Thematic Bible: Condemned


Thematic Bible



Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.



A wicked person receives a bribe secretly to pervert the ways of justice.

They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent.

The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others --






The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

"It's worthless! It's worthless!" says the buyer, but when he goes on his way, he boasts.




"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.





The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

"It's worthless! It's worthless!" says the buyer, but when he goes on his way, he boasts.




"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.


No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: 'I burned half of it in the fire -- yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?'

"Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, because they are a rebellious house.

The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this; the fool does not understand this.

You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time?



On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing.





So he poured out his fierce anger on them, along with the devastation of war. Its flames encircled them, but they did not realize it; it burned against them, but they did notice.


He says, "Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, like they were that day at Massah in the wilderness,


The one who says he is in the light but still hates his fellow Christian is still in the darkness.

Everyone who hates his fellow Christian is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.




You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not incur sin on account of him.


you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places.

for the prophecy he announced with the Lord's authority against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north will certainly be fulfilled."

They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing!

He removed the pagan altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.

I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. I will abhor you.



You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort the words of the righteous.

He says, "How long will you make unjust legal decisions and show favoritism to the wicked? (Selah)

An unjust person is an abomination to the righteous, and the one who lives an upright life is an abomination to the wicked.

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to crave strong drink, lest they drink and forget what is decreed, and remove from all the poor their legal rights.

I saw something else on earth: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of fairness, there was wickedness.





So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.




Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins?

Those who stray morally will gain understanding; those who complain will acquire insight.


Jesus replied, "Do not complain about me to one another.




But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together; they gathered together to ambush me. They tore at me without stopping to rest.

The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge.

So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

They put bitter poison into my food, and to quench my thirst they give me vinegar to drink.

This is what the Lord says: "Because Edom has committed three crimes -- make that four! -- I will not revoke my decree of judgment. He chased his brother with a sword; he wiped out his allies. In his anger he tore them apart without stopping to rest; in his fury he relentlessly attacked them.

But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt.

Like one who takes off a garment on a cold day, or like vinegar poured on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

A poor person who oppresses the weak is like a driving rain without food.


you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places.

for the prophecy he announced with the Lord's authority against the altar in Bethel and against all the temples on the high places in the cities of the north will certainly be fulfilled."

They have also built places of worship in a place called Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they can sacrifice their sons and daughters by fire. That is something I never commanded them to do! Indeed, it never even entered my mind to command such a thing!

He removed the pagan altars and the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.

I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars, and I will stack your dead bodies on top of the lifeless bodies of your idols. I will abhor you.


Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person will be cut off from his people.

And you will bear no sin concerning it when you offer up the best of it. And you must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, or else you will die.'"

You who tell others not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?


Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.



A wicked person receives a bribe secretly to pervert the ways of justice.

They pronounce the guilty innocent for a payoff, they ignore the just cause of the innocent.

The one who lives uprightly and speaks honestly; the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures and rejects a bribe; the one who does not plot violent crimes and does not seek to harm others --




And I want you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.


But when they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you should make your defense or what you should say,






The person who gathers wealth by unjust means is like the partridge that broods over eggs but does not hatch them. Before his life is half over he will lose his ill-gotten gains. At the end of his life it will be clear he was a fool."

"It's worthless! It's worthless!" says the buyer, but when he goes on his way, he boasts.




"'Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor.


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