Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
Condescension of God » Invites sinners, saying, "come now, and let us reason together,"
Come now, let us reason together (make things right) (correct matters) between us! Says Jehovah. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will become as white as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.
Obedience to God » Punishment of refusing
The children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of Jehovah. Jehovah swore that he would not show them the land, which he swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land that flows with milk and honey.
If you do not obey Jehovah your God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes with which I charge you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the country. Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed. read more.
Cursed will be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Jehovah will curse everything you do! If you do evil and reject Jehovah, he will bring on you trouble, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do. Soon you will be quickly and completely destroyed. He will plague you with disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land. Jehovah will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever. He will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die. The sky above will look like copper and the ground below will be as hard as iron. Jehovah will send dust storms and sandstorms on you from the sky until you are destroyed. Jehovah will cause you to be stricken before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and flee seven ways from them. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your body will be food to all birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. And no man shall frighten them away. Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. You will become insane and go blind. Jehovah will make you so confused, that even in bright sunshine you will have to feel your way around like a blind person. You will tell day from night! For the rest of your life, people will beat and rob you. No one will be able to stop them. A man will be engaged to a woman, but before they can get married, enemy soldiers will rape her. Some of you will build houses, but never get to live in them. If you plant a vineyard, you will not be around long enough to enjoy the first harvest. Your cattle will be killed while you watch. You will not get to eat any of the meat. Your donkeys and sheep will be stolen. No one will be around to force your enemies to give them back. Your sons and daughters will be dragged off to a foreign country. And you will stand there helpless. Even if you watch for them until you go blind, you will never see them again. A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow. You will receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment. You will lose your mind (experience insanity) because of all the suffering. Jehovah will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils. From the sole of your foot to the crown of your head they will not heal. Jehovah will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods made of wood and stone. You will become a thing of revulsion. All the nations where Jehovah will send you will make an example of you and laugh at you. You will plant many crops in your fields, but harvest little for locusts will destroy your crops. You will plant vineyards and tend them but will not drink the wine from them. Worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint with the oil, for your olive shall drop off its fruit. Even your infant sons and daughters will be taken as prisoners of war. Locusts will take over all your trees and the fruit of your land. The alien who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower. They will be able to make loans to you, but you won't be able to make loans to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail. All these disasters will come on you. They will be with you until you are destroyed. This is because you did not obey Jehovah your God and keep all the laws that he gave you. Everyone will look at you and your descendants and realize that Jehovah has placed you under a curse for a very long time. You did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. You will serve your enemies whom Jehovah will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Jehovah will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. They will eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They will continue to do this until you are completely desolate. They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls you trust come down everywhere in your land. They will blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom Jehovah your God has given you. The kindest and most sensitive man among you will become stingy toward his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has left. He will give none of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all that he has left. These are hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of all your cities. The kindest and most sensitive woman among you, so sensitive and tender that she would not even step on an ant, will become stingy toward the husband she loves or toward her own son or daughter. She will not share with them the afterbirth from her body and the children she gives birth to. She will secretly eat them out of dire necessity. These are hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of your cities. You might not faithfully obey every word of the teachings that are written in this book. You might not respect this glorious and awe inspiring name: JEHOVAH your God. If so, Jehovah will strike you and your descendants with unimaginable plagues. They will be terrible continuing plagues. They will be severe and lingering diseases. He will bring all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded. They will cling to you. Jehovah will also bring you every kind of sickness and plague not written in this Book of the Law. They will continue until you are dead. You were at one time as numerous as the stars in the sky. But only a few of you will be left. This is because you did not obey Jehovah your God. Jehovah was very glad to make you prosperous and numerous. Now Jehovah will be more than glad to destroy you and wipe you out. You will be torn out of the land you are about to enter and possess. Jehovah will scatter you among all the people of the world. He will scatter you from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve gods made of wood and stone that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew. You will find no peace among those nations. There will be no place to call your own. There Jehovah will give you an unsettled mind, failing eyesight, and despair. Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror. You will live in constant fear of death. Your hearts will pound with fear at everything you see. Every morning you will wish for evening. Every evening you will wish for morning. Jehovah will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves. But no one will want to buy you.
