33 Bible Verses about Syncretism
Most Relevant Verses
You must respect Jehovah your God. Serve him and swear by his name! Do not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you. Jehovah your God is a totally demanding zealous God. He tolerates no rivals! The anger of Jehovah your God will burn against you. He will then destroy you from the face of the earth.
Honor Jehovah and serve him sincerely and in truth. Get rid of the gods that your ancestors used to worship in Mesopotamia and in Egypt, and serve only Jehovah. If you are not willing to serve him, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your ancestors worshiped in Mesopotamia or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living. As for my family and me, we will serve Jehovah.'
Elijah came near to all the people and said: How long will you balance (bounce back and forth) between two opinions? If Jehovah is God, then give worship to him. If Baal is, give worship to him. The people did not answer him.
Otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. They would commit spiritual immorality (fornication) with their gods and sacrifice to their gods. Someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice. You might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might commit spiritual immorality (fornication) with their gods and cause your sons also to commit spiritual immorality with their gods.
Jehovah your God will bring you into the land you are to possess. He will clear away many nations ahead of you. The nations he will clear: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, and the Canaanites, the Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations are larger and mightier than you. Jehovah your God will deliver them to you. You must crush them! Completely destroy them. You should make no covenant with them. Do not show them mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons.read more.
They will lead your young people away from me to serve other gods. So the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you and will destroy you suddenly. Deal with them in this way: Destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars. Cut down their idols and burn them with fire. You are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Jehovah your God has chosen you to be his own special people out of all the nations of the earth.
If you do not obey the covenant Jehovah your God commanded you to obey and if you serve and worship other gods, then in his anger he will punish you. Soon none of you will be left in this good land that he gave you.
Samuel told the entire nation of Israel: If you return to Jehovah with all your hearts you must get rid of the foreign gods you have, including the statues of the goddess Astarte. You must dedicate your lives to Jehovah and serve him only. Then he will rescue you from the Philistines.
This is because they have forsaken me. They have made this an alien place and have burned sacrifices in it to other gods. These are gods that neither they nor their forefathers nor the kings of Judah had ever known. They have filled this place with the blood of the blameless (innocent).' They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal. This is not something I commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter my mind (heart) (conscience).'
So to this day they go on in their old ways. They do not worship Jehovah. They do not keep his orders, his ways, or the law Jehovah gave to the children of Jacob. They are the ones he gave the name Israel. Jehovah made an agreement with them and gave them orders, saying: You are to have no other gods. You are not to worship them or be their servants or make them offerings. Jehovah took you out of the land of Egypt with his great power and his outstretched arm. He is your God, to whom you are to give worship and make offerings:read more.
You are to obey and do forever the law he put in writing for you. You are to have no other gods. You are to keep in memory the agreement I made with you. You are to have no other gods. You are to worship Jehovah your God. It is he who will give you salvation from the hands of all who are against you. But they paid no attention and they continued in their old way. So these nations worshiped Jehovah and they still served the images (idols) they had made. Their children and their children's children did the same. They do just as their fathers did to this very day.
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for fifty-five years. His mother's name was Hephzibah. He did evil in the eyes of Jehovah. He copied the disgusting ways of those nations Jehovah sent out before the children of Israel. He built the high places that Hezekiah his father destroyed. He made altars for Baal. Then he made an Asherah as Ahab, king of Israel, had done. Manasseh was a worshipper and servant of all the stars of heaven.read more.
He built heathen altars in the Temple of Jehovah. The same Temple that Jehovah spoke of when he said: In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the stars of heaven in the two outer courts of the Temple of Jehovah. 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 made an image of the goddess Asherah and set it in the Temple of Jehovah. This is the same Temple that Jehovah said to David and to Solomon his son: In this house, and in Jerusalem, the town which I have made mine out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever (for a very long time).
Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did what Jehovah considered evil by copying the disgusting things done by the nations that Jehovah dispossessed from before the Israelites. He rebuilt the illegal places of worship that his father Hezekiah had torn down. He set up altars dedicated to other gods such as the Baals. He erected a pole dedicated to the goddess Asherah as King Ahab of Israel had done. Manasseh, like Ahab, worshiped and served the entire army of heaven.read more.
He built altars in Jehovah's Temple, of which Jehovah said: My name will be in Jerusalem from generation to generation. He built altars for the entire army of heaven in the two courtyards of Jehovah's Temple. 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. Manasseh had a carved idol made. Then he set it up in God's Temple, where God had said to David and his son Solomon: I have chosen this temple and Jerusalem from all the tribes of Israel. I will put my name here from generation to generation.
He said: Go in and see the wicked abominations (abhorrences) that they are committing here. So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things. There were all the idols of the house of Israel. They were carved on the wall all around. Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel. Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan stood among them. Each man had his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense was rising.read more.
Then he said: Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say: 'Jehovah does not see us! Jehovah has forsaken the land!' He said: Yet you will see still greater abominations that they are committing. Then he brought me to the entrance of the gate of Jehovah's house toward the north; and I saw women sitting there weeping for Tammuz (the god). He said to me: Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these. So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.
Jehovah says: What bad thing (injustice) did your fathers find in me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless (lead astray) themselves.
