'Listen' in the Bible

Listen, a tumult on the mountains,like that of a mighty people!Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,like nations being gathered together!The Lord of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.

All you inhabitants of the worldand you who live on the earth,when a banner is raised on the mountains, look!When a trumpet sounds, listen!

He had said to them:“This is the place of rest,let the weary rest;this is the place of repose.”But they would not listen.

Listen and hear my voice.Pay attention and hear what I say.

Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,and the ears of those who hear will listen.

Stand up, you complacent women;listen to me.Pay attention to what I say,you overconfident daughters.

Listen! Their warriors cry loudly in the streets;the messengers of peace weep bitterly.

You nations, come here and listen;you peoples, pay attention!Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,the world and all that comes from it.

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern

Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear all the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

“Listen, you deaf!Look, you blind, so that you may see.

Though seeing many things, you do not obey.Though his ears are open, he does not listen.”

Who among you will pay attention to this?Let him listen and obey in the future.

Who gave Jacob to the robber,and Israel to the plunderers?Was it not the Lord?Have we not sinned against Him?They were not willing to walk in His ways,and they would not listen to His instruction.

“And now listen, Jacob My servant,Israel whom I have chosen.

“Listen to Me, house of Jacob,all the remnant of the house of Israel,who have been sustained from the womb,carried along since birth.

Listen to me, you hardhearted,far removed from justice:

“Listen to this, house of Jacob—those who are called by the name Israeland have descended from Judah,who swear by the name of Yahwehand declare the God of Israel,but not in truth or righteousness.

“Listen to Me, Jacob,and Israel, the one called by Me:I am He; I am the first,I am also the last.

All of you, assemble and listen!Who among the idols has declared these things?The Lord loves him;he will accomplish His will against Babylon,and His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

Approach Me and listen to this.From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;from the time anything existed, I was there.”And now the Lord Godhas sent me and His Spirit.

Coastlands, listen to me;distant peoples, pay attention.The Lord called me before I was born.He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

The Lord God has given Methe tongue of those who are instructedto know how to sustain the weary with a word.He awakens Me each morning;He awakens My ear to listen like those being instructed.

Listen to Me, you who pursue righteousness,you who seek the Lord:Look to the rock from which you were cut,and to the quarry from which you were dug.

Pay attention to Me, My people,and listen to Me, My nation;for instruction will come from Me,and My justice for a light to the nations.I will bring it about quickly.

Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,the people in whose heart is My instruction:do not fear disgrace by men,and do not be shattered by their taunts.

So listen to this, afflictedand drunken one—but not with wine.

Why do you spend money on what is not food,and your wages on what does not satisfy?Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

Pay attention and come to Me;listen, so that you will live.I will make an everlasting covenant with you,the promises assured to David.

But your iniquities have built barriersbetween you and your God,and your sins have made Him hide His face from youso that He does not listen.

Who can I speak to and give such a warningthat they will listen?Look, their ear is uncircumcised,so they cannot pay attention.See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them—they find no pleasure in it.

I appointed watchmen over youand said: Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

Therefore listen, you nationsand you witnesses,learn what the charge is against them.

Listen, earth!I am about to bring disaster on these people,the fruit of their own plotting,for they have paid no attention to My word.They have rejected My instruction.

Now, because you have done all these things”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and because I have spoken to you time and time again but you wouldn’t listen, and I have called to you, but you wouldn’t answer,

“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg Me, for I will not listen to you.

Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their ancestors.

“When you speak all these things to them, they will not listen to you. When you call to them, they will not answer you.

You must therefore declare to them: This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and would not accept discipline. Truth has perished—it has disappeared from their mouths.

Listen—the cry of my dear peoplefrom a far away land,“Is the Lord no longer in Zion,her King not within her?”Why have they provoked me to angerwith their carved images,with their worthless foreign idols?

Listen! A noise—it is coming—a great commotion from the land to the north.The cities of Judah will be made desolate,a jackals’ den.

“Listen to the words of this covenant and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.

Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,for the Lord has spoken.

But if you will not listen,my innermost being will weep in secretbecause of your pride.My eyes will overflow with tears,for the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

They wouldn’t listen or pay attention but became obstinate, not listening or accepting discipline.

“However, if you listen to Me, says the Lord, and do not bring loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and consecrate the Sabbath day and do no work on it,

If you do not listen to Me to consecrate the Sabbath day by not carrying a load while entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will set fire to its gates, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem and not be extinguished.”

I spoke to you when you were secure.You said, “I will not listen.”This has been your way since youth;indeed, you have never listened to Me.

This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the Lord’s mouth.

Perhaps they will listen and return—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

You are to say to them: This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to Me by living according to My instruction that I set before you

and by listening to the words of My servants the prophets I have been sending you time and time again, though you did not listen,

But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers, fortune-tellers, or sorcerers who say to you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon!’

Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you.

Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming, “Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you.

Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin?

Only listen to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.

The prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you, but you have led these people to trust in a lie.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Don’t let your prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you, and don’t listen to the dreams you elicit from them,

You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them time and time again, they do not listen and receive discipline.

Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their wrongdoing. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen.”

“That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!” Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials.

So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will kill me, won’t you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

“As for the word you spoke to us in the name of Yahweh, we are not going to listen to you!

צ TsadeThe Lord is just,for I have rebelled against His command.Listen, all you people;look at my pain.My young men and womenhave gone into captivity.

Whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.

But speak My words to them whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious.

“And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you: Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

You are not being sent to many peoples of unintelligible speech or difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. No doubt, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.

But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to Me. For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted.

Next He said to me: “Son of man, listen carefully to all My words that I speak to you and take them to heart.

Go to your people, the exiles, and speak to them. Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ whether they listen or refuse to listen.”

But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you will say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.’ Let the one who listens, listen, and let the one who refuses, refuse—for they are a rebellious house.

Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not show pity or spare them. Though they cry out in My ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”

You profane Me in front of My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread; you kill those who should not die and spare those who should not live, when you lie to My people, who listen to lies.

“But you say, ‘The Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ Now listen, house of Israel: Is it My way that is unfair? Instead, isn’t it your ways that are unfair?

“But they rebelled against Me and were unwilling to listen to Me. None of them threw away the detestable things that were before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I considered pouring out My wrath on them, exhausting My anger against them within the land of Egypt.

“As for you, house of Israel, this is what the Lord God says: Go and serve your idols, each of you. But afterward you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.

He spoke to me: “Son of man, look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention; look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the Lord’s temple. Take careful note of the entrance of the temple along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

Listen, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city called by Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You based on our righteous acts, but based on Your abundant compassion.

Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for Your own sake, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

Hear this, priests!Pay attention, house of Israel!Listen, royal house!For the judgment applies to youbecause you have been a snare at Mizpahand a net spread out on Tabor.

Hear this, you elders;listen, all you inhabitants of the land.Has anything like this ever happened in your daysor in the days of your ancestors?

Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, Israelites, against the entire clan that I brought from the land of Egypt:

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashanwho are on the hill of Samaria,women who oppress the poorand crush the needy,who say to their husbands,“Bring us something to drink.”

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament, house of Israel:

Take away from Me the noise of your songs!I will not listen to the music of your harps.

Listen, all you peoples;pay attention, earth and everyone in it!The Lord God will be a witness against you,the Lord, from His holy temple.

Then I said, “Now listen, leaders of Jacob,you rulers of the house of Israel.Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?

Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob,you rulers of the house of Israel,who abhor justiceand pervert everything that is right,

Now listen to what the Lord is saying:Rise, plead your case before the mountains,and let the hills hear your voice.

Listen to the Lord’s lawsuit,you mountains and enduring foundations of the earth,because the Lord has a case against His people,and He will argue it against Israel.