Cursed will be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Jehovah will curse everything you do! If you do evil and reject Jehovah, he will bring on you trouble, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do. Soon you will be quickly and completely destroyed. He will plague you with disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land. Jehovah will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever. He will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die. The sky above will look like copper and the ground below will be as hard as iron. Jehovah will send dust storms and sandstorms on you from the sky until you are destroyed. Jehovah will cause you to be stricken before your enemies. You will go out one way against them, and flee seven ways from them. You will be an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. Your body will be food to all birds of the air, and to the beasts of the earth. And no man shall frighten them away. Jehovah will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. You will become insane and go blind. Jehovah will make you so confused, that even in bright sunshine you will have to feel your way around like a blind person. You will tell day from night! For the rest of your life, people will beat and rob you. No one will be able to stop them. A man will be engaged to a woman, but before they can get married, enemy soldiers will rape her. Some of you will build houses, but never get to live in them. If you plant a vineyard, you will not be around long enough to enjoy the first harvest. Your cattle will be killed while you watch. You will not get to eat any of the meat. Your donkeys and sheep will be stolen. No one will be around to force your enemies to give them back. Your sons and daughters will be dragged off to a foreign country. And you will stand there helpless. Even if you watch for them until you go blind, you will never see them again. A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow. You will receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment. You will lose your mind (experience insanity) because of all the suffering. Jehovah will strike you on the knees and legs with sore boils. From the sole of your foot to the crown of your head they will not heal. Jehovah will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods made of wood and stone. You will become a thing of revulsion. All the nations where Jehovah will send you will make an example of you and laugh at you. You will plant many crops in your fields, but harvest little for locusts will destroy your crops. You will plant vineyards and tend them but will not drink the wine from them. Worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout all your coasts, but you shall not anoint with the oil, for your olive shall drop off its fruit. Even your infant sons and daughters will be taken as prisoners of war. Locusts will take over all your trees and the fruit of your land. The alien who is living among you will be lifted up higher and higher over you, while you go down lower and lower. They will be able to make loans to you, but you won't be able to make loans to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail. All these disasters will come on you. They will be with you until you are destroyed. This is because you did not obey Jehovah your God and keep all the laws that he gave you. Everyone will look at you and your descendants and realize that Jehovah has placed you under a curse for a very long time. You did not serve Jehovah your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things. You will serve your enemies whom Jehovah will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. Jehovah will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. They will eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They will continue to do this until you are completely desolate. They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls you trust come down everywhere in your land. They will blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that Jehovah your God is giving you. Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom Jehovah your God has given you. The kindest and most sensitive man among you will become stingy toward his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has left. He will give none of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all that he has left. These are hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of all your cities. The kindest and most sensitive woman among you, so sensitive and tender that she would not even step on an ant, will become stingy toward the husband she loves or toward her own son or daughter. She will not share with them the afterbirth from her body and the children she gives birth to. She will secretly eat them out of dire necessity. These are hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of your cities. You might not faithfully obey every word of the teachings that are written in this book. You might not respect this glorious and awe inspiring name: JEHOVAH your God. If so, Jehovah will strike you and your descendants with unimaginable plagues. They will be terrible continuing plagues. They will be severe and lingering diseases. He will bring all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded. They will cling to you. Jehovah will also bring you every kind of sickness and plague not written in this Book of the Law. They will continue until you are dead. You were at one time as numerous as the stars in the sky. But only a few of you will be left. This is because you did not obey Jehovah your God. Jehovah was very glad to make you prosperous and numerous. Now Jehovah will be more than glad to destroy you and wipe you out. You will be torn out of the land you are about to enter and possess. Jehovah will scatter you among all the people of the world. He will scatter you from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve gods made of wood and stone that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew. You will find no peace among those nations. There will be no place to call your own. There Jehovah will give you an unsettled mind, failing eyesight, and despair. Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror. You will live in constant fear of death. Your hearts will pound with fear at everything you see. Every morning you will wish for evening. Every evening you will wish for morning. Jehovah will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves. But no one will want to buy you.
Receive the curse when you do not listen to the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside from the way that I command you today, by following other gods you have not known.
Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.
Rebellion » The reward for rebelling against the lord
Write this on a tablet for them, and inscribe it in a book so that it will be there in the future as a permanent witness. These people are rebellious and deceitful children. They refuse to listen to Jehovah's Law. They say to the seers: Do not see the future. They say to those who have visions: 'Do not have visions that tell us what is right. Tell us what we want to hear. Prophesy illusions. read more.
Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path! Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.' This is what the Holy One of Israel says: You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support. For that reason your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall. It will break like pottery. It will be smashed. Nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir. The Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, says: Return to me and be saved. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me. But you do not want that! You have said: No, we will flee on horses. So you flee. You added: We will ride on fast horses. So those who chase you will also be fast. One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them. You will flee when five threaten you. Then you will be left alone like a flagpole on top of a mountain, like a signpost on a hill.
Get out of our way! Stop blocking our path! Get the Holy One of Israel out of our sight.' This is what the Holy One of Israel says: You have rejected this warning, trusted oppression and deceit, and you leaned upon them for support. For that reason your sin will be like a high wall with a bulging crack, ready to fall. All of a sudden it will fall. It will break like pottery. It will be smashed. Nothing will be left of it. No piece will be big enough to carry live coals from a fireplace or to dip water from a reservoir. The Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, says: Return to me and be saved. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me. But you do not want that! You have said: No, we will flee on horses. So you flee. You added: We will ride on fast horses. So those who chase you will also be fast. One thousand people will flee when one person threatens them. You will flee when five threaten you. Then you will be left alone like a flagpole on top of a mountain, like a signpost on a hill.
But if you do not listen to Jehovah but disobey his commands, he will be against you and your king. He was against your fathers because they disobeyed.
Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.
Because of this, Jehovah says: 'I am going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you have told the people to rebel against Jehovah.' Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year.
