'Against' in the Bible

But the downfall of Ahaziah was ordained by God, in that he went to Joram (Jehoram). For when he arrived there he went out [as an ally] with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

But let no one enter the house (temple) of the Lord except the priests and the Levites who minister; they may enter, for they are holy. And let all the people carefully observe the law of the Lord.

Yet God sent prophets among them to bring them back to the Lord; these prophets testified against them, but they would not listen.

So they conspired against Zechariah and stoned him [to death] at the command of the king, in the courtyard of the house of the Lord.

Now it happened at the end of the year, that the army of Aram (Syria) went up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and killed all the leaders among the people and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

Though the army of the Arameans came with a small company of men, the Lord handed over a very large army into their hands, because Joash and Judah had abandoned (turned away from) the Lord, the God of their fathers. So the Arameans executed judgment against Joash.

When they left Joash (for they left him very ill), his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada the priest, and they murdered him on his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the City of David, but they did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.

The conspirators against Joash were Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

Now as to his sons and the many prophecies uttered against him and the rebuilding of the house of God, they are written in the commentary on the Book of Kings. Then his son Amaziah became king in his place.

So Amaziah dismissed the troops that came to him from Ephraim, to go home. So their anger was kindled and burned greatly against Judah, and they returned home in the heat of anger.

So the anger of the Lord burned against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you desired the gods of the people who did not save their own people from your hand?”

Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent men after him to Lachish and killed him there.

He went out and made war against the Philistines, and broke through the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities near Ashdod and [elsewhere] among the Philistines.

God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and the Meunites.

Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.

But when Uzziah became strong, he became so proud [of himself and his accomplishments] that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful and sinned against the Lord his God, for he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

He also fought with the king of the Ammonites and prevailed over them. As a result the Ammonites gave him during that year a hundred talents of silver and ten thousand measures each of wheat and of barley. The Ammonites also paid him that much in the second year and third year.

And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as male and female slaves for yourselves. But are you yourselves not guilty of transgressions against the Lord your God?

Then some of the heads of the Ephraimites (Israel)—Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai—took a stand against those who were returning from the battle,

and said to them, “You must not bring the captives in here; for we are guilty before the Lord already, and what you intend to do will add more to our sins and our guilt. For our guilt is so great that His burning anger is against Israel.”

For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for Ahaz had allowed unrestrained and undisciplined behavior in Judah and had been very unfaithful to the Lord.

So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. They also slaughtered the rams and sprinkled the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and sprinkled the blood on the altar.

They stood at their accustomed stations, in accordance with the Law of Moses, the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood [which they received] from the hand of the Levites [on the altar].

After these things and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah and besieged the fortified cities, intending to take them for himself.

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to go to war against Jerusalem,

And his servants said even more against the Lord God and against His servant Hezekiah.

The Assyrian king also wrote letters insulting and taunting the Lord God of Israel, and speaking against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other lands have not rescued their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not rescue His people from my hand.”

So the Lord brought the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria against them, and they captured Manasseh with hooks [through his nose or cheeks] and bound him with bronze [chains] and took him to Babylon.

And his servants conspired against him and killed him in his own house (palace).

But the people of the land struck down all those who had conspired against King Amon, and they made his son Josiah king in his place.

“Because your heart was gentle and penitent and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and its inhabitants, and humbled yourself before Me, and tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” declares the Lord.

After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt came up to make war at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him.

But Neco sent messengers to Josiah, saying, “What business do we have with each other, O King of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war, and God has ordered me to hurry. Stop for your own sake from interfering with God who is with me, so that He will not destroy you.”

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze [chains] to take him to Babylon.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the repulsive acts which he committed, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.

He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel.

But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy or healing.

Therefore He brought the king of the Chaldeans against them, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand.

and hired advisers [to work] against them to frustrate their plans during the entire time that Cyrus king of Persia reigned, [and this lasted] even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Now in the reign of Ahasuerus (Xerxes), in the beginning of his reign, the Samaritans wrote [to him] an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem [who had returned from exile].

Rehum the [Persian] commander [of the Samaritans] and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows—

I have issued a command and a search has been made, and it has been discovered that this city [Jerusalem] in earlier times has revolted against the kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been perpetrated in it.

Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and with enthusiasm for the house of the God of heaven, so that there will not be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons.

For I was ashamed to request troops and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is favorable toward all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who abandon (turn away from) Him.”

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You, day and night, on behalf of Your servants, the sons (descendants) of Israel (Jacob), confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have committed against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.

We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and regarded us with contempt and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

They all conspired together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to cause a disturbance in it.

But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night.

