Thematic Bible: Punishment of


Thematic Bible



for they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled and burn against you and He will quickly destroy you.

And as I [the Lord] planned to do to them, so I will do to you.’”

know and understand with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

So I also said, ‘I will not drive your enemies out before you; but they will be like thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

And the Israelites dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; And they married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. read more.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.


How have you fallen from heaven, O light-bringer and daystar, son of the morning! How you have been cut down to the ground, you who weakened and laid low the nations [O blasphemous, satanic king of Babylon!] And you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. read more.
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol (Hades), to the innermost recesses of the pit (the region of the dead).


He who loves transgression loves strife and is quarrelsome;
He who [proudly] raises his gate seeks destruction [because of his arrogant pride].

Therefore thus said the Lord God: Because it is exalted in stature and has set its top among the thick boughs and the clouds, and its heart is proud of its height, I will even deliver it into the hand of a mighty one of the nations; he shall surely deal with it. I have driven it out for its wickedness and lawlessness.


Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

suffering wrong [destined for punishment] as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously]. They are stains and blemishes [on mankind], reveling in their deceptions even as they feast with you.


Rejoice, young man, in your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant in the days of your young manhood. And walk in the ways of your heart and in the desires of your eyes, but know that God will bring you into judgment for all these things.

suffering wrong [destined for punishment] as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously]. They are stains and blemishes [on mankind], reveling in their deceptions even as they feast with you.


Further, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall most certainly be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him. The stranger as well as the native-born shall be put to death when he blasphemes the Name [of the Lord].


Both your own wickedness and the wickedness of your fathers,” says the Lord.
“Since they too have made offerings with incense on the mountains
And scorned and taunted Me on the hills,
I therefore will measure [punishment for] their former work [directly] into their arms.”

Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Again in this your fathers blasphemed Me, in that they dealt faithlessly and treacherously with Me and committed a treasonous trespass against Me. For when I had brought them into the land which I lifted up My hand and swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill and every dark and leafy tree [as a place for idol worship], and they offered there their sacrifices and there they presented their offering that provoked My anger and sadness; there also they made their sweet-smelling savor and poured out there their drink offerings. Then I said to them, What is the high place to which you go? And the name of it is called Bamah [high place] to this day. read more.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Do you [exiles] debase and defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers? And do you play the harlot after their loathsome and detestable things? And when you offer your gifts, when you make your sons pass through the fire, do you not debase and defile yourselves with all your idols to this day? And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you! And that which has come up in your mind shall never happen, in that you think, We will be as the nations, as the tribes of the countries, to serve idols of wood and stone. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out will I be King over you.

Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy you showed because of your enmity for them, and I will make Myself known among them [as He Who will judge and punish] when I judge and punish you. And you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service], and that I have heard all your revilings and scornful speeches that you have uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid waste and desolate; they are given to us to devour.





If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or his mother and though they chasten him will not listen to them, Then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, And they shall say to the elders of his city, This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard. read more.
Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall cleanse out the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear and [reverently] fear.






“Because of the wickedness of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was angry,
And he went on turning away and backsliding, in the way of his [own willful] heart.


“He swallows [his ill-gotten] riches,
But will vomit them up;
God will drive them out of his belly.

But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness and dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression and doing violence. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: [Relatives] shall not lament for him, saying, Ah, my brother! or, Ah, sister, [how great our loss! Subjects] shall not lament for him saying, Ah, lord! or Ah, his majesty! or Ah, [how great was] his glory! [No] he shall be buried with the burial of a donkey -- "dragged out and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

They covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them away; they oppress and crush a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, against this family I am planning a disaster from which you cannot remove your necks, nor will you be able to walk erect; for it will be an evil time.



But You, O God, will bring down the wicked to the pit of destruction;
Men of blood and treachery will not live out half their days.
But I will [boldly and unwaveringly] trust in You.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will melt them [by the process of affliction to remove the dross] and test them, for how else should I deal with the daughter of My people? Their tongue is a murderous arrow; it speaks deceitfully; one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lays snares and waits in ambush for him. Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord. Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?




And angels who did not keep their own designated place of power, but abandoned their proper dwelling place, [these] He has kept in eternal chains under [the thick gloom of utter] darkness for the judgment of the great day,

And they screamed out, “What business do we have [in common] with each other, Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the appointed time [of judgment]?”

