59 Bible Verses about Judaism

be it known to the king that the Jews who have come up from near you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the wall and repairing the foundation.

Then he said before his brothers and the army of Samaria, "What are the feeble Jews doing? Will they restore [these things] for themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the piles of rubble--even those burned up?"

And I gave the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, {in the presence of} Hanamel, [the son of] my uncle, and {in the presence of} the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, {in the presence of} the Judeans who were sitting in the courtyard of the guard.

saying, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him."

Now six stone water jars were set there, in accordance with the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews, each holding two or three measures.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Judeans who were living in the land of Egypt, who were living at Migdol, and Tahpanhes, and Memphis, and in the land of Pathros, {saying},

Now these were the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exile whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his [own] city.

So the Jews said to one another, "Where [is] this one going to go, that we will not find him? He is not going to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, [is he]?

And how do we hear, each one [of us], in {our own native language}? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and those residing [in] Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and the Romans who were in town,read more.
both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our [own] languages the great deeds of God!"

How could we sing the song of Yahweh in {a foreign land}?

The children of Israel will remain for many days without a king and prince, without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim.

And he came to Nazareth, where {he had been brought up}, and according to {his custom} he entered into the synagogue on the day of the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll he found the place where it was written,

This is the copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the scroll of the words of the commands of Yahweh and his statutes for Israel:

Now the seventh month drew near and the {Israelites} [were] in the cities, [so] the people gathered as {one} in Jerusalem. And Jeshua son of Jehozadak and his brothers the priests stood up, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers built the altar of the God of Israel, in order to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They set up the altar on its foundations, because {they were in terror} because of the peoples of the lands. And they offered burnt offerings on it for Yahweh, burnt offerings for the morning and the evening.read more.
And they kept the feast of booths, as it is written, and [offered] burnt offerings day by day in number according to the ordinance {as described for each day}. After [this, they presented] the daily sacrifice of burnt offerings, [the offerings] for the New Moon Festival, and for all of the appointed times consecrated for Yahweh and for all who gave a freewill offering to Yahweh. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh. But the temple of Yahweh was not yet founded.

In the second year after their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak began [their work], and the remainder of their brothers the priests and the Levites and all who came from the captivity to Jerusalem. They appointed the Levites {from twenty years and older} to direct the work of the house of Yahweh.

So the elders of the Jews were building and prospering, through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building by the command of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and King Artaxerxes of Persia. This house was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

Now some Greeks were among those who had gone up in order to worship at the feast.

Now there were Jews residing in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.

And he got up [and] went, and behold, [there was] a man, an Ethiopian eunuch (a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasury) who had come to worship in Jerusalem

Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false testimony against Jesus in order that they could put him to death. And they did not find [it], [although] many false witnesses came forward. And finally two came forward [and] said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild [it] within three days.'"

And some stood up [and] began to give false testimony against him, saying, "We heard him saying, 'I will destroy this temple made by hands, and within three days I will build another not made by hands."

And they put forward false witnesses who said, "This man does not stop speaking words against the holy place and the law!

But when the seven days were about to be completed, the Jews from Asia who had seen him in the temple [courts] stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, shouting, "Israelite men, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place! And furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple, and has defiled this holy place!" (For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, whom they thought that Paul had brought into the temple.)

You search the scriptures because you think that you have eternal life in them, and it is these that testify about me.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important [matters] of the law--justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary to do these [things] {while not neglecting those}.

For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one [point only] has become guilty of all [of it].

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound [by his oath].' Fools and blind [people]! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gift [that is] on it is bound [by his oath].'

And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their bread with unclean--that is, unwashed--hands. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands {ritually}, [thus] holding fast to the traditions of the elders.read more.
And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?" So he said to them, "Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. And they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.' Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'The one who speaks evil of father or mother {must certainly die}.' But you say, 'If a man says to his father or to his mother, "Whatever {benefit you would have received} from me [is] corban" (that is, a gift [to God]), you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, [thus] making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar [things] such as this."

