4 Bible Verses about Tact

The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?" And they argued with him violently. So he said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?" And they argued with him violently. So he said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

For although I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law-though I myself am not under the law-to win those under the law. To those who are outside the law, like one outside the law-not being outside God's law, but under the law of Christ-to win those outside the law. read more.
To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

He took a team of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the land of Israel by messengers who said, “This is what will be done to the ox of anyone who doesn’t march behind Saul and Samuel.” As a result, the terror of the Lord fell on the people, and they went out united.

But some wicked men said, “How can this guy save us?” They despised him and did not bring him a gift, but Saul said nothing.

Afterwards, the people said to Samuel, "Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Give us those men so we can kill them!" But Saul ordered, "No one will be executed this day, for today the Lord has provided deliverance in Israel." Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let's go to Gilgal, so we can renew the kingship there." read more.
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there in the Lord's presence they made Saul king. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings in the Lord's presence, and Saul and all the men of Israel greatly rejoiced.

For although I am free from all people, I have made myself a slave to all, in order to win more people. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win Jews; to those under the law, like one under the law-though I myself am not under the law-to win those under the law. To those who are outside the law, like one outside the law-not being outside God's law, but under the law of Christ-to win those outside the law. read more.
To the weak I became weak, in order to win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.

For if I want to boast, I will not be a fool, because I will be telling the truth. But I will spare you, so that no one can credit me with something beyond what he sees in me or hears from me,

We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: during a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, read more.
they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God's will. So we urged Titus that, just as he had begun, so he should also complete this grace to you. Now as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us-excel also in this grace. I am not saying this as a command. Rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.

Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is unnecessary for me to write to you. For I know your eagerness, and I brag about you to the Macedonians: "Achaia has been prepared since last year," and your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I sent the brothers so our boasting about you in the matter would not prove empty, and so you would be prepared just as I said. read more.
For if any Macedonians should come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be embarrassed in that situation. Therefore I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift you promised, so that it will be ready as a gift and not an extortion.

Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers and to have them raise their voices with joy accompanied by musical instruments-harps, lyres, and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berechiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah. With them were their relatives second in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. read more.
The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to the Sheminith. Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music because he was skillful. Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

a wise woman called out from the city, "Listen! Listen! Please tell Joab to come here and let me speak with him." When he had come near her, the woman asked, "Are you Joab?" "I am," he replied. "Listen to the words of your servant," she said to him. He answered, "I'm listening." She said, "In the past they used to say, 'Seek counsel in Abel,' and that's how they settled [disputes]. read more.
I am a peaceful person, one of the faithful in Israel, but you're trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the Lord's inheritance?" Joab protested: "Never! I do not want to destroy! That is not [my] intention. There is a man named Sheba son of Bichri, from the hill country of Ephraim, who has rebelled against King David. Deliver this one man, and I will withdraw from the city." The woman replied to Joab, "All right. His head will be thrown over the wall to you." The woman went to all the people with her wise counsel, and they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. So he blew the ram's horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his own tent. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.

Abigail hurried, taking 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys. Then she said to her male servants, "Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal. As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she saw David and his men coming toward her and met them. read more.
David had just said, "I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good. May God punish me, and even more if I let any of his men [survive] until morning." When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and fell with her face to the ground in front of David. She fell at his feet and said, "The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant. My lord should pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name is Nabal, and stupidity is all he knows. I, your servant, didn't see my lord's young men whom you sent. Now my lord, as surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, it is the Lord who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand. May your enemies and those who want trouble for my lord be like Nabal. Accept this gift your servant has brought to my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. Please forgive your servant's offense, for the Lord is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights the Lord's battles. Throughout your life, may evil not be found in you. "When someone pursues you and attempts to take your life, my lord's life will be tucked safely in the place where the Lord your God protects the living. However, He will fling away your enemies' lives like [stones] from a sling. When the Lord does for my lord all the good He promised and appoints you ruler over Israel, there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord's revenge. And when the Lord does good things for my lord, may you remember [me] your servant." Then David said to Abigail, "Praise to the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today! Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn't have had any men left by morning light." Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, "Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request." Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, feasting like a king. Nabal was in a good mood and very drunk, so she didn't say anything to him until morning light. In the morning when Nabal sobered up, his wife told him about these events. Then he had a seizure and became paralyzed.

David heard [about it] later and said: "I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the Lord concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner. May it hang over Joab's head and his father's whole house, and may the house of Joab never be without someone who has an infection or leprosy or a man who can only work a spindle or someone who falls by the sword or starves." Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon. read more.
David then ordered Joab and all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn over Abner." And King David walked behind the funeral procession. When they buried Abner in Hebron, the king wept aloud at Abner's tomb. All the people wept, and the king sang a lament for Abner: Should Abner die as a fool dies? Your hands were not bound, your feet not placed in bronze [shackles]. You fell like one who falls victim to criminals. And all the people wept over him even more. Then they came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day, but David took an oath: "May God punish me and do so severely if I taste bread or anything else before sunset!" All the people took note of this, and it pleased them. In fact, everything the king did pleased them. On that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the killing of Abner son of Ner.

so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that [comes] through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has actually resulted in the advancement of the gospel, read more.
so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is for Christ. Most of the brothers in the Lord have gained confidence from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the message fearlessly. Some, to be sure, preach Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of good will. These do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the others proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely, seeking to cause [me] trouble in my imprisonment. What does it matter? Just that in every way, whether out of false motives or true, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice because I know this will lead to my deliverance through your prayers and help from the Spirit of Jesus Christ. My eager expectation and hope is that I will not be ashamed about anything, but that now as always, with all boldness, Christ will be highly honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For me, living is Christ and dying is gain. Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don't know which one I should choose.