Seeing Jesus, he cried out [with a terrible voice from the depths of his throat] and fell down before Him [in dread and terror], and shouted loudly, “What business do we have [in common] with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me [before the appointed time of judgment]!”

Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels went forth to battle with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought. But they were defeated, and there was no room found for them in heaven any longer. And the huge dragon was cast down and out -- "that age-old serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, he who is the seducer (deceiver) of all humanity the world over; he was forced out and down to the earth, and his angels were flung out along with him.


They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

Awake, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the [fresh] sweet juice [of the grape], for it is cut off and removed from your mouth. For a [heathen and hostile] nation [of locusts, illustrative of a human foe] has invaded My land, mighty and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it has the jaw teeth of a lioness.



Though Your hand is lifted up [to strike], O Lord, the wicked do not see it.
Let them see Your zeal for Your people and be put to shame;
Indeed, let the fire reserved for Your enemies consume them.


And as I [the Lord] planned to do to them, so I will do to you.’”

know and understand with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they will be a snare and trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

So I also said, ‘I will not drive your enemies out before you; but they will be like thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.’”

And the Israelites dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites; And they married their daughters and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord and forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. read more.
So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the Israelites served Chushan-rishathaim eight years.

Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been exceedingly guilty; and on account of our wrongdoings we, our kings, and our priests have been handed over to the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to complete shame, as it is today.

shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who practice these repulsive acts? Would You not be angry with us to the point of total destruction, so that there would be no remnant nor survivor?

And He gave them into the hands of the [heathen] nations, and they that hated them ruled over them. Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under the hand of their foes.

Therefore repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will]; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war and fight against them with the sword of My mouth [in judgment].

Take note: I will throw her on a bed [ of anguish], and those who commit adultery with her [her paramours] I will bring down to pressing distress and severe affliction, unless they turn away their minds from conduct [such as] hers and repent of their doings. And I will strike her children (her proper followers) dead [thoroughly exterminating them]. And all the assemblies (churches) shall recognize and understand that I am He Who searches minds (the thoughts, feelings, and purposes) and the [inmost] hearts, and I will give to each of you [the reward for what you have done] as your work deserves.



“He who denounces and informs against his friends for a share of the spoil,
The eyes of his children will also languish and fail.


May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
The tongue that speaks great things [in boasting];




Judgments are prepared for scoffers,
And beatings for the backs of [thickheaded] fools.


Like a [careless] archer who [shoots arrows wildly and] wounds everyone,
So is he who hires a fool or those who [by chance just] pass by.


Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore bear now [the consequences of] your lewdness and prostitution.’”

Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation [O Judah] and have not been mindful of the Rock of your strength, your Stronghold -- "therefore, you have planted pleasant nursery grounds and plantings [to Adonis, pots of quickly withered flowers used to set by their doors or in the courts of temples], and have set [the grounds] with vine slips of a strange [God], And in the day of your planting you hedge it in, and in the morning you make your seed to blossom, yet [promising as it is] the harvest shall be a heap of ruins and flee away in the day of expected possession and of desperate sorrow and sickening, incurable pain.


The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
Even all the nations who forget God.


For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces [and pagan temples],
And Judah has built many fortified cities;
But I will send a fire upon their cities so that it may consume their palaces and fortresses.

While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water]. So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish.


Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place and upon its inhabitants, according to all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, provoking Me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore My wrath will be kindled against this place and will not be quenched.

“The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you have turned away from Me.


While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote them with a very great plague. That place was called Kibroth-hattaavah [the graves of sensuous desire], because there they buried the people who lusted, whose physical appetite caused them to sin.


The daughter of any priest who profanes herself by prostitution profanes her father; she shall be burned in fire.



Evil will cause the death of the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be held guilty and will be condemned.


But You have saved us from our enemies,
And You have put them to shame and humiliated those who hate us.


“I will crush his adversaries before him,
And strike those who hate him.


Thus says the Lord,
“For three transgressions of Edom [the descendants of Esau] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)
I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,
Because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword,
Corrupting and stifling his compassions and casting off all mercy;
His destructive anger raged continually,
And he maintained [and nurtured] his wrath forever.



The kings of the earth take their stand;
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the Lord and His Anointed (the Davidic King, the Messiah, the Christ), saying,


Your hand will reach out and defeat all your enemies;
Your right hand will reach those who hate you.


But if a man acts intentionally against another and kills him by [design through] treachery, you are to take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], so that he may be put to death.

And surely for your lifeblood I will require an accounting; from every beast I will require it; and from man, from every man [who spills another's lifeblood] I will require a reckoning. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God He made man.

