36 Bible Verses about Gentiles

Some of them were persuaded and began to be associated with Paul and Silas, especially a large crowd of devout Greeks and the wives of many prominent men.

Therefore, I tell you and insist on in the Lord not to live any longer like the gentiles live, thinking worthless thoughts. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.

"So don't ever worry by saying, "What are we going to eat?' or "What are we going to drink?' or "What are we going to wear?' because it is the unbelievers who are eager for all those things. Surely your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them!

At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

Hardly! What they offer, they offer to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become partners with demons.

When the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal life believed,

Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too,

But when they began to oppose him and insult him, he shook out his clothes in protest and told them, "Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the gentiles."

When the seventh angel blew his trumpet, there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The world's kingdom has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will rule forever and ever."

Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God.

and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images that looked like mortal human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

You know that when you were unbelievers, you were enticed and led astray to worship idols that couldn't even speak.

They exchanged God's truth for a lie and worshipped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Then Paul and Barnabas boldly declared, "We had to speak God's word to you first, but since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are now going to turn to the gentiles.

These were the Twelve whom Jesus sent out after he had given them these instructions: "Don't turn on to the road that leads to the unbelievers, and don't enter Samaritan towns.

and then repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations.

Make them afraid, LORD, Let the nations know that they are only human. Interlude

Indeed, the kingdom belongs to the LORD; he rules over the nations.

including us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but from the gentiles as well?

There will be suffering and anguish for every human being who practices doing evil, for Jews first and for Greeks as well.

What, then, does this mean? Are we Jews any better off? Not at all! For we have already accused everyone, both Jews and Greeks, of being under the power of sin.

not with passion and lust like the gentiles who do not know God.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

For it is he who is our peace. Through his mortality he made both groups one by tearing down the wall of hostility that divided them.

But don't measure the courtyard outside the Temple. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the Holy City for 42 months.

Since they have lost all sense of shame, they have abandoned themselves to sensuality and practice every kind of sexual perversion without restraint.

Furthermore, because they did not think it worthwhile to keep knowing God fully, God delivered them to degraded minds to perform acts that should not be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, quarreling, deceit, and viciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, haughty, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to their parents, read more.
foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless. Although they know God's just requirement that those who practice such things deserve to die they not only do these things but even applaud others who practice them.

You are not to do what you used to do in the land of Egypt where you lived. You are not to do what Canaan does, where I'm about to bring you, so that you live according to their statutes.

This is what the LORD says: "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified of them.

God, nations have invaded your land to desecrate your holy Temple, to destroy Jerusalem,

The adversary seized in his hands everything she valued. She watched the nations enter her sanctuary; those you forbade to enter your place of meeting.

and said:

God is king over the nations; God is seated on his holy throne.

Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the unclean won't enter you.

Jonathan told his armor bearer, "Come, let's go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised ones. Perhaps the LORD will work for us, since nothing prevents the LORD from delivering, whether by many or by a few."

But the Lord told him, "Go, because he's my chosen instrument to carry my name to unbelievers, to their kings, and to the descendants of Israel.

In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised. For the one who worked through Peter by making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me by sending me to the gentiles.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who believes, of the Jew first and of the Greek as well.

There is no difference between Jew and Greek, because they all have the same Lord, who gives richly to all who call on him.

"Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in my anger I struck you down, in my favor I have shown you mercy.

However, the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will once again choose Israel. He will settle them in their own land, and foreigners will join them, affiliating themselves with the house of Jacob.

Then Peter began to speak: "Now I understand that God shows no partiality. Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation. He has sent his word to the descendants of Israel and brought them the good news of peace through Jesus the Messiah. This man is the Lord of everyone. read more.
You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached. God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and because God was with him, he went around doing good and healing everyone who was oppressed by the devil. We are witnesses of everything Jesus did in the land of the Jews, including Jerusalem. "They hung him on a tree and killed him, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear not to all the people, but to us who were chosen by God to be witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He also ordered us to preach to the people and to testify solemnly that this is the one appointed by God to be the judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name." While Peter was still making this statement, the Holy Spirit fell on all the people who were listening to his message. Then the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the gentiles, too,

Simeon has explained how God first showed his concern for the gentiles by taking from among them a people for his name.

When the gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord. Meanwhile, all who had been destined to eternal life believed, and the word of the Lord began to spread throughout the whole region.

The whole crowd was silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul tell about all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the gentiles.

