20 Bible Verses about Backsliders

Now when Amaziah came back from the destruction of the Edomites, he took the gods of the children of Seir and made them his gods, worshipping them and burning offerings before them.

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but his heart was not completely true to the Lord.

Their hearts were turned back and untrue like their fathers; they were turned to one side like a twisted bow.

O Ephraim, what am I to do to you? O Judah, what am I to do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew which goes early away.

And those who are turned back from going after the Lord, and those who have not made prayer to the Lord or got directions from him.

Take us back again, O God; let us see the shining of your face, and let us be safe. O Lord God of armies, how long will your wrath be burning against the rest of your people? You have given them the bread of weeping for food; for their drink you have given them sorrow in great measure. read more.
You make us a cause of war among our neighbours; our haters are laughing at us among themselves. Take us back again, O God of armies; let us see the shining of your face, and let us be safe.

Come back, O God of armies: from heaven let your eyes be turned to this vine, and give your mind to it, Even to the tree which was planted by your right hand, and to the branch which you made strong for yourself. It is burned with fire; it is cut down: they are made waste by the wrath of your face. read more.
Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, on the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. So will we not be turned back from you; keep us in life, and we will give praise to your name. Take us back, O Lord God of armies; let us see the shining of your face, and let us be safe.

In that day a man's heart will be turned to his Maker, and his eyes to the Holy One of Israel.

Those whose hearts were turned away from him will get knowledge, and those who made an outcry against him will give attention to his teaching.

Come back to him who has been so deeply sinned against by the children of Israel. For in that day they will all give up their images of silver and of gold, the sin which they made for themselves.

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.

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.

It is no longer my pleasure for Saul to be king; for he is turned back from going in my ways, and has not done my orders. And Samuel was very sad, crying to the Lord in prayer all night.

Because of what he said, a number of the disciples went back and would no longer go with him.

The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life. But still some of you have no faith. For it was clear to Jesus from the first who they were who had no faith, and who it was who would be false to him.

For even now some are turned away to Satan.

But I have this against you, that you let the woman Jezebel say she is a prophet and give false teaching, making my servants go after the desires of the flesh and take food offered to false gods.

But I have this against you, that you are turned away from your first love.

For even now some are turned away to Satan.

But I have some things against you, because you have with you those who keep the teaching of Balaam, by whose suggestion Balak made the children of Israel go out of the right way, taking food which was offered to false gods, and going after the desires of the flesh. And you have those who keep the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Be on the watch, and make strong the rest of the things which are near to death; because as judged by me your works have not come up to God's measure. Keep in mind, then, the teaching which was given to you, and be ruled by it and have a change of heart. If then you do not keep watch, I will come like a thief, and you will have no knowledge of the hour when I will come on you.

And the word of Jesus came back to Peter, when he said, Before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. And he went out, weeping bitterly.

And in the same minute, the cock gave a second cry. And it came to Peter's mind how Jesus had said to him, Before the cock's second cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. And at this thought he was overcome with weeping.

And he went out, weeping bitterly.

Now Peter was seated in the open square outside the house: and a servant-girl came to him, saying, You were with Jesus the Galilaean. But he said before them all that it was false, saying, I have no knowledge of what you say. And when he had gone out into the doorway, another saw him and says to those who were there, This man was with Jesus the Nazarene. read more.
And again he said with an oath, I have no knowledge of the man. And after a little time those who were near came and said to Peter, Truly you are one of them; because your talk is witness against you. Then with curses and oaths he said, I have no knowledge of the man. And straight away there came the cry of a cock. And the word of Jesus came back to Peter, when he said, Before the hour of the cock's cry, you will say three times that you have no knowledge of me. And he went out, weeping bitterly.

I am surprised that you are being so quickly turned away from him whose word came to you in the grace of Christ, to good news of a different sort;

O foolish Galatians, by what strange powers have you been tricked, to whom it was made clear that Jesus Christ was put to death on the cross?

But now that you have come to have knowledge of God, or more truly, God has knowledge of you, how is it that you go back again to the poor and feeble first things, desiring to be servants to them again? You keep days, and months, and fixed times, and years. I am in fear of you, that I may have been working for you to no purpose.

Because in Christ Jesus, having circumcision or not having circumcision are equally of no profit; but only faith working through love. You were going on well; who was the cause of your not giving ear to what is true?

The unclean spirit, when he has gone out of a man, goes through dry places, looking for rest; and when he does not get it, he says, I will go back to my house from which I came. And when he comes, he sees that it has been made fair and clean.

Then he goes and gets seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they go in, and take their places there: and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.

It is said, in fact, that there is among you a sin of the flesh, such as is not seen even among the Gentiles, that one of you has his father's wife. And in place of feeling sorrow, you are pleased with yourselves, so that he who has done this thing has not been sent away from among you. For I myself, being present in spirit though not in body, have come to a decision about him who has done this thing; read more.
In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you have come together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, That this man is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may have forgiveness in the day of the Lord Jesus. This pride of yours is not good. Do you not see that a little leaven makes a change in all the mass? Take away, then, the old leaven, so that you may be a new mass, even as you are without leaven. For Christ has been put to death as our Passover. Let us then keep the feast, not with old leaven, and not with the leaven of evil thoughts and acts, but with the unleavened bread of true thoughts and right feelings.

For I have a fear that, when I come, you may not be answering to my desire, and that I may not be answering to yours; that there may be fighting, hate, angry feeling, divisions, evil talk about others, secrets, thoughts of pride, outbursts against authority; And that when I come again, my God may put me to shame among you, and I may have grief for those who have done wrong before and have had no regret for their unclean ways, and for the evil desires of the flesh to which they have given way.

Was it not in these things that Solomon, king of Israel, did wrong? among a number of nations there was no king like him, and he was dear to his God, and God made him king over all Israel: but even he was made to do evil by strange women.

For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Milcom, the disgusting god of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did. read more.
Then Solomon put up a high place for Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab, in the mountain before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the disgusting god worshipped by the children of Ammon. And so he did for all his strange wives, who made offerings with burning of perfumes to their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had twice come to him in a vision; And had given him orders about this very thing, that he was not to go after other gods; but he did not keep the orders of the Lord. So the Lord said to Solomon, Because you have done this, and have not kept my agreement and my laws, which I gave you, I will take the kingdom away from you by force and will give it to your servant. I will not do it in your life-time, because of your father David, but I will take it from your son. Still I will not take all the kingdom from him; but I will give one tribe to your son, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town of my selection. So the Lord sent Hadad the Edomite to make trouble for Solomon: he was of the king's seed in Edom. And when David had sent destruction on Edom, and Joab, the captain of the army, had gone to put the dead into the earth, and had put to death every male in Edom; (For Joab and all Israel were there six months till every male in Edom had been cut off;) Hadad, being still a young boy, went in flight to Egypt, with certain Edomites, servants of his father; And they went on from Midian and came to Paran; and, taking men from Paran with them, they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who gave him a house and gave orders for his food and gave him land. Now Hadad was very pleasing to Pharaoh, so that he gave him the sister of his wife, Tahpenes the queen, for his wife. And the sister of Tahpenes had a son by him, Genubath, whom Tahpenes took care of in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was living in Pharaoh's house among Pharaoh's sons. Now when Hadad had news in Egypt that David had been put to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, the captain of the army, was dead, he said to Pharaoh, Send me back to my country. But Pharaoh said to him, What have you been short of while you have been with me, that you are desiring to go back to your country? And he said, Nothing; but even so, send me back. And God sent another trouble-maker, Rezon, the son of Eliada, who had gone in flight from his lord, Hadadezer, king of Zobah: He got some men together and made himself captain of a band of outlaws; and went to Damascus and became king there. He was a trouble to Israel all through the days of Solomon. And this is the damage Hadad did: he was cruel to Israel while he was ruler over Edom. And there was Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother was Zeruah, a widow; and his hand was lifted up against the king. The way in which his hand came to be lifted up against the king was this: Solomon was building the Millo and making good the damaged parts of the town of his father David; And Jeroboam was an able and responsible man; and Solomon saw that he was a good worker and made him overseer of all the work given to the sons of Joseph. Now at that time, when Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite came across him on the road; now Ahijah had put on a new robe; and the two of them were by themselves in the open country. And Ahijah took his new robe in his hands, parting it violently into twelve. And he said to Jeroboam, Take ten of the parts, for this is what the Lord has said: See, I will take the kingdom away from Solomon by force, and will give ten tribes to you; (But one tribe will be his, because of my servant David, and because of Jerusalem, the town which, out of all the tribes of Israel, I have made mine,) Because they are turned away from me to the worship of Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Zidonians, and Chemosh, the god of Moab, and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites; they have not been walking in my ways or doing what is right in my eyes or keeping my laws and my decisions as his father David did. But I will not take the kingdom from him; I will let him be king all the days of his life, because of David my servant, in whom I took delight because he kept my orders and my laws. But I will take the kingdom from his son, and give it to you. And one tribe I will give to his son, so that David my servant may have a light for ever burning before me in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine to put my name there. And you I will take, and you will be king over Israel, ruling over whatever is the desire of your soul. And if you give attention to the orders I give you, walking in my ways and doing what is right in my eyes and keeping my laws and my orders as David my servant did; then I will be with you, building up for you a safe house, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. (So that I may send trouble for this on the seed of David, but not for ever.) And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.

Because of what he said, a number of the disciples went back and would no longer go with him.

But all this has taken place so that the writings of the prophets might come true. Then all his disciples went from him in flight.

It is no longer my pleasure for Saul to be king; for he is turned back from going in my ways, and has not done my orders. And Samuel was very sad, crying to the Lord in prayer all night.

And Samuel said to Saul, I will not go back with you: for you have put away from you the word of the Lord, and the Lord has put you from your place as king over Israel. And when Samuel was turning round to go away, Saul took the skirt of his robe in his hand, and the cloth came away. And Samuel said to him, The Lord has taken away the kingdom of Israel from you this day by force, and has given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you.

And the children of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of those who had come back, kept the feast of the opening of this house of God with joy. And they gave as offerings at the opening of this house of God a hundred oxen, two hundred sheep, four hundred lambs; and for a sin-offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, being the number of the tribes of Israel. And they put the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their order, for the worship of God at Jerusalem; as it is recorded in the book of Moses. read more.
And the children of Israel who had come back kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. For the priests and the Levites had made themselves clean together; they were all clean: and they put the Passover lamb to death for all those who had come back, and for their brothers the priests and for themselves. And the children of Israel, who had come back, and all those who were joined to them, after separating themselves from the evil ways of the people of the land to become the servants of the Lord, the God of Israel, took food together,

For Demas has gone away from me, for love of this present life, and has gone to Thessalonica: Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

For you have not given honour to the God of your salvation, and have not kept in mind the Rock of your strength; for this cause you made a garden of Adonis, and put in it the vine-cuttings of a strange god; In the day of your planting you were watching its growth, and in the morning your seed was flowering: but its fruit is wasted away in the day of grief and bitter sorrow.

Then he said to Thomas, Put out your finger, and see my hands; and put your hand here into my side: and be no longer in doubt but have belief. And Thomas said in answer, My Lord and my God! Jesus said to him, Because you have seen me you have belief: a blessing will be on those who have belief though they have not seen me!

Turning away from the Lord, the God of his fathers, and not walking in his ways. And the servants of Amon made a secret design against him, and put the king to death in his house.

For it came about that when Solomon was old, his heart was turned away to other gods by his wives; and his heart was no longer true to the Lord his God as the heart of his father David had been.

For the king, after discussion with his chiefs and all the body of the people in Jerusalem, had made a decision to keep the Passover in the second month. It was not possible to keep it at that time, because not enough priests had made themselves holy, and the people had not come together in Jerusalem. And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and all the people. read more.
So it was ordered that word was to be sent out through all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that they were to come to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem: because they had not kept it in great numbers in agreement with the law. So runners went with letters from the king and his chiefs through all Israel and Judah, by the order of the king, saying, O children of Israel, come back again to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may come again to that small band of you which has been kept safe out of the hands of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were sinners against the Lord, the God of their fathers, so that he made them a cause of fear, as you see. Now do not be hard-hearted, as your fathers were; but give yourselves to the Lord, and come into his holy place, which he has made his for ever, and be the servants of the Lord your God, so that the heat of his wrath may be turned away from you. For if you come back to the Lord, those who took away your brothers and your children will have pity on them, and let them come back to this land: for the Lord your God is full of grace and mercy, and his face will not be turned away from you if you come back to him. So the runners went from town to town through all the country of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun: but they were laughed at and made sport of. However, some of Asher and Manasseh and Zebulun put away their pride and came to Jerusalem. And in Judah the power of God gave them one heart to do the orders of the king and the captains, which were taken as the word of the Lord.