Now there was a great outcry of the [poorer] people and their wives against their Jewish brothers [to whom they were deeply in debt].

I thought it over and then challenged the nobles and the rulers. I said to them, “You are exacting usury (excessive interest) from your own brother (relative).” So I held a great assembly to confront them.

Then I realized that God had not sent him, but he spoke this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

“Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh,Against all his servants and all the people of his land;For You knew that they behaved arrogantly toward them (the Israelites),And You made a name for Yourself, as it is to this day.

“Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You,And cast Your law behind their backsAnd killed Your prophets who warned themTo return to You;And they committed great [and contemptible] blasphemies.

And You admonished them and warned them to turn them back to Your law.Yet they acted presumptuously and arrogantly and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances,Which by keeping, a man will live.But they turned a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

Did not Solomon king of Israel sin [greatly against God] regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin [by turning to other gods and so, judged by God, he lost his kingdom].

Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign (pagan) women?”

After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

“Go, gather all the Jews that are present in Susa, and observe a fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids also will fast in the same way. Then I will go in to [see] the king [without being summoned], which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

Haman went away that day joyful and in good spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate refusing to stand up or show fear before him, he was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Then Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise counselors and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall in status, is of Jewish heritage, you will not overcome him, but will certainly fall before him.”

Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

Then Esther spoke again to the king and fell down at his feet and wept and implored him to avert the evil plot of Haman the Agagite and his plan which he had devised against the Jews [because the decree to annihilate the Jews was still in effect].

For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, [to find the right time] to disturb and destroy them.

But when it came before the king, he commanded in writing that Haman’s wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews was to return on his own head, and that he and his sons should [endure what he planned for the Jews and] be hanged on the gallows.

The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God]. And still he maintains and holds tightly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without cause.”

“Oh, that my grief could actually be weighedAnd placed in the balances together with my tragedy [to see if my grief is the grief of a coward]!

Because the arrows of the Almighty are within me,My spirit drinks their poison;The terrors of God are arrayed against me.

“If your children have sinned against Him,Then He has handed them over to the power of their transgression and punished them.

“God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;Who has [ever] defied or challenged Him and remained unharmed?

‘You renew Your witnesses against meAnd increase Your indignation and anger toward me;Hardship after hardship is with me [attacking me time after time].

“But oh, that God would speak,And open His lips [to speak] against you,

“If God passes by or arrests,Or calls an assembly [of judgment], who can restrain Him?[If He is against a man, who can call Him to account for it?]

“Who will argue and contend with me?For then I would be silent and die.

“For You write bitter things against me [in Your indictment]And make me inherit and suffer for the iniquities of my youth.

“You prevail forever against him and overpower him, and he passes on;You change his appearance and send him away [from the presence of the living].

“Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;Yes, your own lips testify against you.

That you should turn your spirit against GodAnd let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?

“Distress and anxiety terrify him,They overpower him like a king ready for battle.

“Because he has stretched out his hand against GodAnd behaves arrogantly against the Almighty,

Running and charging headlong against HimWith his ornamented and massive shield;

“I also could speak like you,If you were in my place;I could compose and join words together against youAnd shake my head at you.

“You have taken a firm hold on me and have shriveled me up,It has become a witness [against me];And my leanness [and infirmity] rises up [as evidence] against me,It testifies to my face [about my guilt].

“His wrath has torn me and hunted me down,He has gnashed at me with his teeth;My adversary sharpens His gaze and glares [with piercing eyes] at me.

“They have gaped at me with their mouths,With contempt they have struck me on the cheek;They massed themselves together [and conspired] against me.

“But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding,Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me].

“The upright will be [astonished and] appalled at this,And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless and polluted.

“These ten times you have insulted me;You are not ashamed to wrong me [and harden your hearts against me].

“If indeed you [braggarts] vaunt and magnify yourselves over meAnd prove my disgrace (humiliation) to me,

“He has also kindled His wrath [like a fire] against meAnd He considers and counts me as one of His adversaries.

“His troops come togetherAnd build up their way and siege works against meAnd camp around my tent.

“Even young children despise me;When I get up, they speak against me.

“All the men of my council hate me;Those I love have turned against me.

“The heavens will reveal his wickedness and guilt,And the earth will rise up against him.

‘Surely our adversaries are cut off and destroyed,And fire has consumed their abundance.’

“Would He contend against me with His great power?No, surely He would give attention to me.

“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;They do not want to know its waysNor stay in its paths.

“Far be it from me that I should admit you are right [in your accusations against me];Until I die, I will not remove my integrity from me.

“May my enemy be as the wicked,And he who rises up against me be as the unrighteous (unjust).