9 Bible Verses about Old Testament Parables

"The trees went certainly, to anoint a king over themselves. And they said to the olive tree, 'Rule over us.' And the olive tree replied, 'Should I stop [producing] my oil, which by me gods and men are honored, to go sway over the trees?' Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You, come rule over us.'read more.
But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my sweetness, and my good crop, to go sway over the trees?' And the trees said to the vine, 'You, come rule over us.' But the vine said to them, 'Should I stop [producing] my wine that makes the gods and men happy, to go sway over the trees?' So all the trees said to the thornbush, 'You, come rule over us.' And the thornbush said to the trees, 'If in good faith you [are] anointing me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; if not, may fire go out from the thornbush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.'

So Yahweh sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, "Two men were in a certain city; one [was] rich and the other [was] poor. The rich [man] had very many flocks and herds, but the poor [man] had nothing except for one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He had nurtured her, and she grew up with him and with his children together. She used to eat from his morsel and drink from his cup, and she used to lie in his lap and became like a daughter for him.read more.
And a visitor came to the rich man, but he {was reluctant} to take from his flocks or from his herds to prepare a meal for the traveler when he came to him. So he took the ewe lamb of the poor man and prepared it for the man who had come to him."

So Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah, saying, "The thornbush which is in Lebanon sent to the cedar which is in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife,' but an animal of the field which [is] in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thornbush.

Let me sing for my beloved a song of my love concerning his vineyard: {My beloved had a vineyard} on {a fertile hill}. And he dug it and cleared it of stones, and he planted it [with] choice vines, and he built a watchtower in the middle of it, and he even hewed out a wine vat in it, and he waited for [it] to yield grapes-- but it yielded wild grapes. And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.read more.
What more [was there] to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why did I hope for [it] to yield grapes, and it yielded wild grapes? And now let me tell you what I myself am about to do to my vineyard. [I will] remove its hedge, and it shall become a devastation. [I will] break down its wall, and it shall become a trampling. And I will make it a wasteland; it shall not be pruned and hoed, and it shall be overgrown [with] briers and thornbushes. And concerning the clouds, I will command {them not to send} rain down upon it. For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the man of Judah [is] the plantation of his delight. [And] he waited for justice, but look! Bloodshed! For righteousness, but look! A cry of distress!

"Son of man, tell a riddle and quote a proverb to the house of Israel, and you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "{The great eagle with great wings and long feathers} [and] {full of variegated plumage} came to Lebanon and he took the treetop of the cedar. He plucked the top of its new plant shoot, and he brought it to the land of Canaan [and] put it in a city of merchants,read more.
and he took from the seed of the land and placed it in {fertile soil} on many waters; [like] a willow he planted it. And it sprouted, and {it became a vine spreading out}, low of height, turning its branches to him, and its roots were under it, and {it became a vine}, and it made branches, and it sent out foliage. " '"And there was another great eagle, great of wings and [with] abundant plumage, and look! This vine stretched out its roots toward him and extended its branches to him to water it from the garden bed {where it was planted}. It was planted in good field by many waters to produce branches and to bear fruit to become {a beautiful vine}." ' Say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will it prosper? Will he not tear out its roots, and will he not make its fruit scaly, and it will wither, and all of the freshness of its vegetation will dry up? And to lift it from its roots {will not require great strength or many people}. And look! [Though] it is planted, will it prosper? {When the east wind strikes it}, will it not dry up completely? On the garden bed of its vegetation it will dry up!" '"

