Thematic Bible: False friends


Thematic Bible



Now, it is not an enemy who insults me- otherwise I could bear it; it is not a foe who rises up against me- otherwise I could hide from him. But it is you, a man who is my peer, my companion and good friend! We used to have close fellowship; we walked with the crowd into the house of God.


You have distanced my friends from me;
You have made me repulsive to them.
I am shut in and cannot go out.
Verse ConceptsFriendlessnessAbandoning FriendsShutting DoorsFriends FailingPeople Being HatedBest Friendsshunning


Malicious witnesses come forward; they question me about things I do not know. They repay me evil for good, making me desolate. Yet when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, and my prayer was genuine. read more.
I went about [grieving] as if for my friend or brother; I was bowed down with grief, like one mourning a mother. But when I stumbled, they gathered in glee; they gathered against me. Assailants I did not know tore at me and did not stop. With godless mockery they gnashed their teeth at me.

He acts violently against those at peace with him; he violates his covenant. His buttery words are smooth, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.


Meanwhile, Peter was following Him at a distance right to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and was sitting with the temple police to see the outcome. Verse ConceptsPeople Sitting DownEnd Of Actionsdistanceprepping

His betrayer had given them a sign: "The One I kiss, He's the One; arrest Him!" So he went right up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!"-and kissed Him.

Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went to bed with her. When the Gazites [heard] that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly, they said, "Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him." But Samson stayed in bed until midnight when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate along with the two gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron. read more.
Some time later, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the Sorek Valley. The Philistine leaders went to her and said, "Persuade him to tell you where his great strength comes from, so we can overpower him, tie him up, and make him helpless. Each of us will then give you 1,100 pieces of silver." So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me, where does your great strength [come from]? How could [someone] tie you up and make you helpless?" Samson told her, "If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become weak and be like any other man." The Philistine leaders brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. While the men in ambush were waiting in her room, she called out to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of yarn snaps when it touches fire. [The secret of] his strength remained unknown. Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me and told me lies! Won't you please tell me how you can be tied up?" He told her, "If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become weak and be like any other man." Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and shouted, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" But while the men in ambush were waiting in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have mocked me all along and told me lies! Tell me how you can be tied up." He told her, "If you weave the seven braids on my head with the web of a loom-" She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web. "How can you say, 'I love you,' " she told him, "when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and not told me what makes your strength so great!" Because she nagged him day after day and pled with him until she wore him out, he told her the whole truth and said to her, "My hair has never been cut, because I am a Nazirite to God from birth. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man." When Delilah realized that he had told her the whole truth, she sent this message to the Philistine leaders: "Come one more time, for he has told me the whole truth." The Philistine leaders came to her and brought the money with them. Then she let him fall asleep on her lap and called a man to shave off the seven braids on his head. In this way, she rendered him helpless, and his strength left him. Then she cried, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" When he awoke from his sleep, he said, "I will escape as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

While he was offering the sacrifices, Absalom sent for David’s adviser Ahithophel the Gilonite, from his city of Giloh. So the conspiracy grew strong, and the people supporting Absalom continued to increase. Verse ConceptsadvisersConspiraciesPeople MultiplyingConspiracy

"You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me and what he did to the two commanders of Israel's army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He murdered them [in a time] of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet. Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace.

In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim acquired a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as his concubine. But she was unfaithful to him and left him for her father's house in Bethlehem in Judah. She was there for a period of four months.

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. Verse ConceptsCupbearerForgettingIngratitudeReward, HumanUnreliabilityButlersForgetting People

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