12 Bible Verses about Heathen

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.

For you spent enough time in the past doing what the gentiles like to do, living in sensuality, sinful desires, drunkenness, wild celebrations, drinking parties, and detestable idolatry.

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."

So the Israelis who had returned from captivity ate the Passover with all who had consecrated themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land in order to seek the LORD God of Israel.

Instead, he behaved like the kings of Israel did by making his son pass through fire, the very same abomination that the heathen practiced, whom the LORD evicted from the land right in front of the Israelis.

"When you are praying, don't say meaningless things like the unbelievers do, because they think they will be heard by being so wordy.

The nations have sunk down into the pit they made, their feet are ensnared in the trap they set.

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

He drove out nations before them and allotted their tribal inheritance, settling the tribes of Israel in their tents.

He gave to them the land of nations; they inherited the labor of other people

and he gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to his people Israel.

and gave their land as an inheritance, for his gracious love is everlasting to Israel his servant as a possession, for his gracious love is everlasting

"Sing, you barren woman, even the one who never bore a child! Burst into song and shout for joy, even you who were never in labor! For the children of the desolate woman will be more than the children of her that is married," says the LORD. "Enlarge the location of your tent, let the curtains of your dwellings be stretched wide, and don't hold back. Lengthen your cords; strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right hand and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will populate the deserted towns.

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form: AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem. read more.
Furthermore, everyone who wishes to repatriate from any territory where he now resides is to receive assistance from his fellow residents in the form of silver, gold, equipment, and pack animals, in addition to voluntary offerings for the Temple of the God of Jerusalem.

"You are not to defile yourselves by doing any of these things, since all of these nations that I'm casting out before you have defiled themselves this way. The land has been defiled, so I brought the punishment of its iniquity to it. As a result, the land is vomiting out its inhabitants.

With your hand you expelled the nations and established our ancestors. You afflicted nations and cast them out.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a centurion came up to him and begged him repeatedly, "Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain." Jesus told him, "I will come and heal him." read more.
The centurion replied, "Sir, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me. I say to one of them "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and told those who were following him, "I tell all of you with certainty, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith! I tell all of you, many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom from heaven. But the unfaithful heirs of that kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." "Go," Jesus told the centurion, "and it will be done for you, just as you have believed." And his servant was healed that very hour.

There a centurion's servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant's life. So they went to Jesus and begged him repeatedly, "He deserves to have this done for him, read more.
because he loves our people and built our synagogue for us." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, "Sir, stop troubling yourself, because I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. That's why I didn't presume to come to you. But just say the word, and let my servant be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. I say to one "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!"

When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a centurion came up to him and begged him repeatedly, "Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain." Jesus told him, "I will come and heal him." read more.
The centurion replied, "Sir, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me. I say to one of them "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and told those who were following him, "I tell all of you with certainty, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith! I tell all of you, many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom from heaven. But the unfaithful heirs of that kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." "Go," Jesus told the centurion, "and it will be done for you, just as you have believed." And his servant was healed that very hour.

There a centurion's servant, whom he valued highly, was sick and about to die. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him to ask him to come and save his servant's life. So they went to Jesus and begged him repeatedly, "He deserves to have this done for him, read more.
because he loves our people and built our synagogue for us." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, "Sir, stop troubling yourself, because I'm not worthy to have you come under my roof. That's why I didn't presume to come to you. But just say the word, and let my servant be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and have soldiers under me. I say to one "Go' and he goes, to another "Come' and he comes, and to my servant "Do this' and he does it." When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him. Turning to the crowd that was following him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith!"

who say, "Keep to yourself!' "Don't touch me!' and "I am too holy for you!' "Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day long.

Indeed, whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him in any nation.

At that moment, humanlike fingers of a hand appeared near the lamp stand of the royal palace and wrote on the plaster of the wall.

"Therefore, the hand that wrote this inscription was sent from his presence. This is the written inscription: MENE, MENE, TEKEL AND PARSIN These are the meanings of the words: MENE: God has audited your kingdom and has ended it. read more.
TEKEL: You've been weighed on the scales and you don't measure up. PERES: Your kingdom has been divided and will be given to the Medes and Persians." Then Belshazzar gave orders to clothe Daniel in purple, to place a chain of gold around his neck, and to proclaim him the third highest ruler of the kingdom.