"Son of man, there were two women, [the] daughters of one mother, and they prostituted [themselves] in Egypt in their childhood; they were prostituting [themselves] there, [and] their breasts were fondled, and there they caressed the bosoms of their virginity. Now [as for] their names, the older [was] Oholah, and Oholibah [was] her sister. And {they became mine}, and they bore sons and daughters, and their names [are] Samaria [for] Oholah, and Jerusalem [for] Oholibahread more.
And Oholah prostituted [herself] {while she was still mine}, and she lusted for her lovers, for Assyria [who was] nearby, clothed in blue cloth, governors and prefects, {handsome young men} [and] all of them horsemen, {experts on horseback}. And she bestowed her fornication on them, [on] the choice [ones] of the {Assyrians}, all of them, and with every one [after] which she lusted; with all of their idols she defiled herself. And her whorings from [the time of] Egypt she [did] not abandon, for they slept with her in her childhood, and they caressed the bosoms of her virginity, and they poured out their fornication on her. Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the {Assyrians} {after whom she lusted}. They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a name for the women, and they executed judgments against her. "And though Oholibah her sister saw, yet in her lust {she behaved more corruptly than her}, and her whoring [was] more than the prostitution of her sister. She lusted after the {Assyrians}, governors and prefects, warriors clothed in perfection, {expert horsemen}, all of them {handsome young men}. And I saw that she was defiled; {they had both taken the same path}! And she increased her whorings, and she saw men carved on the wall, images of Chaldeans carved in red belted with a belt at their waist with turbans on their heads, all of them [giving] [the] appearance of adjutants, the image of the {Babylonians}; Chaldea [was] the land of their birth. And she lusted for them {when her eyes saw them}, and she sent messengers to them [at] Chaldea. And so the {Babylonians} came to her [for the] bed of lovemaking; and they defiled her with their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and she turned from them. And she revealed her whorings, and she revealed her nakedness, and so I turned from her {just as} I turned from her sister. Yet she increased her whorings, {recalling} the days of her childhood when she was prostituted in the land of Egypt And she lusted after her male lovers whose genitalia [were the] genitalia of male donkeys and [their] seminal emission [was the] seminal emission of horses. And you longed [after] the obscene conduct of your youth when your bosom was caressed by Egypt, fondling your young breasts. "Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] stirring up your lovers against you [concerning] whom you turned away, and I will bring them against you from all around: the {Babylonians} and all of the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all of the {Assyrians} [along] with them, {handsome young men}, governors and prefects, all of them adjutants {and excellent horsemen}. And they will come against you [with] an army chariot and wagon and with a crowd of peoples; they will set [themselves] against you [from] all around [with] large shield and small shield and helmet. And I will give {before them} judgment, and they will judge you with their judgments. And I will direct my zeal against you, and they will deal with you in anger; your nose and your ears they will remove, and {those who are left}, they will fall by the sword, and they will take your sons and your daughters, and {your remnant} will be consumed by fire. And they will strip you [of] your clothes, and they will take {your splendid jewelry}. And I will put an end to your obscene conduct [coming] from you and your fornication from the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them; and you will not remember Egypt again.' For thus says the Lord Yahweh: 'Look! I [am] giving you into the hand of those you hated, into the hand of those from whom you turned away. And they will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all of your acquisitions, and they will leave you naked and [in] bareness; and the nakedness of your fornication and your obscene conduct and your whorings will be exposed. These [things] [are] accomplished against you since you prostituted yourself after the nations, [and] on account of that, you defiled yourself by their idols. You went in the [same] way of your sister, and I will give her cup into your hand." ' Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "You will drink the deep and wide cup of your sister; you will be as laughter and as scorn; {the cup holds so much}! You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, for a cup of horror and desolation [is] the cup of your sister, Samaria. And you will drink it, and you will drain [it], and its potsherds you will gnaw, and you will tear out your breasts, for {I myself} spoke," {declares} the Lord Yahweh. Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Because you have forgotten me, and you threw me behind your back, now in turn you bear your obscene conduct and your whorings." And Yahweh said to me, "Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah and declare their abominable deeds to them For they committed adultery, and blood [is] on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me--they sacrificed them as food! Also they did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that day, and they profaned my Sabbaths and when they slaughtered their children for their idols, they came to my sanctuary on that day to profane it. And look, {this is what they did in my house}! {What is worse}, they sent for men {who come} from a distant place, [to] whom a messenger [was] sent to them, and look! They came! [Men] for whom you bathed and painted your eyes, and you adorned yourself [with] an ornament. And you sat on a magnificent couch and a table prepared {before her}, and my incense and my olive oil you put on her. And a sound of a carefree crowd [was] with it, and in addition to [these] men, {a crowd of drunken men was brought in} from [the] desert, and they put bracelets on their arms and a crown of splendor on their heads. And I said to the one worn out [with] adulteries, 'Now they will prostitute [her] [concerning] her fornication, even her.' And [so] they went to her like going to a female prostitute; and thus they went to Oholah and to Oholibah, the women of obscene conduct. But righteous men, they will judge them [with] [the] judgment of committing adultery, and [with] [the] judgment of shedding blood; for they were committing adultery, and blood [was] on their hands."

And {deliver a proverb} to {the rebellious house}, and you must say to them, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Place the pot! Place [it] and also pour water into it. Gather its pieces to it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder, fill it [with] choice bones; take the choicest of the flock, and also pile the bones under it; {boil it vigorously}; indeed, its bones boiled in the midst of it." '"read more.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe [to] the city of bloodguilt! A pot that [has] its rust in it; {its rust did not go out from it}. Bring it out {piece by piece}; {one is as good as another}. For her blood was in the midst of her; {she put it on a bare rock}; she [did] not pour it on the ground to cover it [with] dust. To stir up rage, to avenge myself [through] vengeance, I placed its blood on [the] barrenness of a rock, {so that it may not be covered}." Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe [to] the city of bloodguilt! I, even I, will make the pile of wood great! Pile up the logs; kindle the fire; finish [cooking] the meat, and mix [in] the spices, and let the bones be burned. And {make it stand} empty upon its burning coals so that it may become hot, and its copper may become molten and be melted in the midst of it, [so that] its uncleanness and its rust be consumed. [Through] effort she has caused weariness; {its thick rust} went not [out of] it. Its rust! Into [the] fire [with] its rust! In your uncleanness [is] obscene conduct, because I cleansed you, but you were not clean from your uncleanness; you will not be clean again until {I fully vent my rage} on you. I, Yahweh, I have spoken. [It is] coming, and I did [it]; I will not disregard, and I will not take pity, and I will not reconsider. According to your ways and according to your deeds they will judge you!" {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

which [things] are spoken allegorically, for these [women] are two covenants, one from Mount Sinai, bearing [children] for slavery, who is Hagar.

having reasoned that God [was] able even to raise [him] from the dead, from which he received him back also as a symbol.