'Man' in the Bible

“They did not say, ‘Where is the LordWho brought us up out of the land of Egypt,Who led us through the wilderness,Through a land of deserts and of pits,Through a land of drought and of deep darkness,Through a land that no one crossedAnd where no man dwelt?’

God says, “If a husband divorces his wifeAnd she goes from himAnd belongs to another man,Will he still return to her?Will not that land be completely polluted?But you are a harlot with many lovers;Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord.

I looked, and behold, there was no man,And all the birds of the heavens had fled.

At the sound of the horseman and bowman every city flees;They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks;Every city is forsaken,And no man dwells in them.

“Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,And look now and take note.And seek in her open squares,If you can find a man,If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth,Then I will pardon her.

“They seize bow and spear;They are cruel and have no mercy;Their voice roars like the sea,And they ride on horses,Arrayed as a man for the battleAgainst you, O daughter of Zion!”

For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor,

Therefore thus says the Lord God, “Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.”

“I have listened and heard,They have spoken what is not right;No man repented of his wickedness,Saying, ‘What have I done?’Everyone turned to his course,Like a horse charging into the battle.

Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?

Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;

Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge;Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols;For his molten images are deceitful,And there is no breath in them.

I know, O Lord, that a man’s way is not in himself,Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps.

and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Cursed is the man who does not heed the words of this covenant

“It has been made a desolation,Desolate, it mourns before Me;The whole land has been made desolate,Because no man lays it to heart.

For as the waistband clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen.’

“Why are You like a man dismayed,Like a mighty man who cannot save?Yet You are in our midst, O Lord,And we are called by Your name;Do not forsake us!”

“Their widows will be more numerous before MeThan the sand of the seas;I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man,A destroyer at noonday;I will suddenly bring down on herAnguish and dismay.

Woe to me, my mother, that you have borne meAs a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land!I have not lent, nor have men lent money to me,Yet everyone curses me.

Can man make gods for himself?Yet they are not gods!

Thus says the Lord,“Cursed is the man who trusts in mankindAnd makes flesh his strength,And whose heart turns away from the Lord.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LordAnd whose trust is the Lord.

“I, the Lord, search the heart,I test the mind,Even to give to each man according to his ways,According to the results of his deeds.

Cursed be the man who brought the newsTo my father, saying,“A baby boy has been born to you!”And made him very happy.

But let that man be like the citiesWhich the Lord overthrew without relenting,And let him hear an outcry in the morningAnd a shout of alarm at noon;

I will also strike down the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great pestilence.

“Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered jar?Or is he an undesirable vessel?Why have he and his descendants been hurled outAnd cast into a land that they had not known?

“Thus says the Lord,‘Write this man down childless,A man who will not prosper in his days;For no man of his descendants will prosperSitting on the throne of DavidOr ruling again in Judah.’”

As for the prophets:My heart is broken within me,All my bones tremble;I have become like a drunken man,Even like a man overcome with wine,Because of the LordAnd because of His holy words.

“Can a man hide himself in hiding placesSo I do not see him?” declares the Lord.“Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.

Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.”

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

Indeed, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

‘Ask now, and seeIf a male can give birth.Why do I see every manWith his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?And why have all faces turned pale?

“How long will you go here and there,O faithless daughter?For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth—A woman will encompass a man.”

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge.

They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.”

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast,

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks.

For thus says the Lord, ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel;

and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices continually.’”

that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage.

And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free.

Although recently you had turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.

Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants.”’

“Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,’ declares the Lord, ‘to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was near the chamber of the officials, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the doorkeeper.

Also I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them again and again, saying: ‘Turn now every man from his evil way and amend your deeds, and do not go after other gods to worship them. Then you will dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your forefathers; but you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.

therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me always.”’”

Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the calamity which I plan to bring on them, in order that every man will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will make man and beast to cease from it?’”

For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’”

Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.”

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?”

Now then thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Why are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant,

Nevertheless hear the word of the Lord, all Judah who are living in the land of Egypt, ‘Behold, I have sworn by My great name,’ says the Lord, ‘never shall My name be invoked again by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord God lives.”

Let not the swift man flee,Nor the mighty man escape;In the north beside the river EuphratesThey have stumbled and fallen.

Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah with its neighbors,” says the Lord, “no one will live there, nor will a son of man reside in it.

“Hazor will become a haunt of jackals,A desolation forever;No one will live there,Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!

“As when God overthrew SodomAnd Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,“No man will live there,Nor will any son of man reside in it.

“They seize their bow and javelin;They are cruel and have no mercy.Their voice roars like the sea;And they ride on horses,Marshalled like a man for the battleAgainst you, O daughter of Babylon.

And with you I shatter man and woman,And with you I shatter old man and youth,And with you I shatter young man and virgin,

“Her cities have become an object of horror,A parched land and a desert,A land in which no man livesAnd through which no son of man passes.

and say, ‘You, O Lord, have promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be nothing dwelling in it, whether man or beast, but it will be a perpetual desolation.’