7 Bible Verses about Apostasy, Ot Examples

Most Relevant Verses

Deuteronomy 13:1-11

If ever you have among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams and he gives you a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder takes place, and he says to you, Let us go after other gods, which are strange to you, and give them worship; Then give no attention to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God is testing you, to see if all the love of your heart and soul is given to him.read more.
But keep on in the ways of the Lord your God, fearing him and keeping his orders and hearing his voice, worshipping him and being true to him. And that prophet or that dreamer of dreams is to be put to death; for his words were said with the purpose of turning you away from the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the prison-house; and of forcing you out of the way in which the Lord your God has given you orders to go. So you are to put away the evil from among you. If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife of your heart, or the friend who is as dear to you as your life, working on you secretly says to you, Let us go and give worship to other gods, strange to you and to your fathers; Gods of the peoples round about you, near or far, from one end of the earth to the other; Do not be guided by him or give attention to him; have no pity on him or mercy, and give him no cover; But put him to death without question; let your hand be the first stretched out against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Let him be stoned with stones till he is dead; because it was his purpose to make you false to the Lord your God, who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the prison-house. And all Israel, hearing of it, will be full of fear, and no one will again do such evil as this among you.

2 Samuel 7:15

But my mercy will not be taken away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

2 Chronicles 26:16-21

But when he had become strong, his heart was lifted up in pride, causing his destruction; and he did evil against the Lord his God; for he went into the Temple of the Lord for the purpose of burning perfumes on the altar of perfumes. And Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty of the Lord's priests, who were strong men; And they made protests to Uzziah the king, and said to him, The burning of perfumes, Uzziah, is not your business but that of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who have been made holy for this work: go out of the holy place, for you have done wrong, and it will not be to your honour before God.read more.
Then Uzziah was angry; and he had in his hand a vessel for burning perfume; and while his wrath was bitter against the priests, the mark of the leper's disease came out on his brow, before the eyes of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of perfumes. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looking at him, saw the mark of the leper on his brow, and they sent him out quickly and he himself went out straight away, for the Lord's punishment had come on him. So King Uzziah was a leper till the day of his death, living separately in his private house; for he was cut off from the house of God; and Jotham his son was ruling over his house, judging the people of the land.

2 Chronicles 28:19-27

For the Lord made Judah low, because of Ahaz, king of Israel; for he had given up all self-control in Judah, sinning greatly against the Lord. Then Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came to him, but was a cause of trouble and not of strength to him. For Ahaz took a part of the wealth from the house of the Lord, and from the house of the king and of the great men, and gave it to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.read more.
And in the time of his trouble, this same King Ahaz did even more evil against the Lord. For he made offerings to the gods of Damascus, who were attacking him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Aram are giving them help, I will make offerings to them so that they may give me help. But they were the cause of his downfall, and of that of all Israel. And Ahaz got together the vessels of the house of God, cutting up all the vessels of the house of God, and shutting the doors of the Lord's house; and he made altars in every part of Jerusalem. And in every town of Judah he made high places where perfumes were burned to other gods, awaking the wrath of the Lord, the God of his fathers. Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, are recorded in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. And Ahaz went to rest with his fathers, and they put his body into the earth in Jerusalem; but they did not put him in the resting-place of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son became king in his place.

Exodus 32:1-35

And when the people saw that Moses was a long time coming down from the mountain, they all came to Aaron and said to him, Come, make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him. Then Aaron said to them, Take off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives and your sons and your daughters, and give them to me. And all the people took the gold rings from their ears and gave them to Aaron.read more.
And he took the gold from them and, hammering it with an instrument, he made it into the metal image of a young ox: and they said, This is your god, O Israel, who took you out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw this, he made an altar before it, and made a public statement, saying, Tomorrow there will be a feast to the Lord. So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure. And the Lord said to Moses, Go down quickly; for your people, whom you took out of the land of Egypt, are turned to evil ways; Even now they are turned away from the rule I gave them, and have made themselves a metal ox and given worship to it and offerings, saying, This is your god, O Israel, who took you up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have been watching this people, and I see that they are a stiff-necked people. Now do not get in my way, for my wrath is burning against them; I will send destruction on them, but of you I will make a great nation. But Moses made prayer to God, saying, Lord, why is your wrath burning against your people whom you took out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with the strength of your hand? Why let the Egyptians say, He took them out to an evil fate, to put them to death on the mountains, cutting them off from the earth? Let your wrath be turned away from them, and send not this evil on your people. Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever. So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people. Then Moses came down the mountain with the two stones of the law in his hand; the stones had writing on their two sides, on the front and on the back. The stones were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, cut on the stones. Now when the noise and the voices of the people came to the ears of Joshua, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the tents. And Moses said, It is not the voice of men who are overcoming in the fight, or the cry of those who have been overcome; it is the sound of songs which comes to my ear. And when he came near the tents he saw the image of the ox, and the people dancing; and in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain. And he took the ox which they had made, burning it in the fire and crushing it to powder, and he put it in the water and made the children of Israel take a drink of it. And Moses said to Aaron, What did the people do to you that you let this great sin come on them? And Aaron said, Let not my lord be angry; you have seen how the purposes of this people are evil. For they said to me, Make us a god to go before us: as for this Moses, who took us up out of the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has come to him. Then I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let him take it off; so they gave it to me, and I put it in the fire, and this image of an ox came out. And Moses saw that the people were out of control, for Aaron had let them loose to their shame before their haters: Then Moses took his place at the way into the tents, and said, Whoever is on the Lord's side, let him come to me. And all the sons of Levi came together to him. And he said to them, This is the word of the Lord, the God of Israel: Let every man take his sword at his side, and go from one end of the tents to the other, putting to death his brother and his friend and his neighbour. And the sons of Levi did as Moses said; and about three thousand of the people were put to death that day. And Moses said, You have made yourselves priests to the Lord this day; for every one of you has made the offering of his son and his brother; the blessing of the Lord is on you this day. And on the day after, Moses said to the people, Great has been your sin: but I will go up to the Lord, and see if I may get forgiveness for your sin. Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold; But now, if you will give them forgiveness--but if not, let my name be taken out of your book. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has done evil against me will be taken out of my book. But now, go, take the people into that place of which I have given you word; see, my angel will go before you: but when the time of my judging has come, I will send punishment on them for their sin. And the Lord sent punishment on the people because they gave worship to the ox which Aaron made.

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Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain