38 Bible Verses about Rebellion, Of Israel

How frequently did they go against him in the waste land, and give him cause for grief in the dry places!

And not be like their fathers, a stiff-necked and uncontrolled generation; a generation whose heart was hard, whose spirit was not true to God.

For I have knowledge of your hard and uncontrolled hearts: even now, while I am still living, you will not be ruled by the Lord; how much less after my death?

He sent black night and made it dark; and they did not go against his word.

Our fathers did not give thought to your wonders in Egypt; they did not keep in memory the great number of your mercies, but gave you cause for wrath at the sea, even at the Red Sea.

Because they went against the words of God, and gave no thought to the laws of the Most High:

But they went against him, causing grief to his holy spirit: so he was turned against them, and made war on them.

But they would not be controlled by me, and did not give ear to me; they did not put away the disgusting things to which their eyes were turned, or give up the images of Egypt: then I said I would let loose my passion on them to give full effect to my wrath against them in the land of Egypt.

But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation;

But they and our fathers, in their pride, made their necks stiff, and gave no attention to your orders, And would not do them, and gave no thought to the wonders you had done among them; but made their necks stiff, and turning away from you, made a captain over themselves to take them back to their prison in Egypt: but you are a God of forgiveness, full of grace and pity, slow to wrath and great in mercy, and you did not give them up. Even when they had made for themselves an ox of metal, and said, This is your God who took you up out of Egypt, and had done so much to make you angry;read more.
Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go. And you gave your good spirit to be their teacher, and did not keep back your manna from their mouths, and gave them water when they had need of it. Truly, for forty years you were their support in the waste land, and they were in need of nothing; their clothing did not get old or their feet become tired. And you gave them kingdoms and peoples, making distribution to them in every part of the land: so they took for their heritage the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og, king of Bashan. And you made their children as great in number as the stars of heaven, and took them into the land, of which you had said to their fathers that they were to go in and take it for themselves. So the children went in and took the land, and you overcame before them the people of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them up into their hands, with their kings and the people of the land, so that they might do with them whatever it was their pleasure to do. And they took walled towns and a fat land, and became the owners of houses full of all good things, water-holes cut in the rock, vine-gardens and olive-gardens and a wealth of fruit-trees: so they had food enough and became fat, and had joy in the good you gave them. But they were hard-hearted, and went against your authority, turning their backs on your law, and putting to death your prophets, who gave witness against them with the purpose of turning them back again to you, and they did much to make you angry. And so you gave them up into the hands of their haters who were cruel to them: and in the time of their trouble, when they made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; and in your great mercy gave them saviours, who made them free from the hands of their haters. But when they had rest, they did evil again before you: so you gave them into the hands of their haters, who had rule over them: but when they came back and made their prayer to you, you gave ear to them from heaven; again and again, in your mercy, you gave them salvation; And gave witness against them so that you might make them come back again to your law: but their hearts were lifted up, and they gave no attention to your orders and went against your decisions (which, if a man keeps them, will be life to him), and turning their backs on you, made their necks stiff and did not give ear. Year after year you put up with them, and gave witness against them by your spirit through your prophets: still they did not give ear: and so you gave them up into the hands of the peoples of the lands. Even then, in your great mercy, you did not put an end to them completely, or give them up; for you are a God of grace and mercy.

Again and again he made them free; but their hearts were turned against his purpose, and they were overcome by their sins.

But going against the order of the Lord your God, you would not go up:

Keep well in mind how you made the Lord your God angry in the waste land; from the day when you went out of Egypt till you came to this place, you have gone against the orders of the Lord.

May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me; and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against me.

Sorrow to her who is uncontrolled and unclean, the cruel town!

Give ear, O heavens, and you, O earth, to the word which the Lord has said: I have taken care of my children till they became men, but their hearts have been turned away from me. Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me. O nation full of sin, a people weighted down with crime, a generation of evil-doers, false-hearted children: they have gone away from the Lord, they have no respect for the Holy One of Israel, their hearts are turned back from him.read more.
Why will you have more and more punishment? why keep on in your evil ways? Every head is tired and every heart is feeble.

But if your hearts are turned against me, I will send destruction on you by the sword; so the Lord has said.

Ho! uncontrolled children, says the Lord, who give effect to a purpose which is not mine, and who make an agreement, but not by my spirit, increasing their sin:

Truly you had no word of them, no knowledge of them; no news of them in the past had come to your ears; because I saw how false was your behaviour, and that your heart was turned against me from your earliest days.

All day my hands have been stretched out to an uncontrolled people, who go in an evil way, after the purposes of their hearts; A people who make me angry every day, making offerings in gardens, and burning perfumes on bricks.

All of them are turned away, going about with false stories; they are brass and iron: they are all workers of deceit.

Why will you put forward your cause against me? You have all done evil against me, says the Lord.

Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord.

Like keepers of a field they are against her on every side; because she has been fighting against me, says the Lord.

But the heart of this people is uncontrolled and turned away from me; they are broken loose and gone.

And they, if they give ear to you or if they do not give ear (for they are an uncontrolled people), will see that there has been a prophet among them. And you, son of man, have no fear of them or of their words, even if sharp thorns are round you and you are living among scorpions: have no fear of their words and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people. And you are to give them my words, if they give ear to you or if they do not: for they are uncontrolled.read more.
But you, son of man, give ear to what I say to you, and do not be uncontrolled like that uncontrolled people: let your mouth be open and take what I give you.

