'Lord' in the Bible

As for My sacrificial offerings,They sacrifice the meat [as a mere formality] and eat it,But the Lord is not pleased with them and does not accept them.Now He will remember and take into account their wickedness and guilt,And punish them for their sins.They will return [in captivity] to [another] Egypt [that is, Assyria].

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord;Their sacrifices will not please Him.Their bread will be like mourners’ bread [eaten at funerals];All who eat it will be [ceremonially] unclean,For their bread will be for themselves;It will not enter the house of the Lord [to be consecrated].

What will you do on the day of the appointed festivalAnd on the day of the feast of the Lord [when you are in exile]?

They have deeply corrupted (perverted) themselvesAs in the days of Gibeah.The Lord will remember their wickedness and guilt;He will punish their sins.

Give them [the punishment they deserve], O Lord! What will You give?Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

All their wickedness [says the Lord] is focused in Gilgal;Indeed, I came to hate them there!Because of the wickedness of their [idolatrous] practicesI will drive them out of My house (the land of Israel)!I will love them no longer;All their princes are rebels.

Their heart is divided (faithless);Now they must bear their guilt and punishment.The Lord will break down [the horns of] their altars;He will destroy their idolatrous pillars.

Surely now they will say [in despair], “We have no [true] king,For we do not revere the Lord;And as for the king, what can he do for us [to rescue us]?”

When it is my desire [to defend My righteousness], I will chastise them;And [hostile] peoples will be gathered against themWhen they are bound and punished for their double guilt [their revolt against the Lord and their worship of idols].

Sow with a view to righteousness [that righteousness, like seed, may germinate];Reap in accordance with mercy and lovingkindness.Break up your uncultivated ground,For it is time to seek and search diligently for the Lord [and to long for His blessing]Until He comes to rain righteousness and His gift of salvation on you.

They will walk after the Lord [in obedience and worship],Who will roar like a lion;He will roar [summoning them]And His sons will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling and hurriedly like birds from EgyptAnd like doves from the land of Assyria;And I will settle them in their houses [in the land of their inheritance], declares the Lord.

The Lord also has a dispute [a legal complaint and an indictment] with Judah,And He will punish Jacob in accordance with his ways;He will repay him in accordance with his deeds.

He wrestled with the angel and prevailed;He wept [in repentance] and sought His favor.He met Him at BethelAnd there God spoke with [him and through him with] us—

Even the Lord, the God of hosts,The name of Him [who spoke with Jacob] is the Lord.

But I have been the Lord your God since [you became a nation in] the land of Egypt;I will make you live in tents again,As in the days of the appointed and solemn festival.

And by a prophet (Moses) the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,And by a prophet Israel was preserved.

Ephraim has provoked most bitter anger;So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him [invoking punishment]And bring back to him his shame and dishonor.

Yet I have been the Lord your GodSince [the time you became a nation in] the land of Egypt;And you were not to know any god except Me,For there is no savior besides Me.

For though he flourishes among the reeds (his fellow tribes),An east wind (Assyria) will come,The breath of the Lord rising from the desert;And Ephraim’s spring will become dryAnd his fountain will be dried up.Assyria will plunder his treasury of every precious object.

O Israel, return [in repentance] to the Lord your God,For you have stumbled and fallen [visited by tragedy], because of your sin.

Take the words [confessing your guilt] with you and return to the Lord.Say to Him, “Take away all our wickedness;Accept what is good and receive us graciously,So that we may present the fruit of our lips (gratitude).

“Assyria will not save us;We will not ride on horses [relying on military might],Nor will we say again to [the idols who are] the work of our hands,‘You are our gods.’For in You [O Lord] the orphan finds love and compassion and mercy.”

Whoever is [spiritually] wise, let him understand these things;Whoever is [spiritually] discerning and understanding, let him know them.For the ways of the Lord are right,And the righteous will walk in them,But transgressors will stumble and fall in them.

The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

The [daily] grain offering and the drink offering are cut offFrom the house of the Lord;The priests mournWho minister to the Lord.

Consecrate a fast,Proclaim a solemn assembly,Gather the eldersAnd all the inhabitants of the landTo the house of the Lord your God,And cry out to the Lord [in penitent pleadings].

Alas for the day!For the [judgment] day of the Lord is at hand,And it will come [upon the nation] as a destruction from the Almighty.

O Lord, I cry out to You,For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness,And the flame has burned up all the trees of the field.

Blow the trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],Sound an alarm on My holy mountain [Zion]!Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble and shudder in fear,For the [judgment] day of the Lord is coming;It is close at hand,

The Lord utters His voice before His army,For His camp is very great,Because strong and powerful is he who [obediently] carries out His word.For the day of the Lord is indeed great and very terrible [causing dread];Who can endure it?

“Even now,” says the Lord,“Turn and come to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance],With fasting and weeping and mourning [until every barrier is removed and the broken fellowship is restored];

Rip your heart to pieces [in sorrow and contrition] and not your garments.”Now return [in repentance] to the Lord your God,For He is gracious and compassionate,Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness [faithful to His covenant with His people];And He relents [His sentence of] evil [when His people genuinely repent].

Who knows whether He will relent [and revoke your sentence],And leave a blessing behind Him,Even a grain offering and a drink offering [from the bounty He provides you]For the Lord your God?

Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,Weep between the porch and the altar,And let them say, “Have compassion and spare Your people, O Lord,And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule,Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations.Why should they say among the peoples,‘Where is their God?’”

Then the Lord will be jealous for His land [ready to defend it since it is rightfully and uniquely His]And will have compassion on His people [and will spare them].

The Lord will answer and say to His people,“Behold, I am going to send you grain and new wine and oil,And you will be satisfied in full with them;And I will never again make you an object of ridicule among the [Gentile] nations.

“But I will remove the northern army far away from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,With its forward guard into the eastern sea (Dead Sea)And with its rear guard into the western sea (Mediterranean Sea).And its stench will arise and its foul odor of decay will come up [this is the fate of the northern army in the final day of the Lord],For He has done great things.”

Do not fear, O land; be glad and rejoice,For the Lord has done great things!

So rejoice, O children of Zion,And delight in the Lord, your God;For He has given you the early [autumn] rain in vindicationAnd He has poured down the rain for you,The early [autumn] rain and the late [spring] rain, as before.

“You will have plenty to eat and be satisfiedAnd praise the name of the Lord your GodWho has dealt wondrously with you;And My people shall never be put to shame.

“And you shall know [without any doubt] that I am in the midst of Israel [to protect and bless you],And that I am the Lord your God,And there is no other;My people will never be put to shame.

“The sun will be turned into darknessAnd the moon into bloodBefore the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.

“And it shall come about that whoever calls on the name of the LordWill be saved [from the coming judgment]For on Mount Zion and in JerusalemThere will be those who escape,As the Lord has said,Even among the remnant [of survivors] whom the Lord calls.

Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation,” for the Lord has spoken.

Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations,And gather yourselves there;Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones (Your warriors).

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision (judgment)!For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision [when judgment is executed].

The Lord thunders and roars from ZionAnd utters His voice from Jerusalem [in judgment of His enemies],And the heavens and the earth tremble and shudder;But the Lord is a refuge for His peopleAnd a stronghold [of protection] to the children of Israel.

Then you will know and understand fully that I am the Lord your God,Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.Then Jerusalem will be holy,And strangers [who do not belong] will no longer pass through it.

And in that dayThe mountains will drip with sweet wineAnd the hills will flow with milk;And all the brooks and riverbeds of Judah will flow with water,And a fountain will go out from the house of the LordTo water the [desert] Valley of Shittim.

And I shall avenge their blood which I have not avenged,For the Lord dwells in Zion.

And he said,“The Lord thunders and roars from Zion [in judgment]And utters His voice from Jerusalem;Then the pastures of the shepherds mourn,And the summit of [Mount] Carmel dries up [because of God’s judgment].”

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Damascus and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I shall not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with sharp iron sledges [having spikes that crushed and shredded].

“I also will break the bar [of the gate] of Damascus,And cut off and destroy the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven (Wickedness),And the ruler who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden (Damascus);And the people of Aram [conquered by the Assyrians] will go into exile to Kir,”Says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Gaza [in Philistia] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because [as slave traders] they took captive the entire [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared]And deported them to Edom [for the slave trade].

“And I will cut off and destroy the inhabitants from Ashdod,And the ruler who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon;And I will unleash My power and turn My hand [in judgment] against Ekron,And the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall die,”Says the Lord God.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Tyre and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they [as middlemen] deported an entire [Jewish] population to EdomAnd did not [seriously] remember their covenant of brotherhood.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Edom [the descendants of Esau] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword,Corrupting and stifling his compassions and casting off all mercy;His destructive anger raged continually,And he maintained [and nurtured] his wrath forever.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of the children of Ammon and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because the Ammonites have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,That they might enlarge their border.

“Their king shall go into exile,He and his princes together,” says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Moab and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime [and used it to plaster a Moabite house].

“I will also cut off and destroy the ruler from its midstAnd slay all the princes with him,” says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they have rejected the law of the Lord [the sum of God’s instruction to His people]And have not kept His commandments;But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked,Caused them to go astray.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Israel and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they sell the righteous and innocent for silverAnd the needy for the price of a pair of sandals.

“Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets [who gave you My revelation],And some of your young men to be Nazirites (dedicated ones).Is this not true, O you children of Israel?” says the Lord.

