47 Bible Verses about Conversion, God's demands for

For [although they] knew God, they did not honor [him] as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasoning, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God with the likeness of an image of mortal human beings and birds and quadrupeds and reptiles.

And just as they did not see fit {to recognize God}, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do the things [that are] not proper,

[there] is no one who understands; [there] is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside together; they have become worthless; [There] is no one who practices kindness; [there] is not even one.

All have gone astray; they are altogether corrupt. There is not one who does good; there is not even one.

But at that time [when you] did not know God, you were enslaved to the things which by nature are not gods.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.

Sober up correctly and {stop sinning}, for some have no knowledge of God--I say [this] to your shame.

not in lustful passion, just as also the Gentiles who do not know God;

with burning flame giving punishment to those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus,

From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept [them]! Return to me and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts, "but you say, 'How shall we return?'

because the Amalekites and the Canaanites [are] there {before you}, and you will fall by the sword; because you have turned [back] from Yahweh, and Yahweh will not be with you."

And Yahweh said to me, 'Come [now], go down quickly from this mountain because your people behave corruptly whom you brought out from Egypt, [for] they turned quickly from the way that I commanded them [to follow]; they have made for themselves a cast image.'

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

Yahweh was angry with Solomon, for he had turned his heart from Yahweh, the God of Israel who had appeared to him twice.

And from the time that Amaziah turned away from Yahweh, they had plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.

Why has this people, Jerusalem, turned away [in] enduring apostasy? They have kept hold of deceit, they have refused to return.

And your fugitives will remember me among the nations [to] which they were taken captive, that I was shattered by {their adulterous heart} which departed from me, and by {their adulterous eyes} which [went] after their idols, and they will feel loathing {for themselves}, for the evil that they did, for all of their detestable things.

"And all Israel transgressed your law and turned aside [so as] not to listen to your voice, and [so] the curse and the oath which [was] written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.

to whom our fathers were not willing to become obedient, but rejected [him] and turned [back] in their hearts to Egypt,

Turn to me and be saved, all [the] ends of [the] earth, for I [am] God and there is none besides [me].

Therefore [although] God has overlooked the times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,

By awesome deeds in righteousness you will answer us, O God of our salvation, [you who are the] confidence [of] all [the] ends of [the] earth and [of] the far-off seas,

And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, the great city, {in which there are} more {than one hundred and twenty thousand} people who do not know right from left, plus many animals?"

And I will cut off [the] chariot from Ephraim, and [the] horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow will be cut down, and he will announce peace to the nations. His dominion [will be] from sea to sea, and from [the] River to [the] ends of [the] earth.

Say to them, '{As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{Surely I have no delight} in the death of the wicked, {except} in [the] wicked returning from his way, and he lives. Turn back! Turn back from your ways, O evil [ones], for why should you die, house of Israel?'

Return, apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.

"And even now," {declares} Yahweh, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, and weeping, and wailing." Rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to Yahweh your God, because he [is] gracious and compassionate, {slow to anger} and great in loyal love, and relenting from harm.

You must say to them: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Return to me," {declares} Yahweh of hosts, "and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts.

"Return, apostate children," {declares} Yahweh. "For {I am your master}, and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan, and I will bring you [to] Zion.

" 'But when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility-- I myself also went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies--or [if] then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, I will remember my covenant [with] Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant [with] Isaac and also my covenant [with] Abraham, and I will remember the land.

For when you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your children [will find] compassion before their captors and return to this land, for Yahweh your God [is] gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away his face from you if you return to him."

Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king. They will come in fear to Yahweh and to his goodness at the end of days.

Come, let us return to Yahweh; because [it is] he who has torn, and he will heal us; he has struck us down and will bind us up. He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live in his presence. Let us know, let us press on to know Yahweh; his rising [is] sure like [the] dawn. He will come like the showers to us, like [the] spring rain that waters [the] earth.

When I hold back the heavens so that there is not rain, and when I command the locust to devour the earth, and if I send disease among my people, [then if] my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and will pray and will seek my face and will turn from their evil ways, then I myself shall hear from the heavens and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

if they return to you with all of their heart and with all of their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive and they pray to you toward their land which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen and the house that you built for your name, then you shall hear in heaven, the place of your dwelling, their prayer and their plea, and you shall {vindicate them}.

and we return to you,' with their whole heart and with all their inmost being in the land of their captivity where they took them captive, and [if] they pray toward their land that you have given to their ancestors and the city that you have chosen and to the house that I have built for your name, then may you hear their prayer and their pleas from the heavens, from your dwelling place, and uphold their case and forgive your people who sinned against you.

But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, even though all of your outcasts are at the furthest parts of heaven, I will gather them and bring them to the place which I have chosen to make my name dwell.'

"So now, revere Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; remove the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh. But if it is bad in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you want to serve, whether it is the gods that your ancestors served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you [are] living; but as for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh."

Then Jehoiada {made} a covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people, that the people should be as a people for Yahweh, and [also a covenant] between the king and the people.

Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists, the household gods and the idols, and all of the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah removed in order to establish the words of the law written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found [in] the temple of Yahweh. There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards.

And the king stood at his position. And he made the covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh and to keep his commands and statutes and regulations with all his heart and with all his soul, to do the words of the covenant that [were] written on this scroll. Then he obligated all who were found in Jerusalem and in Benjamin, that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would do according to the covenant of God, the God of their ancestors. And Josiah removed all the detestable things from the whole land that belonged to the {Israelites} and obligated all who were found in Israel to serve Yahweh their God. All his days they did not turn aside from following Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

And they sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the war booty they brought back: seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, with all their heart and with all their inmost being, but all who will not seek Yahweh the God of Israel should be killed, from young to old, from men to women.read more.
And they took an oath to Yahweh with a great voice, with shouting, with trumpets, and with horns. And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart. And they sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave rest to them all around.

And Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem and returned and went out among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and brought them back to Yahweh, the God of their ancestors.

For our ancestors acted unfaithfully and did evil in the sight of Yahweh our God, and have forsaken him and turned away their faces from the dwelling place of Yahweh. {They have turned their backs} [on it]. They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. And they did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel. And the wrath of Yahweh was upon Judah and Jerusalem. And he made them as an abhorrence, as a desolation and an object of scorn, as you see with your own eyes.read more.
Now behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives [are] in captivity on account of this. Now {it is in my heart} to {make} a covenant with Yahweh, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger might turn away from him.

[Then] I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you.

And I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, {I have sent them over and over again}, {saying}, 'Turn back please each one from his evil way, and amend your deeds, and you must not go after other gods to serve them, {so that you may live} on the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.' But you did not incline your ear and you did not listen to me.

But he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to Yahweh. And they testified against them, and they did not obey.