'Chance' in the Bible

If by chance there are fifty upright men in the town, will you give the place to destruction and not have mercy on it because of the fifty upright men?

If by chance there are five less than fifty upright men, will you give up all the town to destruction because of these five? And he said, I will not give it to destruction if there are forty-five.

And again he said to him, By chance there may be forty there. And he said, I will not do it if there are forty.

And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten.

And the servant said, If by chance the woman will not come with me into this land, am I to take your son back again to the land from which you came?

If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing.

Or has taken a false oath about the loss of something which he has come across by chance; if a man has done any of these evil things,

Causing sin to come on him, then he will have to give back the thing he took by force or got by cruel acts, or the goods which were put in his care or the thing he came on by chance,

If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young:

When you get in the grain from your field, if some of the grain has been dropped by chance in the field, do not go back and get it, but let it be for the man from a strange land, the child without a father, and the widow: so that the blessing of the Lord your God may be on all the work of your hands.

If such a man, hearing the words of this oath, takes comfort in the thought that he will have peace even if he goes on in the pride of his heart, taking whatever chance may give him:

When three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow, and they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!”

And in the morning, when the sun is up, get up early and make a rush on the town; and when he and his people come out against you, do to them whatever you have a chance to do.

And taking up the mouth-bone of an ass newly dead, which he saw by chance on the earth, he put to death a thousand men with it.

And she goeth and cometh and gathereth in a field after the reapers, and her chance happeneth -- the portion of the field is Boaz's who is of the family of Elimelech.

And it was in my mind to give you the chance of taking it, with the approval of those seated here and of the responsible men of my people. If you are ready to do what it is right for a relation to do, then do it: but if you will not do it, say so to me now; for there is no one who has the right to do it but you, and after you myself. And he said, I will do it.

And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.

And when these signs come to you, see that you take the chance which is offered you; for God is with you.

And Jonathan said to David, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be witness; when I have had a chance of talking to my father, about this time tomorrow, if his feelings to David are good, will I not send and give you the news?

And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him.

Then the people of Israel answered the men of Judah and said, "I have {ten times as much} in the king, moreover in David I have more than you. Why did you treat me with contempt {by not giving me first chance} to bring back my king?" But the words of the men of Judah [were] fiercer than the word of the men of Israel.

Now by chance there was present a good-for-nothing person named Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he, sounding the horn, said, We have no part in David, or any interest in the son of Jesse: let every man go to his tent, O Israel.

And Solomon was looking for a chance to put Jeroboam to death; but he went in flight to Egypt, to Shishak, king of Egypt, and was in Egypt till the death of Solomon.

And in the middle of the day, Elijah made sport of them, saying, Give louder cries, for he is a god; he may be deep in thought, or he may have gone away for some purpose, or he may be on a journey, or by chance he is sleeping and has to be made awake.

And when the king went by, crying out to him he said, Your servant went out into the fight; and a man came out to me with another man and said, Keep this man: if by any chance he gets away, your life will be the price of his life, or you will have to give a talent of silver in payment.

And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them.

And the families were taken by the decision of the Lord for every door; the small family had the same chance as the great.

And the rulers of the people were living in Jerusalem: the rest of the people made selection, by the decision of chance, of one out of every ten to be living in Jerusalem, the holy town; the other nine to go to the other towns.

In those days, while Mordecai was seated at the king's doorway, two of the king's servants, Bigthan and Teresh, keepers of the door, being angry, were looking for a chance to make an attack on King Ahasuerus.

In the first month, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, from day to day and from month to month they went on looking for a sign given by Pur (that is chance) before Haman, till the sign came out for the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar.

Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the hater of all the Jews, had made designs for their destruction, attempting to get a decision by Pur (that is, chance) with a view to putting an end to them and cutting them off;

They make a division of my robes among them, by the decision of chance they take my clothing.

For my enemies talk about me; those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.

The wicked have no chance for deliverance, for they do not seek your statutes.

Take your chance with us, and we will all have one money-bag:

A thing may be put to the decision of chance, but it comes about through the Lord.

The decision of chance puts an end to argument, parting the strong.

Like a [careless] archer who [shoots arrows wildly and] wounds everyone,So is he who hires a fool or those who [by chance just] pass by.

And I saw the destruction of his wealth by an evil chance; and when he became the father of a son he had nothing in his hand.

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, like an error which comes by chance from a ruler:

I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers; then was I in his eyes as one to whom good chance had come.

And now, take a chance with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able to put horsemen on them.

They say, Why have we kept ourselves from food, and you do not see it? why have we kept ourselves from pleasure, and you take no note of it? If, in the days when you keep from food, you take the chance to do your business, and get in your debts;

But as for you who have given up the Lord, who have no care for my holy mountain, who get ready a table for Chance, and make offerings of mixed wine to Fate;

Let him put his mouth in the dust, if by chance there may be hope.

And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

Because you were there watching when men from other lands took away his goods, and strange men came into his doors, and put the fate of Jerusalem to the decision of chance; you were like one of them.

And the ship's captain came to him and said to him, What are you doing sleeping? Up! say a prayer to your God, if by chance God will give a thought to us, so that we may not come to destruction.

And they said to one another, Come, let us put this to the decision of chance and see on whose account this evil has come on us. So they did so, and Jonah was seen to be the man.

But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains.

But he says, No, for fear that by chance while you take up the evil plants, you may be rooting up the grain with them.

And from that time he was watching for a chance to give him into their hands.

And when they had put him on the cross, they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.

And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;

And seeing a fig-tree in the distance with leaves, he went to see if by chance it had anything on it: and when he came to it, he saw nothing but leaves, for it was not the time for the fruit.

And he was nailed to the cross; and they made a division of his clothing among them, putting to the decision of chance what everyone was to take.

Jesus ordered him to tell no one [that he might happen to meet], “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your purification, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony (witness) to them [that this is a work of Messiah].”

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And watching him, for a chance to get something from his words which might be used against him.

And the chief priests and the scribes were looking for a chance to put him to death, but they went in fear of the people.

And he made an agreement with them to give him up to them, if he got a chance, when the people were not present.

And Jesus said, Father, let them have forgiveness, for they have no knowledge of what they are doing. And they made division of his clothing among them by the decision of chance.

After this, Jesus went from place to place in Galilee. He did not go about in Judaea, because the Jews were looking for a chance to put him to death.

So they said among themselves, Let this not be cut up, but let us put it to the decision of chance and see who gets it. (They did this so that the Writings might come true, which say, They made a distribution of my clothing among them, and my coat they put to the decision of chance.) This was what the men of the army did.

And they put it to the decision of chance, and the decision was given for Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven Apostles.

Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to take a chance by going into the amphitheater.

Are you by chance the Egyptian who, before this, got the people worked up against the government and took four thousand men of the Assassins out into the waste land?

As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and said, "For the present you may go. When I get a chance, I will send for you again."

To whom I gave answer that it is not the Roman way to give a man up, till he has been face to face with those who are attacking him, and has had a chance to give an answer to the statements made against him.

Since the harbor was not a good place to spend the winter, most of the men favored putting out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix and spend the winter there. It is a Cretian harbor that faces southwest and northwest.

Then, fearing that by chance we might come on to the rocks, they let down four hooks from the back of the ship, and made prayers for the coming of day.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.

Were you a slave when you were called? Do not let that bother you. Of course, if you have a chance to become free, take advantage of the opportunity.

And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:

But as for Apollos, the brother, I had a great desire for him to come to you with the brothers, but it was not his pleasure to come now; but he will come when he has a chance.

We are not again requesting your approval, but we are giving you the chance of taking pride in us, so that you may be able to give an answer to those whose glory is in seeming, and not in the heart.

And what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may eliminate any opportunity for those who want a chance to be regarded as our equals in the things they boast about.

Because you, brothers, were marked out to be free; only do not make use of your free condition to give the flesh its chance, but through love be servants one to another.

So then, as we have the chance, let us do good to all men, and specially to those who are of the family of the faith.

So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit].

Therefore, I want younger widows to remarry, have children, manage their homes, and not give the enemy any chance to ridicule them.

Gently guiding those who go against the teaching; if by chance God may give them a change of heart and true knowledge,

For this reason there is the more need for us to give attention to the things which have come to our ears, for fear that by chance we might be slipping away.

My brothers, take care that there is not by chance in any one of you an evil heart without belief, turning away from the living God:

For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears.

See that you give ear to his voice which comes to you. For if those whose ears were shut to the voice which came to them on earth did not go free from punishment, what chance have we of going free if we give no attention to him whose voice comes from heaven?

And if it is hard for even the good man to get salvation, what chance has the man without religion or the sinner?