“Even the bravest among the warriors shall flee naked on that day,” says the Lord.

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt:

If a trumpet is blown in a city [warning of danger] will not the people tremble?If a disaster or misfortune occurs in a city has not the Lord caused it?

Surely the Lord God does nothingWithout revealing His secret plan [of the judgment to come]To His servants the prophets.

The lion has roared! Who will not fear?The Lord God has spoken [to the prophets]! Who can but prophesy?

For they do not know how to do right,” says the Lord, “these who store up violence and devastation [like treasures] in their strongholds.”

Therefore, thus says the Lord God,“An adversary (Assyria), even one surrounding the land,Shall pull down your strength from youAnd your fortresses will be looted.”

Thus says the Lord,“Just as the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion a couple of legs or a piece of the [sheep’s] ear [to prove to the owner that he has not stolen the animal],So will the [remaining] children of Israel living in Samaria be snatched awayWith the corner of a bed and [part of] the damask covering of a couch.

“Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,”Says the Lord God, the God of hosts,

“And I shall tear down the winter house with the summer house;And the houses of ivory shall also perishAnd the great houses shall come to an end,”Says the Lord.

The Lord God has sworn [an oath] by His holinessThat, “Behold, the days are coming upon youWhen they shall take you away with meat hooks,And the last of you with fish hooks.

“And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city wall],Every woman straight before her [unable to turn aside],And you shall be cast to Harmon,”Says the Lord.

“Offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,And [boastfully] proclaim freewill offerings, announce them.For this you so love to do, O children of Israel!”Says the Lord God.

“I also gave you cleanness of teeth [because of the famine] in all your citiesAnd lack of bread in all your places,Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

“So [the people of] two or three cities would stagger into one city to drink water,But would not be satisfied;Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

“I wounded you with blight [from the hot, blasting east wind] and with mildew;And the caterpillar devouredYour many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees;Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

“I sent a plague among you like [those of] Egypt;I killed your young men with the sword and I captured your horses,I made the stench of your camp rise up into your nostrils;Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

“I overthrew and destroyed [some among] you, as [I, your] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,And you were [rescued] like a log pulled out of the flame;Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the Lord.

For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the windAnd declares to man what are His thoughts,He who makes the dawn into darknessAnd treads on the heights of the earth—The Lord God of hosts is His name.

For thus says the Lord God,“The city which goes forth a thousand strongWill have a hundred left,And the one which goes forth a hundred strongWill have ten left to the house of Israel.”

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,“Seek Me [search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food] so that you may live.

“Seek the Lord [search diligently for Him and long for Him as your most essential need] so that you may live,Or He will rush down like a [devouring] fire, O house of Joseph,And there will be no one to quench the flame for [idolatrous] Bethel,

He who made the [cluster of stars called] Pleiades and [the constellation] Orion,Who turns deep darkness into the morningAnd darkens the day into night,Who calls for the waters of the seaAnd pours them out on the surface of the earth,The Lord is His name.

Seek (long for, require) good and not evil, that you may live;And so may the Lord God of hosts be with you,Just as you have said!

Hate evil and love good,And establish justice in the [court of the city] gate.Perhaps the Lord God of hostsWill be gracious to the remnant of Joseph [that is, those who remain after God’s judgment].

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,“There is wailing in all the public plazas,And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’And they call the farmers to mourning [for those who have died]And professional mourners to wailing.

“And in all vineyards there is wailing,For I will pass through your midst [in judgment],” says the Lord.

Woe (judgment is coming) to you who desire the day of the Lord [expecting rescue from the Gentiles]!Why would you want the day of the Lord?It is darkness (judgment) and not light [and rescue and prosperity];

Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, instead of light,Even very dark with no brightness in it?

Therefore, I will send you to go into exile far beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

The Lord God has sworn [an oath] by Himself—the Lord God of hosts, says:“I loathe and reject the [self-centered] arrogance of Jacob (Israel),And I hate his palaces and citadels;Therefore, I shall hand over the [idolatrous] city [of Samaria] with all that it contains [to the Assyrian invaders].”

Then one’s uncle, or his undertaker, shall come to bring the [disease-infected] body out of the house, [to cremate it], and he will say to another in the farthest part of the house, “Is there anyone else with you?” And that one will say, “No one.” Then he will respond, “Hush! Keep quiet! For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned [even casually, for fear that we might invoke even more punishment].”

For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

“For behold, I am going to stir up a nation against you,O house of Israel,” says the Lord, the God of hosts,“And they will afflict and torment you [to the entire limits of Israel] from the entrance of Hamath [in the north]To the brook of the Arabah [in the south].”

Thus the Lord God showed me [a vision], and behold, He was forming a swarm of locusts when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing.