Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Condescension of God » Enters into covenant with abraham
Later, the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks belonging to Mamre. As Abraham was sitting near the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day, he glanced up and saw three men standing there, not far from him. As soon as he noticed them, Abraham ran from the tent entrance to greet them and bowed low to the ground. "My lords," he told them, "if I have found favor with you, please don't leave your servant. read more.
I'll have some water brought to wash your feet while you rest under the tree. I'll bring some food for you, and after that you may continue your journey, since you have come to visit your servant." So they replied, "Okay! Do what you've proposed." Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick! Take three measures of the best flour, knead it, and make some flat bread." Next, Abraham ran to the herd, found a choice and tender calf, and gave it to the young men, who went off in a hurry to prepare it. Then he took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, placed the food in front of them, and stood near them under the tree while they ate. The men asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "There, in the tent," he replied. Then one of them said, "I will certainly return to you in about a year's time. By then, your wife Sarah will have borne a son." Now Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old really old and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing. That's why Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "After I'm so old and my husband is old, too, am I going to have sex?" The LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and think, "Am I really going to bear a child, since I'm so old?' Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you about a year from now and Sarah will have a son." But Sarah denied it. "I didn't laugh," she claimed, because she was afraid. The LORD replied, "No! You did laugh!" After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off. "Should I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do," the LORD asked, "since Abraham's descendants will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him? Indeed, I've made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised." The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious! I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know." Then two of the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the LORD.
I'll have some water brought to wash your feet while you rest under the tree. I'll bring some food for you, and after that you may continue your journey, since you have come to visit your servant." So they replied, "Okay! Do what you've proposed." Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, "Quick! Take three measures of the best flour, knead it, and make some flat bread." Next, Abraham ran to the herd, found a choice and tender calf, and gave it to the young men, who went off in a hurry to prepare it. Then he took curds, milk, and the calf that had been prepared, placed the food in front of them, and stood near them under the tree while they ate. The men asked him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" "There, in the tent," he replied. Then one of them said, "I will certainly return to you in about a year's time. By then, your wife Sarah will have borne a son." Now Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Abraham and Sarah were old really old and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing. That's why Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, "After I'm so old and my husband is old, too, am I going to have sex?" The LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and think, "Am I really going to bear a child, since I'm so old?' Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you about a year from now and Sarah will have a son." But Sarah denied it. "I didn't laugh," she claimed, because she was afraid. The LORD replied, "No! You did laugh!" After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off. "Should I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do," the LORD asked, "since Abraham's descendants will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him? Indeed, I've made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised." The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious! I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know." Then two of the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the LORD.
Gomorrah » Wickedness of
The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!
Sin » Punishment of
He told the woman, "I'll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth. It will be painful for you to bear children, "since your trust is turning toward your husband, and he will dominate you." He told the man, "Because you have listened to what your wife said, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, "You must not eat from it,' cursed is the ground because of you. You'll eat from it through pain-filled labor for the rest of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you'll eat the plants from the meadows. read more.
You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you're buried in the ground, because you were taken from it. You're made from dust and you'll return to dust."
You will eat food by the sweat of your brow until you're buried in the ground, because you were taken from it. You're made from dust and you'll return to dust."
"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction?
The LORD saw that human evil was growing more and more throughout the earth, with every inclination of people's thoughts becoming only evil on a continuous basis. Then the LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and he was deeply grieved about that. So the LORD said, "I will annihilate these human beings whom I've created from the earth, including people, animals, crawling things, and flying creatures, because I'm grieving that I made them."
"But if you won't do so, look out! You will be sinning against the LORD. Be certain of this, that your sin will catch up to you!
He graciously loves thousands, and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. But he does not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the ancestors on their children, and on their children's children to the third and fourth generation."
but you are not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because you will certainly die during the day that you eat from it."
So the LORD said, "My Spirit won't remain with human beings forever, because they're truly mortal. Their lifespan will be 120 years."
"But if some person acts with a high hand, whether a native-born or a resident alien, he blasphemes God, and that person is to be eliminated from among his people. Because he has despised the law of the LORD and has broken his commands, that person is certainly to be eliminated. His iniquity will remain on him."
If you do what is appropriate, you'll be accepted, won't you? But if you don't do what is appropriate, sin is crouching near your doorway, turning toward you. Now as for you, will you take dominion over it?"
The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!
because we're going to destroy it. Their outcry has come to the attention of the LORD, so he sent us here to destroy it!"
The LORD told Moses, "Whoever sins against me, I'll blot him out of my book. Now, go, and lead the people where I told you, and now my angel will go before you, but on the day when I do punish, I'll punish them for their sin."
"But if you won't listen to me and obey all these commands, and if you refuse my statutes, loathe my ordinances, and fail to carry out all of my commands, thereby breaching my covenant, then I will certainly do this to you: I'll appoint sudden terror to infect you like tuberculosis and fever. Your eyes will fail and your life will waste away. You'll plant in vain, because your enemies will consume what you plant. read more.
I'll set my face against you so that you'll be defeated before your enemies. Those who hate you will have dominion over you and you'll keep fleeing even when no one is pursuing you. "If, despite all of this, you still don't listen to me, then I'll punish you seven times more on account of your sins. I'll break your mighty pride. I'll make the heavens to be like iron and the ground like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your land won't yield its produce and the trees of the land won't yield their fruit. "If you live life contrary to me and remain unwilling to listen to me, then I'll add to your wounds seven times more on account of your sins.
I'll set my face against you so that you'll be defeated before your enemies. Those who hate you will have dominion over you and you'll keep fleeing even when no one is pursuing you. "If, despite all of this, you still don't listen to me, then I'll punish you seven times more on account of your sins. I'll break your mighty pride. I'll make the heavens to be like iron and the ground like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your land won't yield its produce and the trees of the land won't yield their fruit. "If you live life contrary to me and remain unwilling to listen to me, then I'll add to your wounds seven times more on account of your sins.
For forty years I loathed that generation, so I said, "They are a people whose hearts continuously err, and they have not understood my ways." So in my anger I declared an oath: "They are not to enter my place of rest."
"This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "You have seen the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. Look, they're in ruins today, with no one living in them, because of the wickedness that they did, provoking me to anger by continuing to offer sacrifices and worship other gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors had known.
"But they didn't listen or pay attention by turning from their wickedness and not offering sacrifices to other gods. My wrath and my anger were poured out, and they burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem so that they have become a ruin and a desolate place, as is the case today.'
Sin » Instances of » The sodomites
The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!
national Sins » Exemplified
and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes, making them an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them;
Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Please, LORD, this people committed a great sin by making a god of gold for themselves.
"Hear this message from the LORD, people of Israel. Indeed, the LORD brings a charge against the people who live in the land for there is no truth and no gracious love or knowledge of God in the land. Swearing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery are rampant, and blood mingles with blood.
Moses also said, "When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread in the morning to satisfy you, the LORD will hear your complaints directed against him. Who are we? Your complaints aren't against us, but rather against the LORD."
The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!
and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced. The Israelis practiced secret things that were not right, offending the LORD their God. In addition, they built high places for use by all their towns, watchtowers, and fortified cities. They set up pillars and Asherim on every high hill and in the shade of every green tree, read more.
where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, "You are not to do this."
where they made offerings on all the high places, as did the nations whom the LORD had expelled before them. They also practiced other wickedness, provoking the LORD to become angry, and they served idols, a practice that the LORD had warned them, "You are not to do this."
But Judah, too, did not keep the commands of the LORD their God. Instead, they lived the lifestyle that Israel had chosen,
Listen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding trough, but Israel doesn't know, and my people don't understand. "Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! "They've abandoned the LORD; they've despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they've walked away from me. read more.
"Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's no soundness evident only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven't been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil." "Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land they've brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.
"Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? Your whole head is sick, and your whole heart is faint. From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there's no soundness evident only bruises, sores, and festering wounds that haven't been cleaned out, bandaged, or treated with oil." "Your country lies desolate; your cities have been incinerated. Before your very eyes, foreigners are devouring your land they've brought devastation on it, while the land is overthrown by foreigners.
Sodom » The wickedness of
But on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed all of them.
Now the men of Sodom were particularly evil and sinful in their defiance of the LORD.
"The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don't even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!"
The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious!
Sodom » Abraham's intercession for
After this, the men set out from there and looked out over Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them off. "Should I hide from Abraham what I'm about to do," the LORD asked, "since Abraham's descendants will become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him? read more.
Indeed, I've made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised." The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious! I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know." Then two of the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the LORD. Abraham approached and asked, "Will you actually destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there? Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won't he?" The LORD said, "If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I'll forgive the whole place for their sake." Abraham answered, "Look, even though I am only dust and ashes, I've ventured to speak to my LORD. What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?" The LORD said, "I won't destroy it if I find 45 there." Abraham continued to speak to him, asking, "What if 40 are found there?" The LORD replied, "I won't do it for the sake of those 40." Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30." "Look," Abraham said, "I've presumed to speak to my LORD" so what if 20 are found there?" "For the sake of those 20," the LORD responded, "I won't destroy it." Finally, Abraham inquired, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "For the sake of those ten I won't destroy it." As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the LORD left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.
Indeed, I've made myself known to him in order that he may encourage his sons and his household that is born after him to keep the way of the LORD, and to do what is right and just, so that the LORD may bring about for Abraham what he has promised." The LORD also said, "How great is the disapproval of Sodom and Gomorrah! Their sin is so very serious! I'm going down to see whether they've acted according to the protests that have reached me. If not, I wish to know." Then two of the men turned away from there and walked toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing in the presence of the LORD. Abraham approached and asked, "Will you actually destroy the righteous along with the wicked? Perhaps there are 50 righteous ones within the city. Will you actually destroy it and not forgive the place for the sake of the 50 righteous that are found there? Far be it from you to do such a thing to kill the righteous along with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike! The Judge of all the earth will do what is right, won't he?" The LORD said, "If I find 50 righteous people within Sodom, I'll forgive the whole place for their sake." Abraham answered, "Look, even though I am only dust and ashes, I've ventured to speak to my LORD. What if there are five less than 50 righteous ones? Will you bring destruction upon the city because of those five?" The LORD said, "I won't destroy it if I find 45 there." Abraham continued to speak to him, asking, "What if 40 are found there?" The LORD replied, "I won't do it for the sake of those 40." Abraham then asked, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak. What if 30 are found there?" The LORD answered, "I won't do it for the sake of those 30." "Look," Abraham said, "I've presumed to speak to my LORD" so what if 20 are found there?" "For the sake of those 20," the LORD responded, "I won't destroy it." Finally, Abraham inquired, "I hope my LORD will not be angry if I speak only once more. What if ten are found there?" He replied, "For the sake of those ten I won't destroy it." As soon as he finished talking to Abraham, the LORD left and Abraham returned to where he had been sitting.