Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



"For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.


Now a wife of one of the prophets appealed to Elisha for help, saying, "Your servant, my husband is dead. You know that your servant was a loyal follower of the Lord. Now the creditor is coming to take away my two boys to be his servants."

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

Reach agreement quickly with your accuser while on the way to court, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the warden, and you will be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny!

As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!"

Then there was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. There were those who said, "With our sons and daughters, we are many. We must obtain grain in order to eat and stay alive." There were others who said, "We are putting up our fields, our vineyards, and our houses as collateral in order to obtain grain during the famine." read more.
Then there were those who said, "We have borrowed money to pay our taxes to the king on our fields and our vineyards. And now, though we share the same flesh and blood as our fellow countrymen, and our children are just like their children, still we have found it necessary to subject our sons and daughters to slavery. Some of our daughters have been subjected to slavery, while we are powerless to help, since our fields and vineyards now belong to other people." I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. I considered these things carefully and then registered a complaint with the wealthy and the officials. I said to them, "Each one of you is seizing the collateral from your own countrymen!" Because of them I called for a great public assembly. I said to them, "To the extent possible we have bought back our fellow Jews who had been sold to the Gentiles. But now you yourselves want to sell your own countrymen, so that we can then buy them back!" They were utterly silent, and could find nothing to say. Then I said, "The thing that you are doing is wrong! Should you not conduct yourselves in the fear of our God in order to avoid the reproach of the Gentiles who are our enemies? Even I and my relatives and my associates are lending them money and grain. But let us abandon this practice of seizing collateral! This very day return to them their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees, and their houses, along with the interest that you are exacting from them on the money, the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil." They replied, "We will return these things, and we will no longer demand anything from them. We will do just as you say." Then I called the priests and made the wealthy and the officials swear to do what had been promised. I also shook out my garment, and I said, "In this way may God shake out from his house and his property every person who does not carry out this matter. In this way may he be shaken out and emptied!" All the assembly replied, "So be it!" and they praised the LORD. Then the people did as they had promised.

He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build. For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape.

Do not be one who strikes hands in pledge or who puts up security for debts. If you do not have enough to pay, your bed will be taken right out from under you!

After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe me!' Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will repay you.' But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. read more.
When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, 'Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?' And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart."




Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: "This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back -- because of my feelings within me. When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer. read more.
"Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth, that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?' Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight. People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer. His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth. His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust. "If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth, his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him. The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach. He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him. He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter. He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build.

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


"For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked.

For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build.

That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you,


"Yes, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; his flame of fire does not shine. The light in his tent grows dark; his lamp above him is extinguished. His vigorous steps are restricted, and his own counsel throws him down. read more.
For he has been thrown into a net by his feet and he wanders into a mesh. A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare grips him. A rope is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him lies on the path. Terrors frighten him on all sides and dog his every step. Calamity is hungry for him, and misfortune is ready at his side. It eats away parts of his skin; the most terrible death devours his limbs. He is dragged from the security of his tent, and marched off to the king of terrors. Fire resides in his tent; over his residence burning sulfur is scattered. Below his roots dry up, and his branches wither above. His memory perishes from the earth, he has no name in the land. He is driven from light into darkness and is banished from the world. He has neither children nor descendants among his people, no survivor in those places he once stayed. People of the west are appalled at his fate; people of the east are seized with horror, saying, Surely such is the residence of an evil man; and this is the place of one who has not known God.'"

Your misdeeds have stopped these things from coming. Your sins have deprived you of my bounty.'

This is the portion of the wicked man allotted by God, the inheritance that evildoers receive from the Almighty. If his children increase -- it is for the sword! His offspring never have enough to eat. Those who survive him are buried by the plague, and their widows do not mourn for them. read more.
If he piles up silver like dust and stores up clothing like mounds of clay, what he stores up a righteous man will wear, and an innocent man will inherit his silver. The house he builds is as fragile as a moth's cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made. He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more. When he opens his eyes, it is all gone. Terrors overwhelm him like a flood; at night a whirlwind carries him off. The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. It hurls itself against him without pity as he flees headlong from its power. It claps its hands at him in derision and hisses him away from his place.

All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; read more.
he wanders about -- food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat, he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God's mouth. Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception."

that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, 'Where is he?' read more.
Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight. People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer. His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth. His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust. "If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth, his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him. The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach. He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him. He will not look on the streams, the rivers, which are the torrents of honey and butter. He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build. For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape. "Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last. In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. the full force of misery will come upon him. "While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him, and rains down his blows upon him. If he flees from an iron weapon, then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him. When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver, terrors come over him. Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire which has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. The heavens reveal his iniquity; the earth rises up against him. A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. Such is the lot God allots the wicked, and the heritage of his appointment from God."

"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them. read more.
Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about. They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute. They live out their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. So they say to God, 'Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?' But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! "How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? You may say, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his children!' Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it! Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty. For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off? Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high? "One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous, his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist. And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good. Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both. "Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. For you say, 'Where now is the nobleman's house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?' Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts -- that the evil man is spared from the day of his misfortune, that he is delivered from the day of God's wrath? No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done. And when he is carried to the tombs, and watch is kept over the funeral mound, The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.

Men move boundary stones; they seize the flock and pasture them. They drive away the orphan's donkey; they take the widow's ox as a pledge. They turn the needy from the pathway, and the poor of the land hide themselves together. read more.
Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children. They reap fodder in the field, and glean in the vineyard of the wicked. They spend the night naked because they lack clothing; they have no covering against the cold. They are soaked by mountain rains and huddle in the rocks because they lack shelter. The fatherless child is snatched from the breast, the infant of the poor is taken as a pledge. They go about naked, without clothing, and go hungry while they carry the sheaves. They press out the olive oil between the rows of olive trees; they tread the winepresses while they are thirsty. From the city the dying groan, and the wounded cry out for help, but God charges no one with wrongdoing. There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways and they do not stay on its paths. Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief. And the eye of the adulterer watches for the twilight, thinking, 'No eye can see me,' and covers his face with a mask. In the dark the robber breaks into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they do not know the light. For all of them, the morning is to them like deep darkness; they are friends with the terrors of darkness. "You say, 'He is foam on the face of the waters; their portion of the land is cursed so that no one goes to their vineyard. The drought as well as the heat carry away the melted snow; so the grave takes away those who have sinned. The womb forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down. He preys on the barren and childless woman, and does not treat the widow well. But God drags off the mighty by his power; when God rises up against him, he has no faith in his life. God may let them rest in a feeling of security, but he is constantly watching all their ways. They are exalted for a little while, and then they are gone, they are brought low like all others, and gathered in, and like a head of grain they are cut off.'

You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Then say to the people of the land, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it. The inhabited towns will be left in ruins and the land will be devastated. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'"

But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, they will get no rain. If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain -- instead there will be the kind of plague which the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.