'Evil' in the Bible

They will take from him a hundred shekels of silver, which are to be given to the father of the girl, because he has given an evil name to a virgin of Israel: she will go on being his wife, he may never put her away all his life.

Then they are to make the girl come to the door of her father's house and she will be stoned to death by the men of the town, because she has done evil and put shame on Israel, by acting as a loose woman in her father's house: so you are to put away evil from among you.

If a man is taken in the act of going in to a married woman, the two of them, the man as well as the woman, are to be put to death: so you are to put away the evil from Israel.

Then you are to take the two of them to the doorway of the town, and have them stoned to death; the young virgin, because she gave no cry for help, though it was in the town, and the man, because he has put shame on his neighbour's wife: so you are to put away evil from among you.

When you go out to war and put your tents in position, keep from every evil thing.

If a man takes by force one of his countrymen, the children of Israel, using him as his property or getting a price for him, that thief is to be put to death: so you are to put away evil from among you.

The Lord will send on you cursing and trouble and punishment in everything to which you put your hand, till sudden destruction overtakes you; because of your evil ways in which you have been false to me.

He will be marked out by the Lord, from all the tribes of Israel, for an evil fate, in keeping with all the curses of the agreement recorded in this book of the law.

See, I have put before you today, life and good, and death and evil;

Truly, my face will be turned away from them in that day, because of all the evil they have done in going after other gods.

For I am certain that after my death you will give yourselves up to sin, wandering from the way which I have given you; and evil will overtake you in the end, because you will do evil in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of your hands.

He is the Rock, complete is his work; for all his ways are righteousness: a God without evil who keeps faith, true and upright is he.

They have become false, they are not his children, the mark of sin is on them; they are an evil and hard-hearted generation.

They made offerings to evil spirits which were not God, to gods who were strange to them, which had newly come up, not feared by your fathers.

For their vine is the vine of Sodom, from the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are the grapes of evil, and the berries are bitter:

And you will see that, as all the good things which the Lord your God undertook to do for you, have come to you, so the Lord will send down on you all the evil things till he has made your destruction complete, and you are cut off from the good land which the Lord your God has given you.

And if it seems evil to you to be the servants of the Lord, make the decision this day whose servants you will be: of the gods whose servants your fathers were across the River, or of the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living: but I and my house will be the servants of the Lord.

If you are turned away from the Lord and become the servants of strange gods, then turning against you he will do you evil, cutting you off, after he has done you good.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord and became servants to the Baals;

Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord had taken his oath it would be; and things became very hard for them.

But whenever the judge was dead, they went back and did more evil than their fathers, going after other gods, to be their servants and their worshippers; giving up nothing of their sins and their hard-hearted ways.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and put out of their minds the Lord their God, and became servants to the Baals and the Astartes.

Then the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord made Eglon, king of Moab, strong against Israel, because they had done evil in the Lord's eyes.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord when Ehud was dead.

And the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them up into the hand of Midian for seven years.

And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the townsmen of Shechem; and the townsmen of Shechem were false to Abimelech;

In this way Abimelech was rewarded by God for the evil he had done to his father in putting his seventy brothers to death;

And God sent back on to the heads of the men of Shechem all the evil they had done, and the curse of Jotham, the son of Jerubbaal, came on them.

And again the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord, worshipping the Baals and Astartes, and the gods of Aram and the gods of Zidon and the gods of Moab and the gods of the children of Ammon and the gods of the Philistines; they gave up the Lord and were servants to him no longer.

And the children of Israel again did evil in the eyes of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.

Then Samson said to them, This time I will give payment in full to the Philistines, for I am going to do them great evil.

So the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said, No, my brothers, do not this evil thing; this man has come into my house, and you are not to do him this wrong.

(Now the children of Benjamin had word that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the children of Israel said, Make clear how this evil thing took place.

And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin saying, What is this evil which has been done among you?

Now give up those good-for-nothing persons in Gibeah so that we may put them to death, clearing away the evil from Israel. But the children of Benjamin would not give ear to the voice of their brothers, the children of Israel.

And they came in front of Gibeah, ten thousand of the best men in all Israel, and the fighting became more violent; but the children of Benjamin were not conscious that evil was coming on them.

And the men of Israel had made a turn about, and the men of Benjamin were overcome with fear, for they saw that evil had overtaken them.

Now the sons of Eli were evil and good-for-nothing men, having no knowledge of the Lord.

And he said to them, Why are you doing such things? for from all this people I get accounts of your evil ways.

If it goes by the land of Israel to Beth-shemesh, then this great evil is his work; but if not, then we may be certain that the evil was not his doing, but was the working of chance.

So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.

Then crying out to the Lord, they said, We have done evil, because we have been turned away from the Lord, worshipping the Baals and the Astartes: but now, make us safe from those who are against us and we will be your servants.

And all the people said to Samuel, Make prayer for us to the Lord your God so that death may not overtake us: for in addition to all our sins we have done this evil, in desiring a king.

Then Samuel said to the people, Have no fear: truly you have done evil, but do not be turned away from the Lord; be his servants with all your heart;

But if you still do evil, destruction will overtake you and your king.

Why then did you not do the orders of the Lord, but by violently taking their goods did evil in the eyes of the Lord?

Now the spirit of the Lord had gone from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him.

And Saul's servants said to him, See now, an evil spirit from God is troubling you.

Now give orders to your servants who are here before you to go in search of a man who is an expert player on a corded instrument: and it will be that when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will make music for you on his instrument, and you will get well.

And whenever the evil spirit from God came on Saul, David took his instrument and made music: so new life came to Saul, and he got well, and the evil spirit went away from him.

And Eliab, his oldest brother, hearing what David said to the men, was moved to wrath against David, and said, Why have you come here? Into whose care have you given that little flock of sheep in the waste land? I have knowledge of your pride and the evil of your heart, you have come down to see the fight.

Now on the day after, an evil spirit from God came on Saul with great force and he was acting like a prophet among the men of his house, while David was making music for him, as he did day by day: and Saul had his spear in his hand.

And an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul, when he was seated in his house with his spear in his hand; and David made music for him.

If he says, It is well, your servant will be at peace: but if he is angry, then it will be clear to you that he has an evil purpose in mind against me.

And Jonathan said, Do not have such a thought: for if I saw that my father was designing evil against you, would I not give you word of it?

May the Lord's punishment be on Jonathan, if it is my father's pleasure to do you evil and I do not give you word of it and send you away so that you may go in peace: and may the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.

And I will send my boy to have a look for the arrow. And if I say to him, See, the arrow is on this side of you; take it up! then you may come; for there is peace for you and no evil, by the living Lord.

Then Saul was moved to wrath against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of an evil and uncontrolled woman, have I not seen how you have given your love to the son of Jesse, to your shame and the shame of your mother?

And it was clear to David that Saul had evil designs against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Come here with the ephod.

And see, my father, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for the fact that I took off the skirt of your robe and did not put you to death is witness that I have no evil purpose, and I have done you no wrong, though you are waiting for my life to take it.

There is an old saying, From the evil-doer comes evil: but my hand will never be lifted up against you.

And he said to David, You are right and I am wrong: for you have given me back good, but I have given you evil.

Now this man was named Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail: she was a woman of good sense and pleasing looks: but the man was cruel and evil in his ways; he was of the family of Caleb.

I have had word that you have wool-cutters: now the keepers of your sheep have been with us, and we have done them no evil, and taken nothing of theirs while they were in Carmel.

So now, give thought to what you are going to do; for evil is in store for our master and all his house: for he is such a good-for-nothing person that it is not possible to say anything to him.

Now David had said, What was the use of my taking care of this man's goods in the waste land, so that there was no loss of anything which was his? he has only given me back evil for good.

So now, my lord, by the living God and by your living soul, seeing that the Lord has kept you from the crime of blood and from taking into your hands the punishment for your wrongs, may all your haters, and those who would do evil to my lord, be like Nabal.

And may the sin of your servant have forgiveness: for the Lord will certainly make your family strong, because my lord is fighting in the Lord's war; and no evil will be seen in you all your days.

For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

And David, hearing that Nabal was dead, said, May the Lord be praised, who has taken up my cause against Nabal for the shame which he put on me, and has kept back his servant from evil, and has sent on Nabal's head the reward of his evil-doing. And David sent word to Abigail, desiring to take her as his wife.

And he said, Why does my lord go armed against his servant? what have I done? or what evil is there in me?

Then Achish sent for David and said to him, By the living Lord, you are upright, and everything you have done with me in the army has been pleasing to me: I have seen no evil in you from the day when you came to me till now: but still, the lords are not pleased with you.

So get up early in the morning, with the servants of your lord who are with you, and go to the place I have given you, and have no evil design in your heart, for you are good in my eyes; but when there is light enough in the morning, go away.

Your hands were free, your feet were not chained: like the downfall of a man before evil men, so was your fall. And the weeping of the people over him went on again.

How much more, when evil men have put an upright person to death, in his house, sleeping on his bed, will I take payment from you for his blood, and have you cut off from the earth?

And I will make a resting-place for my people Israel, planting them there, so that they may be living in the place which is theirs, and never again be moved; and never again will they be troubled by evil men as they were at the first,

Why then have you had no respect for the word of the Lord, doing what is evil in his eyes? You have put Uriah the Hittite to death with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife; you have put him to death with the sword of the children of Ammon.

The Lord says, From those of your family I will send evil against you, and before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to your neighbour, and he will take your wives to his bed by the light of this sun.

And answering him, she said, O my brother, do not put shame on me; it is not right for such a thing to be done in Israel: do not this evil thing.

And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Come, let us go in flight, or not one of us will be safe from Absalom: let us go without loss of time, or he will overtake us quickly and send evil on us, and put the town to the sword.

The Lord has sent punishment on you for all the blood of the family of Saul, whose kingdom you have taken; and the Lord has given the kingdom to Absalom, your son: now you yourself are taken in your evil, because you are a man of blood.

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, Hushai's suggestion is better than that of Ahithophel. For it was the purpose of the Lord to make the wise designs of Ahithophel without effect, so that the Lord might send evil on Absalom.

And the king said to the Cushite, Is the young man Absalom safe? And the Cushite said in answer, May all the king's haters and those who do evil against the king, be as that young man is!

So get up now, and go out and say some kind words to your servants; for, by the Lord, I give you my oath, that if you do not go out, not one of them will keep with you tonight; and that will be worse for you than all the evil which has overtaken you from your earliest years.

For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear;

And when the hand of the angel was stretched out in the direction of Jerusalem, for its destruction, the Lord had regret for the evil, and said to the angel who was sending destruction on the people, It is enough; do no more. And the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And the king said to Shimei, You have knowledge of all the evil which you did to David my father; and now the Lord has sent back your evil on yourself.

Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people?

But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side; no one is making trouble, and no evil is taking place.

Then let your ear be open in heaven, and be the judge of your servants, giving your decision against the wrongdoer, so that punishment for his sins may come on his head; and, by your decision, keeping from evil him who has done no wrong.

And if they take thought, in the land where they are prisoners, and are turned again to you, crying out in prayer to you in that land, and saying, We are sinners, we have done wrong, we have done evil;

Answering with forgiveness the people who have done wrong against you, and overlooking the evil which they have done against you; let those who made them prisoners be moved with pity for them, and have pity on them;

And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord their God, who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt; they took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why the Lord has sent all this evil on them.

And Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord, not walking in the Lord's ways with all his heart as David his father did.

After this Jeroboam, not turning back from his evil ways, still made priests for his altars from among all the people; he made a priest of anyone desiring it, so that there might be priests of the high places.

But you have done evil more than any before you, and have made for yourself other gods, and images of metal, moving me to wrath, and turning your back on me.

So I will send evil on the line of Jeroboam, cutting off from his family every male child, those who are shut up and those who go free in Israel; the family of Jeroboam will be brushed away like a man brushing away waste till it is all gone.

And Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and made him more angry than their fathers had done by their sins.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the evil ways of his father, and the sin which he did and made Israel do.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, copying the evil ways of Jeroboam and the sin which he made Israel do.