Like a diamond harder than rock I have made your brow: have no fear of them and do not be overcome by their looks, for they are an uncontrolled people.

Son of man, you are living among an uncontrolled people, who have eyes to see but see not, and ears for hearing but they do not give ear; for they are an uncontrolled people. And you, O son of man, by day, before their eyes, get ready the vessels of one who is taken away, and go away from your place to another place before their eyes: it may be that they will see, though they are an uncontrolled people.

Say now to this uncontrolled people, Are these things not clear to you? Say to them, See, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took its king and its rulers away with him to Babylon;

And make a comparison for this uncontrolled people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Put on the cooking-pot, put it on the fire and put water in it:

And say to the uncontrolled children of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: O you children of Israel, let it be enough for you, among the disgusting things which you have done,

Give ear to another story. A master of a house made a vine garden, and put a wall round it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and made a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country. And when the time for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the workmen, to get the fruit. And the workmen made an attack on his servants, giving blows to one, putting another to death, and stoning another.read more.
Again, he sent other servants more in number than the first: and they did the same to them. But after that he sent his son to them, saying, They will have respect for my son. But when the workmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death and take his heritage. And they took him and, driving him out of the vine-garden, put him to death. When, then, the lord of the vine-garden comes, what will he do to those workmen? They say to him, He will put those cruel men to a cruel death, and will let out the vine-garden to other workmen, who will give him the fruit when it is ready. Jesus says to them, Did you never see in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has been made the chief stone of the building: this was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes? For this reason I say to you, The kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. Any man falling on this stone will be broken, but he on whom it comes down will be crushed to dust.

And he gave them teaching in the form of stories. A man had a vine-garden planted, and put a wall about it, and made a place for crushing out the wine, and put up a tower, and let it out to field-workers, and went into another country. And when the time came, he sent a servant to get from the workmen some of the fruit of the garden. And they took him, and gave him blows, and sent him away with nothing.read more.
And again he sent to them another servant; and they gave him wounds on the head, and were very cruel to him. And he sent another; and they put him to death: and a number of others, whipping some, and putting some to death. He still had one, a dearly loved son: he sent him last to them, saying, They will have respect for my son. But those workmen said among themselves, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property; come, let us put him to death, and the heritage will be ours. And they took him and put him to death, pushing his body out of the garden. What then will the master of the garden do? He will come and put the workmen to death, and will give the garden into the hands of others. Have you not seen this which is in the Writings: The stone which the builders put on one side, the same was made the chief stone of the building: This was the Lord's doing, and it is a wonder in our eyes?

And he gave the people this story: A man made a vine-garden and gave the use of it to some field-workers and went into another country for a long time. And at the right time he sent a servant to the workers to get part of the fruit from the vines; but the workmen gave him blows and sent him away with nothing. And he sent another servant, and they gave blows to him in the same way, and put shame on him, and sent him away with nothing.read more.
And he sent a third, and they gave him wounds and put him out. And the lord of the garden said, What am I to do? I will send my dearly loved son; they may give respect to him. But when the workmen saw him, they said to one another, This is he who will one day be the owner of the property: let us put him to death and the heritage will be ours. And driving him out of the garden they put him to death. Now what will the lord do to these workmen? He will come and put them to destruction and give the garden to others. And when he said this, they said, May it not be so. But he, looking on them, said, Is it not in the Writings, The stone which the builders put on one side, the same has become the chief stone of the building? Everyone falling on that stone will be broken, but the man on whom the stone comes down will be crushed to dust.

And he made up this story for them: A certain man had a fig-tree in his garden, and he came to get fruit from it, and there was no fruit. And he said to the gardener, See, for three years I have been looking for fruit from this tree, and I have not had any: let it be cut down; why is it taking up space? And he said, Lord, let it be for this year, and I will have the earth turned up round it, and put animal waste on it, to make it fertile:read more.
And if, after that, it has fruit, it is well; if not, let it be cut down.

Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did.

For it is my desire, my brothers, that you may keep in mind how all our fathers were under the cloud, and they all went through the sea; And they all had baptism from Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And they all took the same holy food;read more.
And the same holy drink: for they all took of the water from the holy rock which came after them: and the rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not pleased: for they came to their end in the waste land. Now these things were for an example to us, so that our hearts might not go after evil things, as they did. Then do not go after false gods, as some of them did; as it is said in the holy Writings, After resting and feasting, the people got up to take their pleasure. Again, let us not give way to the desires of the flesh, as some of them did, of whom twenty-three thousand came to their end in one day. And let us not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and came to their death by snakes. And do not say evil things against the Lord, as some of them did, and destruction overtook them. Now these things were done as an example; and were put down in writing for our teaching, on whom the last days have come. So let him who seems to himself to be safe go in fear of a fall.

For he is our God; and we are the people to whom he gives food, and the sheep of his flock. Today, if you would only give ear to his voice! Let not your hearts be hard, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the waste land; When your fathers put me to the test and saw my power and my work.read more.
For forty years I was angry with this generation, and said, They are a people whose hearts are turned away from me, for they have no knowledge of my ways; And I made an oath in my wrath, that they might not come into my place of rest.