'Enemy' in the Bible

Lord, Your right hand is glorious in power.Lord, Your right hand shattered the enemy.

The enemy said:“I will pursue, I will overtake,I will divide the spoil.My desire will be gratified at their expense.I will draw my sword;my hand will destroy them.”

But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a pestilence among you, and you will be delivered into enemy hands.

God brought him out of Egypt;He is like the horns of a wild ox for them.He will feed on enemy nationsand gnaw their bones;he will strike them with his arrows.

or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and wasn’t trying to harm him,

“You will eat your children, the flesh of your sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you.

refusing to share with any of them his children’s flesh that he will eat because he has nothing left during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you in all your towns.

the afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, because she will secretly eat them for lack of anything else during the siege and hardship your enemy imposes on you within your gates.

if I had not feared insult from the enemy,or feared that these foes might misunderstandand say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed;it wasn’t the Lord who did all this.’”

I will make My arrows drunk with bloodwhile My sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and the captives,the heads of the enemy leaders.”

The God of old is your dwelling place,and underneath are the everlasting arms.He drives out the enemy before youand commands, “Destroy!”

Then he said to them, “Let me make a request of you: Everyone give me an earring from his plunder.” Now the enemy had gold earrings because they were Ishmaelites.

Now the Philistine leaders gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said:Our god has handed overour enemy Samson to us.

When the people saw him, they praised their god and said:Our god has handed over to usour enemy who destroyed our landand who multiplied our dead.

and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.

Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!”She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”

so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go unharmed? May the Lord repay you with good for what you’ve done for me today.

Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has handed your enemy over to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”

Samuel answered, “Since the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy, why are you asking me?

They brought Ish-bosheth’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here’s the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who intended to take your life. Today the Lord has granted vengeance to my lord the king against Saul and his offspring.”

When Joab was besieging the city, he put Uriah in the place where he knew the best enemy soldiers were.

He rescued me from my powerful enemyand from those who hated me,for they were too strong for me.

The Lord my God has now given me rest all around; there is no enemy or crisis.

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,because they have sinned against You,and they return to You and praise Your name,and they pray and plead with Youfor mercy in this temple,

When there is famine on the earth,when there is pestilence,when there is blight, mildew, locust, or grasshopper,when their enemy besieges themin the region of their fortified cities,when there is any plague or illness,

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You are angry with themand hand them over to the enemy,and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country—whether distant or nearby—

So the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom.

God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah

Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He ruled over Aram, but he loathed Israel.

Ahab said to Elijah, “So, you have caught me, my enemy.”He replied, “I have caught you because you devoted yourself to do what is evil in the Lord’s sight.

three years of famine, or three months of devastation by your foes with the sword of your enemy overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—a plague on the land, the angel of the Lord bringing destruction to the whole territory of Israel.’ Now decide what answer I should take back to the One who sent me.”

If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,because they have sinned against You,and they return to You and praise Your name,and they pray and plead for mercybefore You in this temple,

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You are angry with themand hand them over to the enemy,and their captors deport themto a distant or nearby country,

But if you go with them, do it! Be strong for battle! But God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to make one stumble.”

Under their authority was an army of 307,500 equipped for combat, a powerful force to help the king against the enemy.

We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. We were strengthened by our God, and He protected us from the power of the enemy and from ambush along the way.

The king removed his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.

Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman.”Haman stood terrified before the king and queen.

That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai.

They killed these 10 sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. However, they did not seize any plunder.

For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

Why do You hide Your faceand consider me Your enemy?

His anger tears at me, and He harasses me.He gnashes His teeth at me.My enemy pierces me with His eyes.

May my enemy be like the wickedand my opponent like the unjust.

But He finds reasons to oppose me;He regards me as His enemy.

may an enemy pursue and overtake me;may he trample me to the groundand leave my honor in the dust.Selah

Because of Your adversaries,You have established a strongholdfrom the mouths of children and nursing infantsto silence the enemy and the avenger.

The enemy has come to eternal ruin;You have uprooted the cities,and the very memory of them has perished.

How long will I store up anxious concerns within me,agony in my mind every day?How long will my enemy dominate me?

My enemy will say, “I have triumphed over him,”and my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

He rescued me from my powerful enemyand from those who hated me,for they were too strong for me.

and have not handed me over to the enemy.You have set my feet in a spacious place.

By this I know that You delight in me:my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

because of the voice of the scorner and reviler,because of the enemy and avenger.

Now it is not an enemy who insults me—otherwise I could bear it;it is not a foe who rises up against me—otherwise I could hide from him.

for You have been a refuge for me,a strong tower in the face of the enemy.

For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.God, hear my voice when I complain.Protect my life from the terror of the enemy.

Make Your way to the everlasting ruins,to all that the enemy has destroyed in the sanctuary.

God, how long will the enemy mock?Will the foe insult Your name forever?

Remember this: the enemy has mocked Yahweh,and a foolish people has insulted Your name.

The enemy will not afflict him;no wicked man will oppress him.

He saved them from the hand of the adversary;He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

For the enemy has pursued me,crushing me to the ground,making me live in darknesslike those long dead.

Don’t gloat when your enemy falls,and don’t let your heart rejoice when he stumbles,

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat,and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

The wounds of a friend are trustworthy,but the kisses of an enemy are excessive.

But they rebelledand grieved His Holy Spirit.So He became their enemyand fought against them.

Don’t go out to the fields;don’t walk on the road.For the enemy has a sword;terror is on every side.

The Lord said:I will certainly set you free and care for you.I will certainly intercede for youin a time of trouble,in your time of distress, with the enemy.

I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind.I will show them My back and not My faceon the day of their calamity.

All your lovers have forgotten you;they no longer look for you,for I have struck you as an enemy would,with the discipline of someone cruel,because of your enormous guiltand your innumerable sins.

This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand over Pharaoh Hophra, Egypt’s king, to his enemies, to those who want to take his life, just as I handed over Judah’s King Zedekiah to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, who was his enemy, the one who wanted to take his life.’”

Egypt will hiss like a slithering snake,for the enemy will come with an army;with axes they will come against herlike those who cut trees.

ט TetHer uncleanness stains her skirts.She never considered her end.Her downfall was astonishing;there was no one to comfort her.Lord, look on my affliction,for the enemy triumphs!

ע AyinI weep because of these things;my eyes flow with tears.For there is no one nearby to comfort me,no one to keep me alive.My children are desolatebecause the enemy has prevailed.

ג GimelHe has cut off every horn of Israelin His burning angerand withdrawn His right handin the presence of the enemy.He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming firethat consumes everything.

ד DaletHe has bent His bow like an enemy;His right hand is positioned like an adversary.He has killed everyone who was loved,pouring out His wrath like fireon the tent of Daughter Zion.

ה HeThe Lord is like an enemy;He has swallowed up Israel.He swallowed up all its palacesand destroyed its fortified cities.He has multiplied mourning and lamentationwithin Daughter Judah.

ז ZayinThe Lord has rejected His altar,repudiated His sanctuary;He has handed the walls of her palacesover to the enemy.They have raised a shout in the house of the Lordas on the day of an appointed festival.

ע AyinThe Lord has done what He planned;He has accomplished His decree,which He ordained in days of old.He has demolished without compassion,letting the enemy gloat over youand exalting the horn of your adversaries.

ת TavYou summoned my attackers on every side,as if for an appointed festival day;on the day of the Lord’s angerno one escaped or survived.My enemy has destroyedthose I nurtured and reared.

ל LamedThe kings of the earthand all the world’s inhabitants did not believethat an enemy or adversarycould enter Jerusalem’s gates.

This is what the Lord God says: Because the enemy has said about you, ‘Good! The ancient heights have become our possession,’

Infuriated, the king of the South will march out to fight with the king of the North who will raise a large army but they will be handed over to his enemy.

Israel has rejected what is good;an enemy will pursue him.

Therefore, the Lord God says:An enemy will surround the land;he will destroy your strongholdsand plunder your citadels.

But recently My people have risen uplike an enemy:You strip off the splendid robefrom those who are passing through confidently,like those returning from war.

Do not rejoice over me, my enemy!Though I have fallen, I will stand up;though I sit in darkness,the Lord will be my light.

Then my enemy will see,and she will be covered with shame,the one who said to me,“Where is the Lord your God?”My eyes will look at her in triumph;at that time she will be trampledlike mud in the streets.

You also will become drunk;you will hide yourself.You also will seek refuge from the enemy.

The Lord has removed your punishment;He has turned back your enemy.The King of Israel, Yahweh, is among you;you need no longer fear harm.

For prior to those days neither man nor beast had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor.