Thematic Bible: Of man to man


Thematic Bible



No, this is the kind of fast I want. I want you to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, and to break every burdensome yoke. I want you to share your food with the hungry and to provide shelter for homeless, oppressed people. When you see someone naked, clothe him! Don't turn your back on your own flesh and blood!



Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' read more.
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the king will answer them, 'I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they too will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?' Then he will answer them, 'I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.' And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you understand it?" The expert answered, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself." read more.
Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live." But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.' Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" The expert in religious law said, "The one who showed mercy to him." So Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."


They repay me evil for the good I have done; though I have tried to do good to them, they hurl accusations at me. Verse ConceptsInjuryIngratitude, Shown ByPeople OpposedRepaying Evil For GoodDoing The Right ThingEnemy Attacks

Violent men perjure themselves, and falsely accuse me. They repay me evil for the good I have done; I am overwhelmed with sorrow. When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, and refrained from eating food. (If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) read more.
I mourned for them as I would for a friend or my brother. I bowed down in sorrow as if I were mourning for my mother. But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together; they gathered together to ambush me. They tore at me without stopping to rest. When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, and tried to bite me.

They repay my love with accusations, but I continue to pray. They repay me evil for good, and hate for love.

The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!" Verse ConceptsIngratitudeMeatSelf PityCynicismDying In The WildernessDesire For DeathPlenty In EgyptNo FoodGod Might Kill His PeoplePots For Cooking And EatingDying In The Desert WeedComplaininghungerpot

So the people contended with Moses, and they said, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why do you contend with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people were very thirsty there for water, and they murmured against Moses and said, "Why in the world did you bring us up out of Egypt -- to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "What will I do with this people? -- a little more and they will stone me!"

Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, "We will not come up. Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of the land that flows with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now do you want to make yourself a prince over us? Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up."


As for the one who repays evil for good, evil will not leave his house. Verse Conceptsevil, warnings againstHousesIngratitudeRepaying Evil For GoodFamily Problems

So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. He took away their cattle and thoroughly defeated them. David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah. Now when Abiathar son of Ahimelech had fled to David at Keilah, he had brought with him an ephod. When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates." read more.
So Saul mustered all his army to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men. When David realized that Saul was planning to harm him, he told Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod!" Then David said, "O Lord God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul is planning to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the leaders of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, please inform your servant!" Then the Lord said, "He will come down." David asked, "Will the leaders of Keilah deliver me and my men into Saul's hand?" The Lord said, "They will deliver you over."

So David sent a message to Joab that said, "Send me Uriah the Hittite." So Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked about how Joab and the army were doing and how the campaign was going. Then David said to Uriah, "Go down to your home and relax." When Uriah left the palace, the king sent a gift to him. read more.
But Uriah stayed at the door of the palace with all the servants of his lord. He did not go down to his house. So they informed David, "Uriah has not gone down to his house." So David said to Uriah, "Haven't you just arrived from a journey? Why haven't you gone down to your house?" Uriah replied to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah reside in temporary shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord's soldiers are camping in the open field. Should I go to my house to eat and drink and have marital relations with my wife? As surely as you are alive, I will not do this thing!" So David said to Uriah, "Stay here another day. Tomorrow I will send you back." So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem both that day and the following one. Then David summoned him. He ate and drank with him, and got him drunk. But in the evening he went out to sleep on his bed with the servants of his lord; he did not go down to his own house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: "Station Uriah in the thick of the battle and then withdraw from him so he will be cut down and killed." So as Joab kept watch on the city, he stationed Uriah at the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were. When the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, some of David's soldiers fell in battle. Uriah the Hittite also died.

my father fought for you; he risked his life and delivered you from Midian's power. But you have attacked my father's family today. You murdered his seventy legitimate sons on one stone and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the leaders of Shechem, just because he is your close relative.

There was once a small city with a few men in it, and a mighty king attacked it, besieging it and building strong siege works against it. However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, and he could have delivered the city by his wisdom, but no one listened to that poor man. So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, but a poor man's wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.

"You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me -- how he murdered two commanders of the Israelite armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. During peacetime he struck them down like he would in battle; when he shed their blood as if in battle, he stained his own belt and the sandals on his feet. Do to him what you think is appropriate, but don't let him live long and die a peaceful death.

Should good be paid back with evil? Yet they are virtually digging a pit to kill me. Just remember how I stood before you pleading on their behalf to keep you from venting your anger on them. Verse ConceptsIngratitudeDigging PitsGod Will No More Be AngryRepaying Evil For Good

Now David had been thinking, "In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn't take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil. Verse ConceptsIngratitudeReward, HumanMannersUseless LabourPeople Actually Doing Evil

King Joash disregarded the loyalty his father Jehoiada had shown him and killed Jehoiada's son. As Zechariah was dying, he said, "May the Lord take notice and seek vengeance!" Verse ConceptsIngratitudeKindness

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

They did not treat the family of Jerub-Baal (that is, Gideon) fairly in return for all the good he had done for Israel. Verse ConceptsIngratitudeKindnessMannersUnfaithful

When they finished dividing the land into its regions, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun some land. As the Lord had instructed, they gave him the city he requested -- Timnath Serah in the Ephraimite hill country. He built up the city and lived in it.

Joshua told the two men who had spied on the land, "Enter the prostitute's house and bring out the woman and all who belong to her as you promised her." So the young spies went and brought out Rahab, her father, mother, brothers, and all who belonged to her. They brought out her whole family and took them to a place outside the Israelite camp. But they burned the city and all that was in it, except for the silver, gold, and bronze and iron items they put in the treasury of the Lord's house. read more.
Yet Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, her father's family, and all who belonged to her. She lives in Israel to this very day because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy on Jericho.

May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my imprisonment. But when he arrived in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day! And you know very well all the ways he served me in Ephesus.

Her mother-in-law asked her, "Where did you gather grain today? Where did you work? May the one who took notice of you be rewarded!" So Ruth told her mother-in-law with whom she had worked. She said, "The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz." Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, "May he be rewarded by the Lord because he has shown loyalty to the living on behalf of the dead!" Then Naomi said to her, "This man is a close relative of ours; he is our guardian."

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, "May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness to your lord Saul by burying him. Now may the Lord show you true kindness! I also will reward you, because you have done this deed. Now be courageous and prove to be valiant warriors, for your lord Saul is dead. The people of Judah have anointed me as king over them."

Now I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church in Cenchrea, so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many, including me. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, read more.
who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I, but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

They also bestowed many honors, and when we were preparing to sail, they gave us all the supplies we needed. Verse ConceptsPeople Providing

Saul said to the Kenites, "Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites. Verse ConceptsGrace, In Human RelationshipsKindnessSeparation From Evil People

David said, "I will express my loyalty to Hanun son of Nahash just as his father was loyal to me." So David sent his servants with a message expressing sympathy over his father's death. When David's servants entered the land of the Ammonites, Verse ConceptsGood FriendsenvoyCondolence

After he said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. Verse ConceptsBreaking Of BreadThankfulnessThanksgiving, OfferedThanking God For Food

"Treat fairly the sons of Barzillai of Gilead and provide for their needs, because they helped me when I had to flee from your brother Absalom. Verse ConceptsGrace, In Human RelationshipsKindnessTablesGratitudeBenevolence

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