Keeping faith, and being conscious of well-doing; for some, by not doing these things, have gone wrong in relation to the faith: Such are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have given up to Satan, so that they may say no more evil words against God.

Now when Rehoboam's position as king had been made certain, and he was strong, he gave up the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him. Now in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem, because of their sin against the Lord,

At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said to him, Because you have put your faith in the king of Aram and not in the Lord your God, the army of the king of Aram has got away out of your hands. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a very great army, with war-carriages and horsemen more than might be numbered? but because your faith was in the Lord, he gave them up into your hands. For the eyes of the Lord go this way and that, through all the earth, letting it be seen that he is the strong support of those whose hearts are true to him. In this you have done foolishly, for from now you will have wars.

And the children of Israel went on from the waste land of Sin, by stages as the Lord gave them orders, and put up their tents in Rephidim: and there was no drinking-water for the people. So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking. And Moses said, Why are you angry with me? and why do you put God to the test? And the people were in great need of water; and they made an outcry against Moses, and said, Why have you taken us out of Egypt to send death on us and our children and our cattle through need of water? read more.
And Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, What am I to do to this people? they are almost ready to put me to death by stoning. And the Lord said to Moses, Go on before the people, and take some of the chiefs of Israel with you, and take in your hand the rod which was stretched out over the Nile, and go. See, I will take my place before you on the rock in Horeb; and when you give the rock a blow, water will come out of it, and the people will have drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the chiefs of Israel. And he gave that place the name Massah and Meribah, because the children of Israel were angry, and because they put the Lord to the test, saying, Is the Lord with us or not?

Now from the time when Amaziah gave up worshipping the Lord, they made secret designs against him in Jerusalem; and he went in flight to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him and put him to death there.

For though the army of Aram was only a small one, the Lord gave a very great army into their hands, because they had given up the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they put into effect the punishment of Joash.

And those on the rock are those who with joy give hearing to the word; but having no root, they have faith for a time, and when the test comes they give up.

You have had news that all those in Asia went away from me; among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes:

For Demas has gone away from me, for love of this present life, and has gone to Thessalonica: Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.

And Jonah got up to go in flight to Tarshish, away from the Lord; and he went down to Joppa, and saw there a ship going to Tarshish: so he gave them the price of the journey and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the Lord.

And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer. And the wrath of the Lord was burning against Israel, and he gave them up into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the children of Ammon. And that year the children of Israel were crushed under their yoke; for eighteen years all the children of Israel on the other side of Jordan, in the land of the Amorites which is in Gilead, were cruelly crushed down. read more.
And the children of Ammon went over Jordan, to make war against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim; and Israel was in great trouble. Then the children of Israel, crying out to the Lord, said, Great is our sin against you, for we have given up our God and have been servants to the Baals. And the Lord said to the children of Israel, Were not the Egyptians and the Amorites and the children of Ammon and the Philistines And the Zidonians and Amalek and Midian crushing you down, and in answer to your cry did I not give you salvation from their hands? But, for all this, you have given me up and have been servants to other gods: so I will be your saviour no longer. Go, send up your cry for help to the gods of your selection; let them be your saviours in the time of your trouble. And the children of Israel said to the Lord, We are sinners; do to us whatever seems good to you: only give us salvation this day. So they put away the strange gods from among them, and became the Lord's servants; and his soul was angry because of the sorrows of Israel. Then the children of Ammon came together and put their army in position in Gilead. And the children of Israel came together and put their army in position in Mizpah. And the people of Israel said to one another, Who will be the first to make an attack on the children of Ammon? We will make him head over all Gilead.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.