you [always] to protect you and to deliver you from his hand.

In all labor there is profit,
But mere talk leads only to poverty.

Do not look to nobles, nor to mere human beings who cannot save.

They have destroyed our vines; they have turned our fig trees into mere splinters. They have completely stripped off the bark and thrown them aside; the twigs are stripped bare.

And I will make mere lads their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,

I am counted among those who go down to the pit (grave);
I am like a man who has no strength [a mere shadow],

Remember how fleeting my lifetime is;
For what vanity, [for what emptiness, for what futility, for what wisp of smoke] You have created all the sons of men!

So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you,

Consider therefore whether the light that is in you is anything but mere darkness.

He takes his battle position and shakes the earth; with a mere look he frightens the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrate; the primeval hills are flattened. He travels on the ancient roads.

The princes of Zoan are mere fools;
The advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.
How can you men say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?

By mere words a servant will not be corrected; even though he understands, there will be no response.

These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.

by setting their threshold by My threshold and their doorpost beside My doorpost, with [only] the wall between Me and them. They have defiled and desecrated My holy name by the vile atrocities which they have committed. So I have consumed them in My anger.

"He will say, "I am no mere prophet. A servant of mankind am I, because a man dedicated to this have I been from my youth.'

"As for human beings," I told myself, "God puts them to the test, that they might see themselves as mere animals."

"No mere man has ever spoken as this man speaks," said the officers.

Therefore when I was planning to do this, I did not do so without thinking about what I was doing, did I? Or do I make my plans according to mere human standards so that I would be saying both "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time?

and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt—

As for My sacrificial offerings,
They sacrifice the meat [as a mere formality] and eat it,
But the Lord is not pleased with them and does not accept them.
Now He will remember and take into account their wickedness and guilt,
And punish them for their sins.
They will return [in captivity] to [another] Egypt [that is, Assyria].

It was not as a mere man that he thus spoke. But being High Priest that year he was inspired to declare that Jesus was to die for the nation,

Is there wickedness (idolatry) in Gilead?
Surely the people there are worthless.
In Gilgal [they defy Me when] they sacrifice bulls,
Yes, [after My judgment] their [pagan] altars are like the stone heaps
In the furrows of the fields.

and have thrown their gods into the fire but they are not gods, but rather the products of human hands, mere wood and stone. So the Assyrians destroyed them.

‘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!”’”

When you cry out, let your collection deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, and a mere breath will sweep them all away." "But whoever takes refuge in me will possess the land, and will inherit my holy mountain.

"And there will no longer be in it a young boy who lives only a few days, or an old person who does not live out his days; for one who dies at a hundred years will be thought a mere youth, and one who falls short of a hundred years will be considered accursed.

I now pass to another subject. Receive as a friend a man whose faith is weak, but not for the purpose of deciding mere matters of opinion.

We, for Christ's sake, are labeled as "foolish"; you, as Christians, are men of shrewd intelligence. We are mere weaklings: you are strong. You are in high repute: we are outcasts.

when slandered, we try to conciliate. We have come to be regarded as the mere dirt and filth of the world--the refuse of the universe, even to this hour.

For all of the gods of the other nations are mere idols, but the LORD fashioned the heavens!

Present suffering, I hold, is a mere nothing compared to the glory that we are to have revealed.

You must not break down God's work for the mere sake of food! Everything may be clean, but it is wrong for a man to prove a stumbling-block by what he eats;

You are therefore no longer mere foreigners or persons excluded from civil rights. On the contrary you share citizenship with God's people and are members of His family.

The Message of the Cross is indeed mere folly to those who are in the path to Ruin, but to us who are in the path of Salvation it is the very power of God.

We are proclaiming Christ crucified!-to the Jews an obstacle, to the Gentiles mere folly,

For ours is not a conflict with mere flesh and blood, but with the despotisms, the empires, the forces that control and govern this dark world--the spiritual hosts of evil arrayed against us in the heavenly warfare.

referring to things which are all intended to be used up and perish--in obedience to mere human injunctions and teachings?

nor did we seek glory either from you or from any other mere men, although we might have stood on our dignity as Christ's Apostles.

Bring all this to men's remembrances, solemnly charging them in the presence of God not to waste time in wrangling about mere words, a course which is altogether unprofitable and tends only to the ruin of the hearers.

Such persons are mere babes. But solid food is for adults--that is, for those who through constant practice have their spiritual faculties carefully trained to distinguish good from evil.

Against all the ships of Tarshish
And against all the beautiful craft.

But prove yourselves obedient to the Message, and do not be mere hearers of it, imposing a delusion upon yourselves.

In the same way the tongue is an insignificant part of the body, but it is immensely boastful. Remember how a mere spark may set a vast forest in flames.

But, as the case stands, it is in mere self-confidence that you boast: all such boasting is evil.

“For God is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I may answer Him,
That we may go to court and judgment together.

“Yet these are just the fringes of His ways [mere samples of His power],
The faintest whisper of His voice!
Who can contemplate the thunder of His [full] mighty power?”

“For I do not know how to flatter, [in an appropriate way, and I fear that],
My Maker would soon take me away.

For no person will be justified [freed of guilt and declared righteous] in His sight by [trying to do] the works of the Law. For through the Law we become conscious of sin [and the recognition of sin directs us toward repentance, but provides no remedy for sin].

Now about food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge [concerning this]. Knowledge [alone] makes [people self-righteously] arrogant, but love [that unselfishly seeks the best for others] builds up and encourages others to grow [in wisdom].

For though we walk in the flesh [as mortal men], we are not carrying on our [spiritual] warfare according to the flesh and using the weapons of man.

Now mere food will not bring us any nearer to God; if we abstain we do not lose anything, and if we eat we do not gain anything.

Take care there is not some one who will carry you away by his 'philosophy'--a hollow sham!--following, as it does, mere human traditions, and dealing with puerile questions of this world, and not with Christ.

And not for the mere gratification of his passions, like the Gentiles who know nothing of God;

no longer a mere slave but something more than a slave ??a beloved brother; especially dear to me but how much more to you as a man and as a Christian!

For as the Law has a mere shadow of the bliss that is to be, instead of representing the reality of that bliss, it never can perfect those who draw near with the same annual sacrifices that are perpetually offered.

What I am proud of is not the mere preaching of the gospel; that I am constrained to do. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Brothers, do not be children in the sphere of intelligence; in evil be mere infants, but be mature in your intelligence.

Though I speak in the 'tongues' of men, or even of angels, yet have not Love, I have become mere echoing brass, or a clanging cymbal!

Ah, if in this life we have nothing but a mere hope in Christ, we are of all men to be pitied most!

And what you sow is not the body that is to be; it is a mere grain of wheat, for example, or some other seed.

for no prophetic teaching ever came in the old days at the mere wish of man, but men, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke direct from God.

My children, do not let our love be mere words, or end in talk; let it be true and show itself in acts.

I would remind you, Brothers, that the Good News which I told is no mere human invention.

I know your distress and your poverty (but you are rich!): I know how you are being slandered by those who style themselves Jews (no Jews are they, but a mere synagogue of Satan!).