Joab son of Zeruiah observed that the king's mind was on Absalom. So Joab sent someone to Tekoa to bring a clever woman from there. He told her, "Pretend to be in mourning: dress in mourning clothes and don't put on any oil. Act like a woman who has been mourning for the dead for a long time. Go to the king and speak these words to him." Then Joab told her exactly what to say. read more.
When the woman from Tekoa came to the king, she fell with her face to the ground in homage and said, "Help me, my king!" "What's the matter?" the king asked her. "To tell the truth, I am a widow; my husband died," she said. "Your servant had two sons. They were fighting in the field with no one to separate them, and one struck the other and killed him. Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant and said, 'Hand over the one who killed his brother so we may put him to death for the life of the brother he murdered. We will destroy the heir!' They would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband's name or posterity on earth." The king told the woman, "Go home. I will issue a command on your behalf." Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, "My lord the king, may any blame be on me and my father's house, and may the king and his throne be innocent." "Whoever speaks to you," the king said, "bring him to me. He will not trouble you again!" She replied, "Please, may the king invoke the Lord your God, so that the avenger of blood will not increase the loss, and they will not eliminate my son!" "As the Lord lives," he vowed, "not a hair of your son will fall to the ground." Then the woman said, "Please, may your servant speak a word to my lord the king?" "Speak," he replied. The woman asked, "Why have you devised something similar against the people of God? When the king spoke as he did about this matter, he has pronounced his own guilt. The king has not brought back his own banished one. For we will certainly die and be like water poured out on the ground, which can't be recovered. But God would not take away a life; He would devise plans so that the one banished from Him does not remain banished. "Now therefore, I've come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought: I must speak to the king. Perhaps the king will grant his servant's request. The king will surely listen in order to rescue his servant from the hand of this man who would eliminate both me and my son from God's inheritance. Your servant thought: May the word of my lord the king bring relief, for my lord the king is able to discern the good and the bad like the Angel of God. May the Lord your God be with you." Then the king answered the woman, "I'm going to ask you something; don't conceal it from me!" "Let my lord the king speak," the woman replied. The king asked, "Did Joab put you up to all this?" The woman answered. "As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or left from all my lord the king says. Yes, your servant Joab is the one who gave orders to me; he told your servant exactly what to say. Joab your servant has done this to address the issue indirectly, but my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of the Angel of God, knowing everything on earth." Then the king said to Joab, "I hereby grant this request. Go, bring back the young man Absalom." Joab fell with his face to the ground in homage and praised the king. "Today," Joab said, "your servant knows I have found favor with you, my lord the king, because the king has granted the request of your servant."

The king continued, "Bring me a sword." So they brought the sword to the king. Solomon said, "Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. "My lord, give her the living baby," she said, "but please don't have him killed!" But the other one said, "He will not be mine or yours. Cut [him in two]!" read more.
The king responded, "Give the living baby to the first woman, and don't kill him. She is his mother." All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they stood in awe of the king because they saw that God's wisdom was in him to carry out justice.

When they heard it, they glorified God and said, "You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law. But they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, by telling them not to circumcise their children or to walk in our customs. So what is to be done? They will certainly hear that you've come. read more.
Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have obligated themselves with a vow. Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law. With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality."

However, when the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, "Men of Ephesus! What man is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess. read more.
So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you want something else, it must be decided in a legal assembly. In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disorderly gathering." After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

David consulted with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands. Then he said to the whole assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if this is from the Lord our God, let us spread out and send the message to the rest of our relatives in all the districts of Israel, including the priests and Levites in their cities with pasturelands, that they should gather together with us. Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Him in Saul's days." read more.
Since the proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to do it.

When Paul realized that one part of them were Sadducees and the other part were Pharisees, he cried out in the Sanhedrin, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees! I am being judged because of the hope of the resurrection of the dead!" When he said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, and no angel or spirit, but the Pharisees affirm them all. read more.
The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party got up and argued vehemently: "We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?" When the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul might be torn apart by them and ordered the troops to go down, rescue him from them, and bring him into the barracks.

The men of Ephraim said to him, "Why have you done this to us, not calling us when you went to fight against the Midianites?" And they argued with him violently. So he said to them, "What have I done now compared to you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God handed over to you Oreb and Zeeb, the two princes of Midian. What was I able to do compared to you?" When he said this, their anger against him subsided.

Paul wanted Timothy to go with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, since they all knew that his father was a Greek.

Esther did not reveal her ethnic background or her birthplace, because Mordecai had ordered her not to.

Esther answered, “This is my petition and my request:

If the king approves of me and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and perform my request, may the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them. Tomorrow I will do what the king has asked.”