67 Bible Verses about ethics, incentives towards

For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the bad. And do you desire to be not afraid of the authority? Do the good, and you shall have praise from it. For it is a servant of God to you for good. For if you practice evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain; for it is a servant of God, a revenger for wrath on him who does evil.

You shall appoint judges and officers for yourself in all your gates which Jehovah your God gives you, tribe by tribe. And they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.

According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand or the left. And the man that acts proudly and will not listen to the priest who stands to minister there before Jehovah your God, or to the judge, even that man shall die. And you shall put away the evil from Israel.

If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and they have been judged, and the righteous one is declared righteous, and the wrongdoer declared guilty,

Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; save them out of the hand of the wicked.

First of all, then, I exhort that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,read more.
who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Then be in obedience to every ordinance of men, because of the Lord, whether to a king as supreme, or to governors as sent by Him for vengeance on evildoers, but for praise on well-doers.

For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Why have you despised the Word of Jehovah, to do evil in His sight? You have stricken Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. And therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

Blessed are the merciful! For they shall obtain mercy.

For with whatever judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with whatever measure you measure out, it shall be measured to you again.

So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also to you, unless each one of you from your hearts forgive his brother their trespasses.

For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness; you shall not fast as you do today, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Bring no more vain sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me; the new moon and sabbath, the going to meeting; I cannot endure evil and the assembly! Your new moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me; I am weary to bear them. And when you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.

And they come to you as the people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words. But they will not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their unjust gain.

Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, even those seventy years, did you truly fast to Me, even to Me?

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.

But woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over judgment and the love of God. You ought to have done these, and not to leave the other undone.

They profess that they know God, but in their works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and reprobate to every good work.

But your iniquities have come between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.

Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.

If I regard iniquity in my heart, Jehovah will not hear;

They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah; but they shall not find Him. He has withdrawn Himself from them.

Then they shall cry to Jehovah, but He will not answer them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have done evil in their doings.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed until the day of redemption.

For he sowing to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh. But he sowing to the Spirit will reap life everlasting from the Spirit.

And it shall be, if you will not listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to observe and to do all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, all these curses shall come on you and overtake you.

your rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves a bribe, and is pursuing rewards; they do not judge the orphan, nor does the cause of the widow come to them. And the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, the mighty One of Israel, says, Alas! I will ease Myself of My foes, and avenge Myself of My enemies.

Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals,

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive the things done through the body, according to that which he has done, whether good or bad.

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness (which is idolatry), on account of which things' sake the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience,

Follow peace with all, and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord;

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

Let it not be! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

and He died for all, that the living ones may live no more to themselves, but to Him who died for them and having been raised.

Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,

Therefore be followers of God, as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us, and has given Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.

I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.

I do not speak according to command, but through the eagerness of others, and testing the trueness of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, for your sakes He became poor, in order that you might be made rich through His poverty.

who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify to Himself a special people, zealous of good works.

By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

Therefore we are also laboring to be well-pleasing to Him, whether at home or away from home.

Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

For our exhortation to you was not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile, but as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tries our hearts.

For the rest, then, my brothers, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.

And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

Who shall go up into the hill of Jehovah? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to vanity, and has not sworn deceitfully.

To do justice and judgment is more pleasing to Jehovah than sacrifice.

For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed ones go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, and that you should bring home the wandering poor? When will you see the naked and cover him; and you will not hide yourself from your own flesh?

And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love the neighbor as himself, is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

And now, Israel, what does Jehovah your God ask of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command you today for your good?

A Psalm of David. Jehovah, who shall dwell in Your tabernacle? Who shall dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; he does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor;read more.
in whose eyes the reprobate is despised, but he honors those who fear Jehovah; he has sworn to his hurt, and does not change it; he has not put out his money at interest, nor has he taken a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall not be moved forever.

He who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.

You shall follow that which is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which Jehovah your God gives you.

And all these blessings shall come on you and overtake you, if you will listen to the voice of Jehovah your God.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivulets of water that brings forth its fruit in its seasons, and its leaf shall not wither, and all which he does shall be blessed.

For Jehovah God is a sun and shield; Jehovah will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

So says Jehovah, Keep judgment and do justice; for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; keeping the sabbath, from defiling it; and keeping his hand from doing any evil.

Then you shall call, and Jehovah shall answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you take the yoke away from among you, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. And Jehovah shall always guide you and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones fat; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.read more.
And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If you turn your foot because of the Sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of Jehovah, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed yourself with the inheritance of Jacob your father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken.

so that you do not appear to men to fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.

But when you make a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you shall be blessed, for they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.