44 Bible Verses about Provoking God

Remember, {do not forget}, that you provoked Yahweh your God in the desert, [and] from the day that you went out from the land of Egypt until {you came to this place} you were rebelling against Yahweh. "And [remember] at Horeb you provoked Yahweh, and Yahweh became angry [enough] to destroy you.

When they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the {Israelites} so that they did not come to the land that Yahweh gave to them. So {Yahweh's anger burned} on that day, and he swore an oath, saying, 'The men who went up from Egypt, from {those twenty years old} and above, will not see the land that I swore with an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they have not wholly followed me,read more.
except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, because they followed Yahweh wholly.' And {Yahweh became angry}, and he made them wander in the desert forty years until the entire generation who did evil in the {sight of Yahweh} {had died}.

For I know that after my death you will certainly act corruptly, and you will turn aside from the way that I have commanded you, and the disaster in the future days will befall you, because you will do evil in the eyes of Yahweh, {provoking him with the work of your hands}."

But the {Israelites} broke faith concerning the devoted things. Achan son of Carmi son of Zabdi son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from the devoted things; and {Yahweh's anger was kindled} against the {Israelites}.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzza reached out to the ark of God and took hold of [it], because the oxen had stumbled. {Then the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Uzza, and God struck him down there because of the indiscretion, and he died there beside the ark of God.

And when they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzza reached out his hand to hold the ark because the cattle had stumbled. And Yahweh {was angry} with Uzza, and he struck him down because he reached his hand upon the ark. And he died there before God.

Again Yahweh [was] angry with Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah."

because of the sins of Jeroboam that he had committed and that he had caused Israel to commit [and] because of his anger [with] which he had provoked Yahweh the God of Israel.

"Because I exalted you from the dust and I made you a leader over my people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and you caused my people Israel to sin, to provoke me with their sins, I am now [about to] consume Baasha and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

'Look, I [am] bringing disaster on you, and I will sweep away after you. I will cut off for Ahab {every male} in Israel, bond or free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, {because you made me angry} and have caused Israel to sin.'

I will give up the remainder of my inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become as prey and as spoil for all their enemies, because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors came out from Egypt up to this day.'"

"I let myself be sought by [those who] did not ask; I let myself be found by [those who] did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am; here I am!' to a nation [that] did not call on my name; I spread out my hands all day to a stubborn people, those who walk after their thoughts [in] the way [that is] not good, the people {who provoke} me to anger continually to my face, slaughtering for sacrifices in the garden, and making smoke offerings on bricks,read more.
{who sit} in graves and spend the night in {secret places}, {who eat} the flesh of swine with a fragment of impurity [in] their vessels, {who say}, "{Keep to yourself}! You must not come near me, for I am [too] holy for you!" These [are] a smoke in my {nostrils}, a fire burning all day.

For the people of Israel and the people of Judah were doing only evil in my eyes from their youth, for the people of Israel [were] only provoking me to anger by the work of their hands," {declares} Yahweh. "For this city has been for me [a cause] of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even until this day, [so I will] remove it from my {sight}, because of all the evil of the people of Israel and the people of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger--they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.read more.
And they have turned to me [their] backs and not [their] faces, though {I have taught them over and over again}, but they [were] not listening to accept discipline.

And Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, had repeatedly and persistently sent to them by the hand of his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they were mocking the messengers of God and despising his words and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people until there was no remedy.

And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he took (because he took a Cushite wife);

" 'You will not afflict any widow or orphan. If you indeed afflict him, yes, if he cries out at all to me, I will certainly hear his cry of distress. And {I will become angry}, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will be widows and your children orphans.

and truth is missing, and he who turns aside from evil [is] plundered. And Yahweh saw, and it was displeasing in his eyes that there was no justice And he saw that there was no man, and he was appalled that there was no one who intercedes, so his arm came to assist him, and his righteousness {was what} sustained him. And he put on righteousness like breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head, and he put on garments of vengeance [for] clothing, and he wrapped [himself in] zeal as [in a] robe.read more.
According to deeds, so he will repay; wrath to his enemies, requital to those who are his {enemies}. He will repay requital to the coastlands.

And he said to me, "Have you seen, son of man? {Was it too small a thing} for the house of Judah {to do} the detestable things that they did here? For they filled up the land [with] violence, and {they provoked me to anger again}, and look! They [are] putting the branch to their nose.

Ephraim has caused bitter provocation, and his Lord will {hold him responsible for his crimes} and pay back to him his insults.

And it happened, the people were like those who {complain of hardship} {in the hearing} of Yahweh, and Yahweh {became angry}, and the fire of Yahweh burned among them, and it consumed the edge of the camp.

And Moses said to Yahweh, "Please, Lord, I [am] not a man of words, {neither recently nor in the past nor since your speaking} to your servant, because I [am] heavy of mouth and of tongue." And Yahweh said to him, "Who gave a mouth to humankind, or who makes mute or deaf or sighted or blind? [Is it] not I, Yahweh? So then go, and I myself will be with your mouth, and I will teach you what you must speak."read more.
And he said, "Please, Lord, do send {anyone else whom you wish to send}." {And Yahweh was angry with} Moses and said, "[Is there] not Aaron your brother the Levite? I know that he certainly can speak, and also there he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.

The riff-raff that [were] in their midst {had a strong desire}; and the {Israelites} turned back and also wept, and they said, "Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumber, melon, leek, the onions, and the garlic. But now {our strength is dried up}; there is nothing whatsoever except {for the manna before us}."read more.
Now the manna [was] like coriander seed, and its outward appearance was like that of bdellium-gum. The people went about and gathered [it], and they ground [it] with mills or crushed [it] with mortar. Then they boiled [it] in a pot and made it [into] bread-cakes; and it tasted like olive oil cakes. When the dew came down on the camp [at] night, the manna came down [with] it. Moses heard the people weeping according to their clans, each at the doorway of their tents. Then {Yahweh became very angry}, and in the eyes of Moses it was bad.

"When you have had children and {grandchildren} and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image [of] the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, [thus] provoking him to anger, I call to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you [are] crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; {you will not live long on it}, but you will be completely destroyed.

And you prostituted with the {Egyptians}, your neighbors {who were sexually aroused}, and you increased your fornication to provoke me.

And I looked, and indeed you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you [had] made for yourselves an image of a calf [of] cast metal; you [had] turned quickly from the way that Yahweh had commanded [for] you. And I took hold of the two tablets, and I threw them out {of} my two hands and smashed them before your eyes. And [then] I lay prostrate {before} Yahweh, as earlier, forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food and I did not drink water because of all your sins that you committed, by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh [and so] provoking him.read more.
For {I was in dread} from [being in] the presence of the anger and the wrath [with] which Yahweh was angry with you [so as] to destroy you, but Yahweh listened to me also {at that time}.

They abandoned Yahweh the God of their ancestors, who brought them out from the land of Egypt. They {followed} other gods from the gods of the people who [were] around them; and they bowed down to them, and they provoked the anger of Yahweh. They abandoned Yahweh, and they served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

And the {Israelites} lived in the midst of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And they took their daughters as wives for themselves, and they gave their daughters to their sons, and they served their gods. The {Israelites} did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They forgot Yahweh their God, and they served the Baals and the Asheroth.read more.
And {the anger of Yahweh was kindled} against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim, the king of Aram Naharaim; and the {Israelites} served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.

But you did more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten idols to provoke me, but me you have {completely disregarded}.

because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah his son which they committed and which they caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh the God of Israel with their idols.

He served Baal and bowed down to him; and he provoked Yahweh the God of Israel according to all that his father did.

They burned incense there on all the high places, like the nations which Yahweh deported before them, and they did evil things to provoke Yahweh.

because they have abandoned me and they have burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all of the works of their hands. My wrath shall be kindled against this place and not be quenched.'"

There was not a king like him before him, who turned to Yahweh with all of his heart and with all of his soul and with all of his might according to the law of Moses, nor did one arise like him afterwards. However, Yahweh did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger which was kindled against Judah because of all of the provocations [with] which Manasseh had provoked him. Yahweh had said, "Even Judah I will remove from my face, as I have removed Israel; I will reject this city that I have chosen, even Jerusalem and the house [of] which I said, 'My name shall be there'!"

And {in every city} of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and he provoked Yahweh, the God of his ancestors, to anger.

For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and made him jealous with their images. God heard and he was very angry and rejected Israel utterly.

They also attached themselves to Baal of Peor, and they ate sacrifices offered to [the] dead. Thus they provoked to anger by their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.

[Do] you not see what they [are] doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children [are] gathering wood, and the fathers [are] kindling the fire, and the women [are] kneading dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out libations to other gods for the sake of provoking me to anger. [Are] they provoking me to anger? " {declares} Yahweh, "[Is it] not themselves [they hurt], for the sake of the shame of their faces?"

Look, the sound of the cry for help of the daughter of my people from a distant land, 'Is Yahweh not in Zion? Is her king not in her?' Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with idols of a foreign land?"

and you must not go after other gods to serve them, and to bow in worship to them, and you must not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, then I will not do something bad to you.' 'Yet you have not listened to me,' {declares} Yahweh, 'so that you have provoked me to anger with the work of your hands for your own harm.'

{because of} their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, [neither] they, you, or your ancestors.

And I brought them to the land that {I swore} to give to them, and they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and they offered their sacrifices, and they presented there the provocation of their offering, and they gave there their fragrant incense offering, and they poured out their libations there.

They made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, they practiced divination and read omens, and they sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him.

He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He increased the doing of evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him.

And he himself burned his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom. And he practiced sorcery and divination, and he engaged in witchcraft and dealt with mediums and spiritists. And he did much evil in the eyes of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.