When you come into the land that Jehovah your God gives you, do not follow the disgusting practices of the nations that are there. Do not sacrifice your children in the fires on your altars. Do not let your people practice divination or look for omens or use spells or charms. Do not allow them to consult the spirits of the dead.read more.
Jehovah your God hates people who do these disgusting things. That is why he is driving those nations out of the land as you advance. Be perfect (without blemish) with Jehovah your God.
They refused to obey his instructions. They did not keep the covenant he made with their ancestors. They disregarded his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves. They followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying Jehovah's command not to imitate them. They broke all the laws of Jehovah their God. They made two metal bull-calves to worship. They also made an image of the goddess Asherah. Also they worshiped the stars and served the god Baal. 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.
Jehovah, you have abandoned your people, the descendants of Jacob, because they are filled with Eastern influences. They practice witchcraft like the Philistines, and they make deals with foreigners.
I will use my power against Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will destroy followers of Baal in this place. I will remove the names of the pagan (idolatrous) priests along with my priests. I will remove those who bow down to worship the host of heaven on the housetops and those who bow down and swear to Jehovah and yet swear by Malcolm.
In one of the cities Jehovah your God is giving you, there may be a man or woman among you who is doing what Jehovah considers evil. This person may be disregarding the conditions of Jehovah's covenant. Some worship and bow down to other gods, the sun, the moon, or the whole army of heaven. I have forbidden this. If it is told you and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the thing certain that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,read more.
Bring that man or woman who has done this evil deed out to your gates. Stone the man or the woman to death. On the evidence and testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. The witnesses must throw the first stone to put him to death, and afterward all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
Then you are to break the jar in the sight of the men who accompany you. Say to them: 'Jehovah of Hosts says: Like this I will break this people and this city. It is just like one breaks a potter's vessel that cannot again be repaired. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place for burial.' This is how I will treat this place and its inhabitants,'declares Jehovah, 'I will make this city like Topheth.read more.
The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be defiled like Topheth. They burned sacrifices to the heavenly hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods on the rooftops of all of their houses.'
Plead with your mother (your nation), for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband. Let her put away her acts of adultery from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts! I will strip her naked and make her as in the day that she was born. I will make her as a wilderness, and make her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. I will show no mercy to her children for they are children of fornication.read more.
Their mother played the harlot. She that conceived them acted shamefully! For she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. Behold, I (Jehovah) will fence her way with thorns. I will build a wall against her that she will not find her path. She will follow after her lovers but she will not reach them. She will seek them, but will not find them! She will say: 'I will return to my first husband for it was better for me then.' She did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain at that time, and my new wine in the season. I will pluck away my wool and my flax that should have covered her nakedness. Now I will uncover her lewdness (obscene behavior) in the sight of her lovers, and none will deliver her out of my hands. I will also cause all her exaltation to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees. Of this she said: These are my loose woman's hire that my lovers have given me. I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will eat them. I will punish her for the days in which she burned incense to the Baals, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, said Jehovah.
Seeing what Paul did, the crowd lifted up their voice, saying in Lycaonian: The gods have come down to us, becoming like men. They called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter whose temple was there in the city, brought cattle and garlands to the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.
Paul waited for them at Athens. His spirit was irritated within him when he saw the city full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with Jews and devout persons. He went to the marketplace every day with those who would meet with him. The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. Some said: What is this babbler saying? Others: He seems to be advocating strange gods because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.read more.
They took hold of him and brought him to the Areopagus. They said, May we know what is this new teaching? You bring strange ideas to our ears. We want to know what these things mean. The Athenians and the strangers who lived there spent their time doing nothing else except talking about and listening to new ideas. Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus, and said: Men of Athens, in all things, I perceive that you are very religious. As I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: To An Unknown God. What you worship as unknown, this I will proclaim to you.
Some Jews went around driving out evil spirits saying: In the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches I command you to come out! And there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jew, and a chief priest, who did this. The evil spirit answered and said to them: Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?read more.
The man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, and overpowered them. He gave them such a beating that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Do not be carried away by varied (different) and strange teachings. It is good that the heart is established by grace and not by food. Those who are occupied by them are not benefited.
You cannot drink the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons. You cannot be partakers of the Jehovah's Table and of the table of demons. (Malachi 1:12)
Now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and poor fundamental things? Do you want to slave for them all over again? You observe days and months, seasons and years.
Let no man rob you of your prize by a self-abasement and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things that he has seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,
This is what Jehovah, Israel's King and Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts says: 'I AM THE FIRST AND I AM THE LAST-APART FROM ME THERE IS NO GOD!
Listen, Israel! JEHOVAH OUR GOD IS ONE GOD! You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with your entire mind and with all your strength.
YOU ARE MY WITNESSES, DECLARES JEHOVAH! I have chosen you as my servant so that you can know and believe in me and understand that I am the one who did this. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me. I ALONE AM JEHOVAH, AND THERE IS NO SAVIOR BESIDES ME. I have revealed it to you. I have saved you, and I have announced it to you. There was no foreign god among you. You are my witnesses that I am God, declares Jehovah.
Concerning the eating of food offered in sacrifice to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. There are those called gods in heaven or on earth. There are many gods and many lords. But to us there is but one God, the Father. All things come from him and we live for him. And there is one Lord Jesus Christ. All things were made through him and we were made through him.