But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority. They turned their backs on your law, and murdered your prophets. These prophets gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you. They did much to make you angry. So you gave them up into the hands of their enemies who were cruel to them. In the time of their trouble, when they prayed to you, you listened to them from heaven. In your great mercy you gave them saviors, who made them free from the hands of their enemies. When they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their enemies who ruled over them. When they came back and prayed to you, you listened to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation. read more.
You admonished them so that you might make them come back again to your law. Their hearts were lifted up, and they paid no attention to your orders. They went against your life giving decisions and turned their backs on you. They were stubborn and did not listen. You put up with them for years. You admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they did not listen. So you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands. Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace (loving-kindness) and mercy.
You admonished them so that you might make them come back again to your law. Their hearts were lifted up, and they paid no attention to your orders. They went against your life giving decisions and turned their backs on you. They were stubborn and did not listen. You put up with them for years. You admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they did not listen. So you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands. Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace (loving-kindness) and mercy.
Let them praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfies the thirsty and the hungry person. Those who lived in the dark, in death's shadow were prisoners in misery. They were held in iron chains read more.
They had rebelled against God's words and had despised the advice given by the Most High. He humbled them with hard work. They fell down, but no one was there to help them.
They had rebelled against God's words and had despised the advice given by the Most High. He humbled them with hard work. They fell down, but no one was there to help them.
And I prayed to Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Jehovah, the great and fear-inspiring (awesome) God, who keeps his covenant and loving kindness for those who love him and keep his commandments. We have sinned. We have dealt perversely. We have acted wickedly and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances. We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. read more.
O Jehovah, righteousness belongs to you! Shame belongs to us this day! To the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. O Jehovah, to us belongs shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To Jehovah our God belong mercies and forgiveness. We have rebelled against him.
O Jehovah, righteousness belongs to you! Shame belongs to us this day! To the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you. O Jehovah, to us belongs shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To Jehovah our God belong mercies and forgiveness. We have rebelled against him.
Rebellion against God » Punishment for
But if you do not listen to Jehovah but disobey his commands, he will be against you and your king. He was against your fathers because they disobeyed.
They defied me and refused to listen. They did not throw away their disgusting idols or give up the Egyptian gods. I was ready to let them feel the full force of my anger there in Egypt.
If you will not listen to me and obey all these commandments, if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commandments, then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them. read more.
I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you. If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children. They will destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted. If this discipline does not help and you still resist, I will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins. I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy. I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry. If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust. I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it. I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted. Then the land will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted. You will be in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor Jehovah. All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time to honor Jehovah it never celebrated while you lived there. I will fill those who are left in the land of their enemies with despair. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them. They will stumble over each other. Yet no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies. They will be destroyed among the nations. The land of their enemies will devour them. Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you. If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children. They will destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted. If this discipline does not help and you still resist, I will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins. I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy. I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry. If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust. I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it. I will scatter you among the nations. War will follow you. Your country will be in ruins. Your cities will be deserted. Then the land will enjoy its time to honor Jehovah while it lies deserted. You will be in your enemies' land. Then the land will joyfully celebrate its time to honor Jehovah. All the days it lies deserted, it will celebrate the time to honor Jehovah it never celebrated while you lived there. I will fill those who are left in the land of their enemies with despair. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them. They will stumble over each other. Yet no one will be after them. They will not be able to stand up to their enemies. They will be destroyed among the nations. The land of their enemies will devour them. Those who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.
Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.
Warn the nations about this. Tell it to Jerusalem. Hostile troops are coming from a distant country. They shout battle cries against the cities of Judah. They surround Judah like men guarding a field, because Judah has rebelled against me, declares Jehovah. You brought this on yourself. This is your punishment. It is bitter. It breaks your heart.
I will take away from among you those who are rebellious and sinful. I will take them out of the lands where they are living now, but I will not let them return to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am Jehovah.'
Will » The mental faculty » Freedom of, recognized by God
He said to him: These are the words of Jehovah: 'Because you have let go from your hands the man whom I had put to the curse, your life will be taken for his life, and your people for his people.'
Remind me of what happened. Let us argue our case together. State your case so that you can prove you are right.
Maybe the nation of Judah will hear about all the disasters that I devise to bring on them, and they will turn from their wicked ways. Then I will forgive their wickedness and their sins.
Come now, let us reason together (make things right) (correct matters) between us! Says Jehovah. Though your sins are like scarlet, they will become as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will become as white as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land. Refuse and rebel and swords will devour you. Jehovah has spoken.
If any man does his will he shall know the teachings. He will know if it is from God, or whether I speak from myself.
If only they had such a heart in them that they would respect (reverence) me and obey all my commandments for as long as they live! Then things would go well for them and their children from generation to generation.'
Maybe their prayers will come into Jehovah's presence, and they will turn from their evil ways. Jehovah has threatened these people with his terrifying anger and fury.
Jehovah said to Cain: Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will not your attitude improve? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it. While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. read more.
Jehovah asked Cain: Where is your brother Abel? I do not know, he replied. Am I my brother's keeper? Jehovah said: What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood (life) cries out to me from the ground.
Jehovah asked Cain: Where is your brother Abel? I do not know, he replied. Am I my brother's keeper? Jehovah said: What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood (life) cries out to me from the ground.