Why are the nations in an uproar, and their people involved in a vain plot?

Because the Scripture saw ahead of time that God would justify the gentiles by faith, it announced the gospel to Abraham beforehand when it said, "Through you all nations will be blessed."

"It will come about in the last days that the mountain that is the LORD's Temple will be established as the highest of mountains, and will be raised above the hills; all the nations will stream to it.

At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who emphasized circumcision disagreed with him. They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

He told them, "You understand how wrong it is for a Jew to associate or visit with unbelievers. But God has shown me that I should stop calling anyone common or unclean,

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

The Jewish people struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did with their enemies as they pleased.

"I've called you in righteousness. I'll take hold of your hand. I'll preserve you and appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light for the nations,

a light that will reveal salvation to unbelievers and bring glory to your people Israel."

You rebuked the nations, you destroyed the wicked, you wiped out their name forever and ever.

The one who disciplines nations can rebuke them, can he not? The one who teaches mankind can discern, can he not?

because those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to those who practice witchcraft and divination. But the LORD does not allow you to act this way."

So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth were called "the uncircumcised" by those who called themselves "the circumcised." They underwent physical circumcision done by human hands. At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise. You had no hope and were in the world without God.

"As for your male and maid slaves who will be with you, you may buy male and female slaves from among the nations.

You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons,

This happened because the Israelis had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt and from the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because they were fearing other gods, and because they were following the rules of the nations whom the LORD had expelled before the Israelis and that the kings of Israel had practiced.

Has a nation ever changed gods when they aren't even gods? But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.

He replied, "It's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the puppies."

yelling, "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place." For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple.

So I said, "What you're doing isn't right! Shouldn't you live in the fear of our God to avoid shame from our foreign enemies?

For I want to let you know about this secret, brothers, so that you will not claim to be wiser than you are: Stubbornness has come to part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles comes to faith.

Furthermore, because they did not think it worthwhile to keep knowing God fully, God delivered them to degraded minds to perform acts that should not be done.

For whenever gentiles, who do not possess the Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the Law.

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the requirements of the Law, his uncircumcision will be regarded as circumcision, won't it?

The LORD makes void the counsel of nations; he frustrates the plans of nations.

They will fall by the edge of the sword and be carried off as captives among all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the unbelievers until the times of the unbelievers are fulfilled."

Then the Jewish leaders asked one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we won't be able to find him? Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

For in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate actually met together with unbelievers and the people of Israel to oppose your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,

Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.

However, in the past, when you did not know God, you were slaves to things that are not really gods at all.

When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers there welcomed us warmly. The next day, Paul went with us to visit James, and all the elders were present. After greeting them, Paul related one by one the things that God had done among the gentiles through his ministry. read more.
When they heard about it, they praised God and told him, "You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are zealous for the Law. But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. What is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Take these men, go through the purification ceremony with them, and pay their expenses to shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you are carefully observing and keeping the Law. As for the gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our decision that they should keep away from food that has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from anything strangled, and from sexual immorality."

Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the gentiles had also accepted the word of God. But when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those who emphasized circumcision disagreed with him. They said, "You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them!" read more.
Then Peter began to explain to them point by point what had happened. He said, "I was in the town of Joppa praying when in a trance I saw a vision: Something like a large linen sheet descended down from heaven, lowered by its four corners, and it came right down to me. When I examined it closely, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard a voice telling me, "Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.' But I replied, "Absolutely not, Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth!' Then the voice from heaven answered a second time, "You must stop calling common what God has made clean!' This happened three times. Then everything was pulled back up to heaven. "At that very moment three men arrived at the house where we were staying. They had been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me to go with them without hesitating. These six brothers went with me, too, and we entered the house of the man from Caesarea. Then he told us how he had seen an angel standing in his home and saying, "Send messengers to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. He will discuss with you how you and your entire household will be saved.' "When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as he was first given to us. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: "John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' Now if God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, who was I to try to stop God?" When they heard this, they calmed down, and praised God by saying, "So God has given repentance that leads to life even to gentiles."

After a lengthy debate, Peter stood up and told them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days, God chose me to be the one among you through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows everyone's heart, showed them he approved by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between them and us, because of their faith-cleansed hearts. read more.
So why do you test God by putting on the disciples' neck a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we could carry? We certainly believe that it is through the grace of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, that we are saved, just as they are."

Praise the LORD, all you nations! Exalt him, all you nations!

And again, "Praise the Lord, all you gentiles! Let all the nations praise him."