But if he struck him down with an instrument of iron so that he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. And if he struck him down by throwing a stone, by which a person may die, and he died, he is a murderer; the murderer shall surely be put to death. Or if he struck him down with a weapon of wood in his hand, by which one may die, and he died, the offender is a murderer; he shall surely be put to death. read more.
The avenger of blood shall himself slay the murderer; when he meets him, he shall slay him. But if he stabbed him through hatred or hurled at him by lying in wait so that he died Or in enmity struck him down with his hand so that he died, he that smote him shall surely be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall slay the murderer when he meets him.

Whoever kills any person [intentionally], the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of one witness. Moreover, you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer guilty of death; but he shall surely be put to death. And you shall accept no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, so that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the high priest. read more.
So you shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.

Then Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land, and from Your face I will be hidden; and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. And the Lord said to him, Therefore, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

So now, my son, do what I tell you; arise, flee to my brother Laban in Haran; Linger and dwell with him for a while until your brother's fury is spent. When your brother's anger is diverted from you, he will forget [the wrong] that you have done him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I be deprived of both of you in one day?



But if any man hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and attacks him and wounds him mortally so that he dies, and the assailant flees into one of these cities, Then the elders of his own city shall send for him and fetch him from there and give him over to the avenger of blood, so that he may die. Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall clear Israel of the guilt of innocent blood, that it may go well with you.

Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, doing evil in His sight? You have slain Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. You have murdered him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because [you have not only despised My command, but] you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. read more.
For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.



“For the company of the godless is barren,
And fire consumes the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).

that you have deceived yourselves; for you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, declare it to us and we will do it.”


I send Assyria against a godless nation
And commission it against the people of My wrath
To take the spoil and to seize the plunder,
And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

Now therefore know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by virulent disease in the land [of Egypt] where you wish to reside [temporarily].


And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant of those who remain of this evil family (nation), who remain in all the places to which I have driven them,” says the Lord of hosts.

Your calf [idol], O Samaria, is loathsome and I have spurned it. My wrath burns against them. How long will it be before they attain purity? For this [calf] too is from Israel; a craftsman made it; therefore it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to shivers and go up in flames. For they sow the wind and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, strangers and aliens would eat it up. read more.
Israel is [as if] swallowed up. Already they have become among the nations as a vessel [of cheap, coarse pottery] that is useless.

[No] but [instead of bringing Me the appointed sacrifices] you carried about the tent of your king Sakkuth and Kaiwan [names for the gods of the planet Saturn], your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves [and you will do so again]. Therefore I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.



Then another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a mighty voice, Whoever pays homage to the beast and his statue and permits the [beast's] stamp (mark, inscription) to be put on his forehead or on his hand, He too shall [have to] drink of the wine of God's indignation and wrath, poured undiluted into the cup of His anger; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no respite (no pause, no intermission, no rest, no peace) day or night -- "these who pay homage to the beast and to his image and whoever receives the stamp of his name upon him.


They will [carelessly scatter and] spread them out before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which the dead have loved and which they have served, and which they have walked after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or be buried; they will be like dung on the face of the earth.

The word of the Lord came also to me, saying, You shall not take a wife or have sons and daughters in this place [Jerusalem]. For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who begot them in this land: read more.
They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried, but they shall be like dung upon the face of the ground. They shall perish and be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the fowls of the air and for the beasts of the earth. For thus says the Lord: Enter not into the house of mourning, nor go to lament or bemoan [the dead], for I have taken away My peace from this people, says the Lord, even My steadfast love and loving-kindness and tender mercy. Both the great and the small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them or cut themselves or make themselves bald for them. Neither shall men prepare food for the mourners to comfort them for the dead; nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. And you [Jeremiah] shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease from this place before your very eyes and in your days the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. And when you tell these people all these words and they inquire of you, Why has the Lord decreed all this enormous evil against us? Or, What is our iniquity? Or, What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God? Then you shall say to them, [It is] because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord, and have walked after other gods and have served and worshiped them and have forsaken Me and have not kept My law,


Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled): neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality, Nor cheats (swindlers and thieves), nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foulmouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the kingdom of God.


