9 Bible Verses about Old Testament Parables

The trees went out to anoint a king over them. They said to the olive tree: 'Be our king.' The olive tree answered: 'I would have to stop producing my oil in order to govern you. My oil is used to honor gods and human beings.' Then the trees said to the fig tree: 'Come and be our king.'read more.
The fig tree replied: 'I would have to stop producing my good sweet fruit that I may govern you.' Then the trees spoke to the grapevine: 'You come and be our king.' But the vine answered: 'I could not govern you for I would have to stop producing my wine. It makes gods and human beings happy.' So then all the trees said to the thorn bush: 'You come and be our king! The thorn bush answered: 'If you really want to make me your king, then come and take shelter in my shade. If you do not, fire will blaze out of my thorny branches and burn up the cedars of Lebanon.'

Jehovah sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to him and said: There were two men in a certain city. One was rich and the other was poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle. But the poor man had only one little female lamb that he bought. He raised her, and she grew up in his home with his children. She would eat his food and drink from his cup. She rested in his arms and was like a daughter to him.read more.
Now, a visitor came to the rich man. The rich man thought it would be a pity to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler. So he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the traveler.

Jehoash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: The thorn-tree in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying: 'Give your daughter to my son for a wife.' A beast from the woodland in Lebanon went by, crushing the thorn under his feet.

Let me sing to my loved one a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug the soil all around and removed its stones. He planted it with the choicest vine. And he built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it. Then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones. Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, judge between my vineyard and me!read more.
What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes? Here is what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge and break down the wall that protects it. I will let wild animals eat it and trample it down. It will turn into a desert, neither pruned nor cultivated. It will be covered with thorns and briars. I will command the clouds not to send rain. I am Jehovah of Hosts (All Powerful)! Israel is the vineyard, and Judah is the garden I tended with care. I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.

Son of man, tell this riddle. Give this illustration to the nation of Israel. Say The Lord Jehovah says: A large eagle came to Lebanon. It had large wings with long, colorful feathers. It took hold of the top of a cedar tree. It broke off the highest twig and carried it to a country of merchants. It planted the twig in a city of merchants.read more.
Then it took a seedling from that country and planted the seedling in fertile soil. The eagle planted the seedling like a willow where there was plenty of water. The plant sprouted and grew into a low vine that spread over the ground. Its branches turned upward toward the eagle. Its roots grew downward. Thus it became a vine, producing branches and growing shoots. There was another large eagle with large wings and many feathers. Now, the vine stretched its roots toward this eagle and sent its branches toward the eagle so that the eagle could water it. The vine turned away from the garden where it was planted. It was planted in good soil beside plenty of water so that it could grow branches, bear fruit, and become a wonderful vine.' Say, 'The Lord Jehovah says: Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it and all its sprouting leaves wither? And neither by great strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots again. Though it is transplanted, will it thrive? Will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it, wither on the beds where it grew?'

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. They played the prostitute in Egypt. They played the prostitute in their youth. There their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled. Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.read more.
Oholah played the prostitute while she was mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, her neighbors. The Assyrians were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She gave her acts of fornication to them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she defiled herself. She did not forsake her acts of fornication from the time in Egypt. In her youth men had lain with her. They handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust 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, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her. Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her lust than she. Her prostitution was more than the fornication of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. I saw that she had defiled herself and that they both went the same way. So she increased her acts of fornication. And she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion (reddish-orange color), girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their acts of prostitution. When they had defiled her, she became disgusted with them. She uncovered her acts if prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. I became disgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her sister. Yet she multiplied her acts of prostitution. She remembered the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose genital organ is like the genital organ of horses. Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth. Therefore, O Oholibah, the Lord Jehovah says: 'Behold I will arouse your lovers against you, from whom you were alienated. I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will commit the judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs. I will set my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears. Your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters. The fire will consume your survivors. They will also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. I will make your lewdness and your fornication brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.' The Lord Jehovah says: 'Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom you were alienated. They will deal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your fornications will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your acts of prostitution. These things will be done to you because you have played the prostitute with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols. You have walked in the way of your sister. Therefore I will give her cup into your hand. The Lord Jehovah says this: 'You will drink your sister's cup, which is deep and wide. You will be laughed at and held in derision; it contains much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. You will drink it and drain it. Then you will gnaw its fragments and tear your breasts. I have spoken, declares the Lord Jehovah.' Therefore, the Lord Jehovah says: 'Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your acts of prostitution.' Jehovah said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them as food. Again, they have done this to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and have profaned my Sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary on the same day to profane it. Then they did within my house. Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent. They came and you bathed, painted your eyes and decorated yourselves with ornaments for them. You sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged before it on which you had set my incense and my oil. The sound of a carefree multitude was with her. Drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort. And they put bracelets on the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads. Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adultery: Will they now commit adultery with her when she is thus? But they went into her as they would go into a prostitute. Thus they went into Oholah and into Oholibah, the lewd women. But they, righteous men, will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

Speak a parable to the rebellious house. Say to them: The Lord Jehovah says, Put on the cooking pot, put it on and also pour water in it. Put in it the pieces, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with choice bones. Take the choicest of the flock. Also pile wood under the pot. Make it boil vigorously. Also boil its bones in it.'read more.
Therefore, the Lord Jehovah says: 'Woe to the bloody city, To the cooking pot in which there is rust and whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece, without making a choice. Her blood is in her midst. She placed it on the bare rock. She did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust. That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood on the bare rock, that it may not be covered.' The Lord Jehovah says: 'Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. Heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Boil the flesh well and mix in the spices and let the bones be burned. Then set it empty on its coals so that it may be hot and its copper may glow and its filthiness may be melted in it. Let its rust be consumed. She has made me tire with toil, yet her great rust has not gone from her. Let her rust be in the fire!' In your filthiness is lewdness. Because I would have cleansed you, yet you are not clean. You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again until I have spent my anger on you. I, Jehovah, have spoken. It is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry! I will judge you according to your ways and according to your deeds.' This is a declaration of the Lord Jehovah.

This contains an allegory (symbolic drama). These women symbolize two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.

Abraham reasoned that God is able to raise him from the dead. So he figured he would receive him back.