44 Bible Verses about Provoking God

Never forget how you made Jehovah your God angry in the desert. You rebelled against Jehovah from the day you left Egypt until you came here. Even at Mount Horeb you made Jehovah so angry that he wanted to destroy you.

They went as far as the Eshcol Valley. They saw the land. But then they discouraged the rest of the Israelites from entering the land Jehovah had given them. That day Jehovah became angry and swore this oath: None of the people twenty years old or older, who came from Egypt, will see the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath. This is because they did not wholeheartedly follow me.read more.
Only Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun will get to see the land. This is because they wholeheartedly followed Jehovah. Jehovah's anger blazed against the Israelites. Therefore he made them wander in the desert for forty years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in Jehovah's presence was gone.

I know that after I die you will become thoroughly corrupt and turn from the way I have commanded you to live. In the days to come disasters will happen to you because you will make Jehovah furious by doing what he considers evil.

The children of Israel committed a trespass in the devoted things: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel.

As they came to the threshing place of Nacon, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out and took hold of the Ark of the Covenant. At once Jehovah God became angry with Uzzah. He killed him because of his irreverence. Uzzah died there beside the Ark of the Covenant.

When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark, because the bulls stumbled. Jehovah's anger burned against Uzzah. He struck him down because he had put his hand on the Ark. So he died there before God.

Jehovah became angry at Israel again. He provoked David to turn against Israel. He said: Go count the people of Israel and Judah.

This happened because Jeroboam aroused the anger of Jehovah, the God of Israel, by the sins he committed and that he caused Israel to commit.

I lifted you out of the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. You have gone the way of Jeroboam. You made my people Israel do evil, moving me to wrath by their sins. Truly, I will take away the family of Baasha. I will make your family like the family of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

Jehovah says to you: I will bring disaster on you. I will do away with you and get rid of every male in your family, young and old alike. Your family will become like the family of King Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the family of King Baasha son of Ahijah. This is because you have stirred up my anger by leading Israel into sin.

I will discard the rest of my heritage. I will give them into the hands of their enemies. They will take their property and their goods for themselves. Because they have done evil in my eyes. They moved me to anger from the day their fathers came out of Egypt till this day.'

I permitted myself to be sought by those who did not ask for me. Those who did not seek me found me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said: 'Here I am, here I am.' All day long I held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations (thoughts), a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick.read more.
They sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil. They eat the flesh of pigs. Their pots are full of unclean meat. They say: 'Keep away! Do not come near me, for I am too sacred for you! Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.'

Ever since they were young, the people of Israel and Judah have done what I consider evil. The people of Israel have made me furious by what they have done,' says Jehovah. The people in this city have made me so angry and furious from the day they built it to this day. So now I must remove this city from my presence. The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalemread more.
have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn.

Jehovah the God of their ancestors repeatedly sent messages through his prophets because he wanted to spare his people and his dwelling place. They mocked God's messengers. They despised his words, and made fun of his prophets until Jehovah became angry with his people. He could no longer heal them.

Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he was married to a Cushite woman from Sudan.

Do not mistreat any widow or orphan. If you do, I, Jehovah, will answer them when they cry out to me for help, and I will become angry and kill you in war. Your wives will become widows, and your children will be fatherless.

Truth is missing. Those who turn away from evil become victims. Jehovah sees it, and what he saw displeased him because there is no justice. He sees that there is no one to help. He is astounded that there is no one to intercede. So he saves him with his own power. His righteousness supports him. He puts on righteousness like a coat of armor and a helmet of salvation on his head. He wears clothes of vengeance. He wraps himself with zeal as a coat.read more.
He will pay them back according to their deeds. He will pay back his opponents with wrath and punish his enemies. He will pay back the people who live on the coastlands.

Jehovah said to me: Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even angrier. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible by thrusting the shoot to my nose! (an obsene reference or jesture to Jehovah)

The people of Ephraim made Jehovah bitter. He will hold them guilty of murder. Jehovah will pay them back for their insults.

The people complained out loud to Jehovah about their troubles. Jehovah heard them and he became angry. Fire from Jehovah burned among them. It destroyed some people on the outskirts of the camp.

Moses said: O Jehovah I am not a man of words. I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant. Talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue. Jehovah said to him: Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth. I will teach you what you are to say.read more.
But Moses said: Please, Jehovah, send the message by whomever you will. Then the anger of Jehovah burned against Moses, and He said: Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. He is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for other kinds of food. Even the Israelites cried again and said: If only we had meat to eat! Remember all the free fish we ate in Egypt and the cucumbers, watermelons, leeks, onions, and garlic we had? Now we have lost our appetite! Everywhere we look there is nothing but manna!read more.
Manna was small like coriander seeds and looked like resin. The people would gather it and then grind it in a hand mill or crush it in a mortar. They would cook it in a pot or make round loaves of bread out of it. It tasted like rich sweet pastry made with oil. When dew fell on the camp at night, manna fell with it. Moses heard people from every family cry at the entrance to their tents. Jehovah became very angry. Moses did not like it either.

When you have children, and grandchildren, and you have remained in the land a long time do not corrupt yourselves. If you make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and do evil in the sight of Jehovah your God, you will provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day that you will soon utterly perish from off the land you possess the other side of the Jordan. You will not prolong your days upon it, but will be destroyed.

You let your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.

I saw that you had indeed sinned against Jehovah your God. You made yourselves an idol, cast in the shape of a calf. You turned aside quickly from the way Jehovah had commanded you. I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. I fell down before Jehovah. Like the first, forty days and nights I did not eat or drink. This was because of all your sin you committed in doing what was evil in the sight of Jehovah to provoke Him to anger.read more.
I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure from Jehovah. For he was wrathful against you to the point of destroying you! But Jehovah listened to me that time also.

They forsook Jehovah God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them. They bowed to them and provoked Jehovah to anger. They forsook Jehovah and served Baal and Ashtaroth.

The people of Israel settled down among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. They intermarried with them and worshiped their gods. The people of Israel forgot Jehovah their God. They sinned against him and worshiped the idols of Baal and Asherah.read more.
Jehovah became angry at Israel and let King Cushan Rishathaim of Mesopotamia conquer them. They were subject to him for eight years.

You have committed far greater sins than those who ruled before you. You have rejected me and have aroused my anger by making idols and metal images to worship.

This happened because of the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, and because of all the sins they led Israel to commit. It aroused the anger of Jehovah the God of Israel.

He worshiped and served Baal. Like his father before him, he aroused the anger of Jehovah, the God of Israel.

They burned their offerings in all the high places, as those nations did whom Jehovah sent away from them. They did evil things, moving Jehovah to anger.

I will do this because they abandoned me. They sacrificed to other gods in order to make me furious. Therefore, my burning anger against this place will never be extinguished.'

Never before had there been a king like him. He turned to Jehovah with all his heart and his entire mind and all his power. As the Law of Moses says: and after him there was no king like him. Still the heat of Jehovah's anger was not turned back from Judah. This is because of all Manasseh had done in moving him to anger. Jehovah said: I will send Judah away from before my face, as I have sent Israel. I will have nothing more to do with this town. It is Jerusalem my town. And the holy house of which I said: 'My name will be there.'

And in each city of Judah, he made places of worship to sacrifice to other gods. He angered Jehovah the God of his ancestors.

They provoked him to anger (indignation) because of their illegal worship sites. They made him furious because they worshiped idols. When God heard, he became furious. He greatly abhorred Israel.

They joined in worshiping the god Baal while they were at Peor. They ate what was sacrificed to the dead. They infuriated God by what they did, and a plague broke out among them.

Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire. The women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite me. Do they spite me? Asks Jehovah. Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?

Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: Is Jehovah not in Zion? Is her King not within her? Why have they provoked me with their graven images, with foreign idols?

Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them. Do not make me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. Then I will not harm you. You have not listened to me,' declares Jehovah. 'You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. You have brought harm upon yourselves.'

This is because their people had done evil and had made me angry. They offered sacrifices to other gods and served gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors ever worshiped.

I brought them to the land I had promised to give them. When they saw the high hills and green trees, they offered sacrifices at all of them. They made me angry by the sacrifices they burned and by the wine they brought as offerings.

They caused their sons and their daughters to go through the fire to be sacrificed. They made use of secret arts and unnatural powers, and gave themselves up to doing evil in the eyes of Jehovah, till they provoked him to anger.

He made his own son pass through fire. He burned him as an offering to Molech. He practiced reading the future; gave positions to those who had control of spirits and to wonder-workers. He did much evil in the eyes of Jehovah and provoked him to anger.

He burned his son as a sacrifice in the valley of Ben Hinnom, he consulted fortunetellers, and he cast evil spells. He also practiced witchcraft, and appointed royal mediums and psychics. He did many things that made Jehovah furious.