If there is found among you within any of your towns which the Lord your God gives you a man or woman who does what is wicked in the sight of the Lord your God by transgressing His covenant, Who has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or moon or any of the host of the heavens, which I have forbidden, And it is told and you hear of it, then inquire diligently. And if it is certainly true that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, read more.
Then you shall bring forth to your town's gates that man or woman who has done that wicked thing and you shall stone that man or woman to death.


dealing out [full and complete] vengeance to those who do not [seek to] know God and to those who ignore and refuse to obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus [by choosing not to respond to Him].


Pour out Your wrath on the [Gentile] nations that do not know You,
And on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name.



Whoever returns evil for good,
Evil will not depart from his house.

Shall evil be recompensed for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. [Earnestly] remember that I stood before You to speak good for them, to turn away Your anger from them. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine; give them over to the power of the sword. And let their wives become childless and widows; let their men meet death by pestilence, their young men be slain by the sword in battle.


For she has not noticed, understood, or realized that it was I [the Lord God] Who gave her the grain and the new wine and the fresh oil, and Who lavished upon her silver and gold which they used for Baal and made into his image. Therefore will I return and take back My grain in the time for it and My new wine in the season for it, and will pluck away and recover My wool and My flax which were to cover her [Israel's] nakedness.

You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and withheld not Your manna from them, and gave water for their thirst. Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing, their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell. Also You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they possessed the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. read more.
Their children You also multiplied as the stars of heaven and brought them into the land which You told their fathers they should go in and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land; and You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, olive orchards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in Your great goodness. Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You and cast Your law behind their back and killed Your prophets who accused and warned them to turn to You again; and they committed great and contemptible blasphemies. Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who distressed them. In the time of their suffering when they cried to You, You heard them from heaven, and according to Your abundant mercy You gave them deliverers, who saved them from their enemies.


saying,

“When will the New Moon [festival] be over
So that we may sell grain,
And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market,
Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price]
And to cheat by falsifying the scales,


He who increases his wealth by interest and usury (excessive interest)
Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor.


Therefore, because you impose heavy rent on the poor
And demand a tribute (food-tax) of grain from them,
Though you have built [luxurious] houses of square stone,
You will not live in them;
You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.



“Because of this [coming judgment] will the land not quake
And everyone mourn who dwells in it?
Indeed, all of it shall rise up like the Nile,
And it will be tossed around [from the impact of judgment]
And [afterward] subside again like the Nile of Egypt.

and that [in this matter of sexual misconduct] no man shall transgress and defraud his brother because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we have told you before and solemnly warned you.


Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom [descendants of Esau] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword, corrupting his compassions and casting off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually and his wrath he kept and heeded forever. So I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah [in Edom].



‘If anyone kills a person [intentionally], the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of [two or more] witnesses; but no one shall be put to death on the testimony of [only] one witness.

When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth [in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast]. Then Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land, and from Your face I will be hidden; and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me. read more.
And the Lord said to him, Therefore, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark or sign upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

They came again and told Jehu. He said, This is the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel. The corpse of Jezebel shall be like dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.


Now the people became like those who complain and whine about their hardships, and the Lord heard it; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and devoured those in the outlying parts of the camp.

How long will this evil congregation murmur against Me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites murmur against Me. Tell them, As I live, says the Lord, what you have said in My hearing I will do to you: Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness -- "of all who were numbered of you, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me,

Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces. And Moses said to Aaron, Take a censer and put fire in it from off the altar and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun!


You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it]. Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce. And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hill country, upon the grain, the fresh wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all the [wearisome] toil of [men's] hands.


Then said I, Alas, Lord God! Behold, the [false] prophets say to them, You will not see the sword, nor will you have famine; but I [the Lord] will give you assured peace (peace that lasts, the peace of truth) in this place. Then the Lord said to me, The [false] prophets prophesy lies in My name. I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, nor have I spoken to them. They prophesy to you a false or pretended vision, a worthless divination [conjuring or practicing magic, trying to call forth the responses supposed to be given by idols], and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the [false] prophets who prophesy in My name -- "although I did not send them -- "and who say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. read more.
And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they shall have none to bury them -- "them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them [and not on their false teachers only, for the people could not have been deceived except by their own consent].

And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity; you will go to Babylon, and there you will die and be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have falsely prophesied.’”

Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have uttered and taught rebellion against the Lord. So Hananiah the prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month.

therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He will not have anyone [born] to live among this people, nor will he see the good that I am about to do to My people,” says the Lord, “because he has spoken and preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

And if anyone still [appears as a prophet and falsely] prophesies, then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord’; and his father and his mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.


“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, and all the arrogant (proud, self-righteous, haughty), and every evildoer shall be stubble; and the day that is coming shall set them on fire,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.


And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night—those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was hurled into the lake of fire.



Upon the wicked (godless) He will rain coals of fire;
Fire and brimstone and a dreadful scorching wind will be the portion of their cup [of doom].


His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat (believers) into His barn (kingdom); but He will burn up the chaff (the unrepentant) with unquenchable fire.”

If your eye causes you to stumble and sin, pluck it out and throw it away from you [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; it is better for you to enter life with only one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fiery hell.

but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit and His power [by attributing the miracles done by Me to Satan] never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an everlasting sin [a sin which is unforgivable in this present age as well as in the age to come]”—


To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life. Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. read more.
In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.


“How often [then] is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
And that their disaster falls on them?
Does God distribute pain and destruction and sorrow [to them] in His anger?

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground -- "not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air -- "for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them.

But if you do not do this, behold, you will have sinned against the Lord; and be sure that your sin will find you out.

keeping mercy and lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].”


Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive and remain with man forever, because he is indeed flesh [sinful, corrupt—given over to sensual appetites]; nevertheless his days shall yet be a hundred and twenty years.”

But the person who does anything [wrong] willfully and openly, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one reproaches, reviles, and blasphemes the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people [that the atonement made for them may not include him]. Because he has despised and rejected the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him.

If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it.”

And the Lord said, “The outcry [of the sin] of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

for we are destroying this place, because the outcry [for judgment] against them has grown so great before the Lord that the Lord has sent us to destroy and ruin it.”

But the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him [not you] out of My book. But now go, lead the people to the place of which I have told you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I punish I will visit their sin upon them!

But if you will not hearken to Me and will not do all these commandments, And if you spurn and despise My statutes, and if your soul despises and rejects My ordinances, so that you will not do all My commandments, but break My covenant, I will do this: I will appoint over you [sudden] terror (trembling, trouble), even consumption and fever that consume and waste the eyes and make the [physical] life pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. read more.
I [the Lord] will set My face against you and you shall be defeated and slain before your enemies; they who hate you shall rule over you; you shall flee when no one pursues you. And if in spite of all this you still will not listen and be obedient to Me, then I will chastise and discipline you seven times more for your sins. And I will break and humble your pride in your power, and I will make your heavens as iron [yielding no answer, no blessing, no rain] and your earth [as sterile] as brass. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. If you walk contrary to Me and will not heed Me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you, according to your sins.

Forty years long was I grieved and disgusted with that generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, and they do not approve, acknowledge, or regard My ways. Wherefore I swore in My wrath that they would not enter My rest [the land of promise].

Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the evil that I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah; and see, this day they are a desolation and no man dwells in them Because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger in that they went to burn incense to serve other gods that they did not know -- "neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

But they did not listen and obey or submit and consent to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods. Therefore My wrath and My anger were poured out and were kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; and they became wasted and desolate, as it is this day.


But for those who are selfishly ambitious and self-seeking and disobedient to the truth but responsive to wickedness, [there will be] wrath and indignation.


“It will come about at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps
And I will punish the men
Who [like old wine] are stagnant in spirit,
Who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’

And that servant who knew his master’s will, and yet did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will be beaten with many lashes [of the whip],



In this way I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.


Listen carefully, the Lord is about to come out of His [heavenly] place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her
And will no longer cover her slain.


As their deeds deserve, so He will repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies;
To the islands and coastlands He will repay.


“But I will punish you in accordance with the [appropriate] consequences of your decisions and your actions,” says the Lord.
“I will kindle a fire in your forest,
And it will devour all that is around you.”’”


But for those who are selfishly ambitious and self-seeking and disobedient to the truth but responsive to wickedness, [there will be] wrath and indignation.


“It will come about at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps
And I will punish the men
Who [like old wine] are stagnant in spirit,
Who say in their hearts,
‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’

And that servant who knew his master’s will, and yet did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will be beaten with many lashes [of the whip],



In this way I will punish the world for its evil
And the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud
And will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.


Listen carefully, the Lord is about to come out of His [heavenly] place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];
The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon her
And will no longer cover her slain.


As their deeds deserve, so He will repay:
Wrath to His adversaries, retribution to His enemies;
To the islands and coastlands He will repay.


“But I will punish you in accordance with the [appropriate] consequences of your decisions and your actions,” says the Lord.
“I will kindle a fire in your forest,
And it will devour all that is around you.”’”