10 Bible Verses about Byword

Suppose an Israelite or a foreigner who lives in Israel deserts me by devoting himself to idols and by allowing himself to sin. If he goes to a prophet to ask for my help, I, Jehovah, will give him an answer. I will set my face against him (reject him), and I will make an example of him. I will exclude him from my people. Then you will know that I am Jehovah.'

Now he has made me a laughingstock for many people. Now they spit in my face.

Now they make fun of me with songs. I have become a joke to them.

You will become a thing of revulsion. All the nations where Jehovah will send you will make an example of you and laugh at you.

But if you turn from my ways, you or your children, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods and give them worship: I will have Israel cut off from the land I gave them. I will abandon this house even though I have made it holy for myself. I will put you out of my sight. Israel will be a public example, and a word of shame among all peoples. This house will become a mass of broken walls. Everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds. They will say: Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?read more.
The answer will be: 'Because they turned away from Jehovah their God. The one who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt. They took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why Jehovah has sent this evil on them.'

On the other hand, if you and your descendants turn away from me and abandon my commandments and laws that I gave you, and follow and serve other gods and worship them, I will uproot Israel from the land I gave them. I will reject this Temple that I declared holy for my name. I will make it an example and an object of ridicule for all the people of the world. Everyone passing by this impressive Temple will be appalled. They will ask: Why did Jehovah do these things to this land and to this Temple?read more.
They will answer their own question: 'They abandoned Jehovah the God of their ancestors, who brought them out of Egypt. They adopted other gods, worshiped, and served them. That is why he brought this disaster on them.'

Like the bad figs that cannot be eaten because they are rotten, says Jehovah, so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. They will be a disgrace and an example. They will become something ridiculed and cursed wherever I scatter them. I will send wars, famines, and plagues until they disappear from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.'

Jehovah spoke his word to me again: Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. There their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.read more.
Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah. Oholah played the prostitute while she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors. The Assyrians were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She gave her acts of fornication to them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. She did not forsake her acts of fornication from the time in Egypt. In her youth men had lain with her. They handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her. Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. They uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.

Let the priests and the ministers of Jehovah weep between the Temple porch and the altar! Let them say: Spare your people, O Jehovah, and do not give reproach to your heritage. That the nations should rule over them and say among the peoples, 'where is their God?'

Yet you have rejected and disgraced us. You do not even go along with our armies. You make us retreat from the enemy. Those who hate us rob us at will. You give us over to be butchered like sheep and scatter us among the nations.read more.
You sell your people for almost nothing, and at that price you have gained nothing. You made us a reproach to our neighbors and an object of ridicule and contempt to those around us. You made our defeat a proverb among the nations so that people shake their heads at us. All day long my disgrace is in front of me. Shame covers my face. This is because of the words of those who insult and slander us, because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger. Although all of this happened to us, we never forgot you. We never ignored your promise. Our hearts never turned away. Our feet never left your path. You crushed us in a place for jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. If we forgot the name of our God or stretched out our hands to pray to another god, would God not find out, since he knows the secrets in our hearts? We are being killed all day long because of you. We are thought of as sheep to be slaughtered. Wake up! Why are you sleeping, O Jehovah? Awake! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our suffering and misery? We are bowing in the dust. Our bodies cling to the ground. Arise! Help us! Rescue us because of your loving kindness!