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat {a meal}." So he answered [and] said to them, "Why do you also break the commandment of God because of your tradition?read more.
For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'The one who speaks evil of father or mother {must certainly die}.' But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or his mother, "Whatever {benefit you would have received} from me [is] a gift [to God]," need not honor his father,' and you make void the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Hypocrites! Isaiah correctly prophesied about you saying, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me, and they worship me in vain, teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.'"

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck off heads of grain and eat [them]. But [when] the Pharisees saw [it], they said to him, "Behold, your disciples are doing what it is not permitted to do on the Sabbath!"

And it happened that he was going through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples began to make [their] way [while] plucking off the heads of grain. And the Pharisees began to say to him, "Behold, why are they doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?"

Now it happened that on a Sabbath he went through the grain fields, and his disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing [them] in [their] hands. But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not permitted on the Sabbath?

(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands {ritually}, [thus] holding fast to the traditions of the elders. And [when they come] from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other [traditions] which they have received [and] hold fast to--[for example,] the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.)

And the Pharisee, [when he] saw [it], was astonished that he did not first wash before the meal.

"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood [and] prayed these [things] with reference to himself: 'God, I give thanks to you that I am not like other people--swindlers, unrighteous [people], adulterers, or even like this tax collector! I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all that I get.'

having known me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that in accordance with the strictest party of our religion I lived [as] a Pharisee.

Now the high priest rose up and all those [who were] with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), [and] they were filled with jealousy.

But [when he] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, "Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

And Sadducees--who say there is no resurrection--came up to him and began to ask him, saying,

On that day Sadducees--who say there is no resurrection--came up to him and asked him,

Now some of the Sadducees--who deny {that there is a resurrection}--came up [and] asked him,

And the disciples asked him, saying, "Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

And [when they] came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.

And it happened that after three days they found him in the temple [courts], sitting in the midst of the teachers and listening to them and asking them [questions].

And it happened that on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes came together in Jerusalem,

and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the [son] of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you travel around the sea and the dry [land] to make one convert, and when he becomes [one], you make him twice as much a son of hell [as] you [are]!

both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--we hear them speaking in our [own] languages the great deeds of God!"

And the statement pleased the whole group, and they chose Stephen (a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit), and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus (a convert from Antioch),

And [after] the synagogue had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them [and] were persuading them to continue in the grace of God.

Now after two days it was the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how, [after] arresting him by stealth, they could kill [him].

Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw [the things] which he did believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them [the things] which Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs!read more.
If we allow him [to go on] in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, "You do not know anything at all! Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish."

{They will expel you from the synagogue}, but an hour is coming that everyone who kills you will think they are offering service to God.

And [while] they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees approached them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put [them] in custody until the next day, because it was already evening.

Now the high priest rose up and all those [who were] with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), [and] they were filled with jealousy. And they laid hands on the apostles and put them in the public prison.

For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism, that to an extraordinary degree I was persecuting the church of God, and trying to destroy it, and was progressing in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my nation, [because] I was a far more zealous adherent of the traditions handed down by my forefathers.

But some of those who had believed from the party of the Pharisees stood up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to command [them] to observe the law of Moses!"

And some men came down from Judea [and] began teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom [prescribed] by Moses, you cannot be saved." And [after] there was no little strife and debate by Paul and Barnabas against them, they appointed Paul and Barnabas and some others from among them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this issue.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed [him] to his face, because he was condemned. For before certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, [because he] was afraid of those [who were] of the circumcision, and the rest of the Jews also joined in [this] hypocrisy with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with them in [their] hypocrisy.read more.
But when I saw that they were not being straightforward with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of [them] all, "If you, [although you] are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" We [are] Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles, but knowing that a person is not justified by the works of the law, if not by faith in Jesus Christ, and we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law {no human being will be justified}.