'Nation' in the Bible

And I will make you a great nation,And I will bless you,And make your name great;And so you shall be a blessing;

But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?

Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, “Lord, will You slay a nation, even though blameless?

And of the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant.”

Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.”

God also said to him,“I am God Almighty;Be fruitful and multiply;A nation and a company of nations shall come from you,And kings shall come forth from you.

He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.

So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”

Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.”

so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.

Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I will drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.

I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.”

So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God whenever we call on Him?

Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’

You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, ‘My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.

The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.

“The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand,

a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young.

‘They have made Me jealous with what is not God;They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,

“For they are a nation lacking in counsel,And there is no understanding in them.

And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying,

For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord had sworn that He would not let them see the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed.

So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped,Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.

So the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My covenant which I commanded their fathers and has not listened to My voice,

And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?

As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.

But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the houses of the high places which the people of Samaria had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.

And they wandered about from nation to nation,And from one kingdom to another people,

And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make You a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt?

Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.

Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this, and do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’”

For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation.

When He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?And when He hides His face, who then can behold Him,That is, in regard to both nation and man?—

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,The people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance.

Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation;O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!

They have said, “Come, and let us wipe them out as a nation,That the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

And they wandered about from nation to nation,From one kingdom to another people.

That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,That I may glory with Your inheritance.

He has not dealt thus with any nation;And as for His ordinances, they have not known them.Praise the Lord!

Righteousness exalts a nation,But sin is a disgrace to any people.

Alas, sinful nation,People weighed down with iniquity,Offspring of evildoers,Sons who act corruptly!They have abandoned the Lord,They have despised the Holy One of Israel,They have turned away from Him.

And He will judge between the nations,And will render decisions for many peoples;And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.Nation will not lift up sword against nation,And never again will they learn war.

He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation,And will whistle for it from the ends of the earth;And behold, it will come with speed swiftly.

You shall multiply the nation,You shall increase their gladness;They will be glad in Your presenceAs with the gladness of harvest,As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

I send it against a godless nationAnd commission it against the people of My furyTo capture booty and to seize plunder,And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

“How then will one answer the messengers of the nation?That the Lord has founded Zion,And the afflicted of His people will seek refuge in it.”

Which sends envoys by the sea,Even in papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters.Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth,To a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nationWhose land the rivers divide.

At that time a gift of homage will be brought to the Lord of hostsFrom a people tall and smooth,Even from a people feared far and wide,A powerful and oppressive nation,Whose land the rivers divide—To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, even Mount Zion.

“Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,The one that remains faithful.

You have increased the nation, O Lord,You have increased the nation, You are glorified;You have extended all the borders of the land.

‘Who is like Me? Let him proclaim and declare it;Yes, let him recount it to Me in order,From the time that I established the ancient nation.And let them declare to them the things that are comingAnd the events that are going to take place.

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and its Holy One,To the despised One,To the One abhorred by the nation,To the Servant of rulers,“Kings will see and arise,Princes will also bow down,Because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You.”

“Pay attention to Me, O My people,And give ear to Me, O My nation;For a law will go forth from Me,And I will set My justice for a light of the peoples.

“Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,And a nation which knows you not will run to you,Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;For He has glorified you.”

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,As a nation that has done righteousnessAnd has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.They ask Me for just decisions,They delight in the nearness of God.

“For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,And the nations will be utterly ruined.

“The smallest one will become a clan,And the least one a mighty nation.I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time.”

“I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me;I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’To a nation which did not call on My name.

“Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things?Can a land be born in one day?Can a nation be brought forth all at once?As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons.

“Has a nation changed godsWhen they were not gods?But My people have changed their gloryFor that which does not profit.

“Shall I not punish these people,” declares the Lord,“And on a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?

“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.“It is an enduring nation,It is an ancient nation,A nation whose language you do not know,Nor can you understand what they say.

‘Shall I not punish these people?’ declares the Lord,‘On a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?’

Thus says the Lord,“Behold, a people is coming from the north land,And a great nation will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

You shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

“Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.“On a nation such as thisShall I not avenge Myself?

But if they will not listen, then I will uproot that nation, uproot and destroy it,” declares the Lord.

At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;

if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.

Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;

‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the Lord, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.

Thus says the Lord of hosts,“Behold, evil is going forthFrom nation to nation,And a great storm is being stirred upFrom the remotest parts of the earth.

“It will be, that the nation or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine and with pestilence,” declares the Lord, “until I have destroyed it by his hand.

But the nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let remain on its land,” declares the Lord, “and they will till it and dwell in it.”’”

Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the Lord has spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?

“If this fixed order departsFrom before Me,” declares the Lord,“Then the offspring of Israel also will ceaseFrom being a nation before Me forever.”

“Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight.

“There is praise for Moab no longer;In Heshbon they have devised calamity against her:‘Come and let us cut her off from being a nation!’You too, Madmen, will be silenced;The sword will follow after you.

“Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease,Which lives securely,” declares the Lord.“It has no gates or bars;They dwell alone.

‘I will bring upon Elam the four windsFrom the four ends of heaven,And will scatter them to all these winds;And there will be no nationTo which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

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!

“Behold, a people is coming from the north,And a great nation and many kingsWill be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

Yet our eyes failed,Looking for help was useless;In our watching we have watchedFor a nation that could not save.

“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Because they say to you, “You are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children,”

therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord God.

“I will not let you hear insults from the nations anymore, nor will you bear disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to stumble any longer,” declares the Lord God.’”

and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms.

Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.”

The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

For a nation has invaded my land,Mighty and without number;Its teeth are the teeth of a lion,And it has the fangs of a lioness.