King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine, since he was serving as the priest of God Most High. Melchizedek blessed Abram and said, "Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your control." Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Two years later to the day Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile River, when all of a sudden seven healthy, plump cows emerged from the Nile to graze in the grass that grew in the reeds that lined the bank. Right after that, seven more cows came up out of the Nile. Ugly and gaunt, they stood next to the other cows on the bank of the Nile River. read more.
But all of a sudden they ate up the seven healthy, plump cows! Then Pharaoh woke up. After he had fallen back to sleep, he had a second dream, in which seven ears of plump, fruit-filled grain grew up on a single stalk. Suddenly seven thin ears of grain that had been scorched by an east wind sprouted up right after them and ate up the seven plump, fruit-filled ears. Then Pharaoh woke up a second time, and it had been a very vivid dream! The very next morning, he was frustrated about the dream, so he sent word to summon all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them what he had dreamed, but no one could interpret them. Then Pharaoh's senior security advisor spoke up. "Maybe I should make a confession. When Pharaoh was angry with some of his servants, he incarcerated me in custody of the captain of the bodyguard, along with Pharaoh's head chef. We each had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning. There was a Hebrew young man incarcerated with us, who was also working as a servant to the captain of the bodyguard. "We each related our dreams, and then he interpreted them for us. He provided specific meanings for each of our dreams. And what he interpreted for each of us came true! Pharaoh restored me to my responsibilities, but he executed the other man." Pharoah sent word to summon Joseph quickly from the dungeon, so they shaved his beard, changed his clothes, and then sent him straight to Pharaoh. "I've had a dream," Pharaoh told Joseph, "but nobody can interpret it. I've heard that you can interpret dreams." "I can't do that," Joseph replied, "but God is concerned about Pharaoh's well-being." So Pharaoh told Joseph, "In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile River, and all of a sudden seven healthy, plump, beautiful cows emerged from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds that line the bank. Just then, seven other cows emerged after them, poor, ugly, and appearing very gaunt in their flesh. I've never seen anything as ugly as those cows anywhere in the entire land of Egypt! But those thin, gaunt cows gobbled up the first seven healthy cows! Not only that," Pharaoh continued, "after they had finished devouring the cows, nobody could tell that they had gobbled them up, because they were just as ugly as before. Then I woke up. Later, I also dreamed about seven plump, fruit-filled ears of grain that grew up out of a single stalk. All of a sudden, seven thin, withered ears of grain, scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them. But the thin ears gobbled up the seven good ears. I told all this to my advisors, but nobody was able to explain it to me." "Pharaoh's dreams are identical," Joseph replied. "God has told Pharaoh what he is getting ready to do. The seven healthy cows represent seven years, as do the seven healthy ears. The dreams are identical. The seven gaunt cows that arose after the healthy cows are seven years, as are the seven gaunt ears scorched by the east wind. There will be seven years of famine. So the message that I have for Pharaoh is that God is telling Pharaoh what he is getting ready to do.

The people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least important. When the message reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, removed his royal garments, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down in ashes. Then he had this proclamation published throughout Nineveh: "By decree of the king and his nobles: read more.
No man or animal, herd or flock, is to taste anything, graze, or drink water. Instead, let both man and animal clothe themselves with sackcloth and cry out to God forcefully. Let every person turn from his evil ways and from his tendency to do violence. Who knows but that God may relent, have compassion, and turn from his fierce anger, so that we are not exterminated?" God took note of what they did that they turned from their evil ways. Because God relented concerning the trouble about which he had warned them, he did not carry it out.

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men arrived in Jerusalem from the east and asked, "Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, as was all of Jerusalem. read more.
He called together all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, because that is what was written by the prophet: "O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod secretly called together the wise men, found out from them the time the star had appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem. He told them, "As you go, search carefully for the child. When you find him, tell me so that I, too, may go and worship him." After listening to the king, they set out, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were ecstatic with joy. After they went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, they fell down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure sacks and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM NEBUCHADNEZZAR THE KING To the people of all nations and languages who live on earth. Peace and prosperity to you! It gives me great pleasure to tell about the signs and wonders that the Most High God has done for me. How great are his signs! How powerful are his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and his dominion lasts from generation to generation. read more.
I, Nebuchadnezzar, was resting in my home and prospering in my palace. I had a dream that made me afraid. The thoughts that went through my mind while in bed and the visions in my head terrified me. So I gave an order to bring in all of the advisors of Babylon so they would tell me the interpretation of the dream. Then the diviners, enchanters, Chaldeans, and astrologers came in, and I told them the dream. But they could not reveal its interpretation to me. Eventually, Daniel appeared before me. (He is called Belteshazzar, in accordance with the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods is within him.) I told him my dream: "Belteshazzar, chief of the diviners, since I know that the spirit of the holy gods is within you, and no mystery too difficult for you, explain to me the vision of my dream that I saw, along with its interpretation. This is what I saw in the visions of my head while I was in bed: I was looking and listen carefully! I saw a tree in the middle of the earth, the height of which was very great. The tree grew large, became strong, and its top reached the sky. It could be seen to the ends of the earth. Its foliage was beautiful, its fruit bountiful, and its food sufficient for everyone. The animals of the field found shade under it, the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and every creature was fed from it. "Then I saw in the visions of my head while I was in bed and take careful notice! I saw a holy observer descend from heaven. He called out aloud: "Cut down the tree and cut off its branches. Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the animals get out from under it, and let the birds leave its branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump and its roots in the ground, but bind it with iron and bronze in the field grass. Let him be drenched with dew from the sky, and let him graze with the animals in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man, and let him be given the mind of an animal until seven seasons of time pass by for him. This order is announced by the observers, and the holy ones declare the verdict, so that the living may know that the Most High is sovereign over human kingdoms and grants them to whomever he desires, and he places the least important of men over them.' "This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Belteshazzar, tell me its meaning, since none of the advisors in my kingdom can tell me its interpretation. But you are able to do so because the spirit of the holy gods is in you."

Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God. One day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision and clearly saw an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, "Cornelius!" read more.
He stared at the angel in terror and asked, "What is it, Lord?" The angel answered him, "Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder to God. Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. He is a guest of Simon, a leatherworker, whose house is by the sea." When the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius summoned two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of those who served him regularly.

But God came to Abimelech in a dream during the night and spoke to him, "Pay attention! You're about to die, because the woman you have taken is a man's wife!" Now Abimelech had not yet come near her, so he asked, "LORD, will you destroy an innocent nation? Didn't he say to me, "She's my sister'? And she also said, "He's my brother.' I did this with pure intentions and clean hands." read more.
Then God replied to him in the dream, "I know that you did this with pure intentions, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore, I didn't allow you to touch her. Now then, return the man's wife. As a matter of fact, he's a prophet and can intercede for you so you'll live. But if you don't return her, be aware that you and all who are yours will certainly die."

After Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea during the reign of King Herod, wise men arrived in Jerusalem from the east and asked, "Where is the one who was born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, as was all of Jerusalem. read more.
He called together all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, because that is what was written by the prophet: "O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Then Herod secretly called together the wise men, found out from them the time the star had appeared, and sent them to Bethlehem. He told them, "As you go, search carefully for the child. When you find him, tell me so that I, too, may go and worship him." After listening to the king, they set out, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it came and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were ecstatic with joy. After they went into the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, they fell down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure sacks and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they left for their own country by a different road.

During the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in fulfillment of the message from the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD prompted Cyrus, king of Persia, to make this proclamation throughout his entire kingdom, which was also released in written form: AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT FROM CYRUS, KING OF PERSIA All of the kingdoms of the earth have been given to me by the LORD God of Heaven, and he specifically charged me to build a temple for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Therefore, who among the LORD's people trusts in his God? Whoever among this group wishes to do so may travel to Jerusalem of Judah to rebuild the Temple of the LORD God of Israel, the God of 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.