'Nations' in the Bible

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, worked by the hands of human beings.

he is my gracious love and my fortress, my strong tower and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I find refuge, who subdues nations under me.

earthly kings and all nations, nobles and all court officials of the earth,

as they bring retribution to nations and punishment to nations,

Whoever says to the wicked, "You're in the right," will be cursed by people and hated by nations.

"It will come about in the last days that the mountain that is the LORD's Temple will be established as the highest of mountains, and will be raised above the hills; all the nations will stream to it.

He will judge between the nations, and will render verdicts for the benefit of many. "They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations will not raise swords against nations, and they will not learn warfare anymore.

The LORD will signal for nations far away, whistling for them to come from the ends of the earth. Look how quickly and how swiftly they come!

"Band together, you nations, but be shattered! Listen, all you distant countries! Strap on your armor, but be shattered.

But there will be no gloom for her who was in distress. Formerly, he brought contempt to the region of Zebulun and the region of Naphtali, but in the future he will have made glorious the way of the sea, the territory beyond the Jordan Galilee of the nations.

But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations.

He keeps bragging: "I've done it by the strength of my hand, and by my wisdom, because I'm so clever. I removed the boundaries of nations, and plundered their treasures; like a bull I brought down those who sat on thrones.

At that time, as to the root of Jesse, who will be standing as a banner for the nations, the nations will rally to him, and his resting place is glorious.

He will raise a banner for the nations and will assemble the dispersed of Israel; he will gather the scattered people of Judah from the corners of the earth.

"Give thanks to the LORD; call on his name. Make known his actions among the nations. Proclaim that his name is exalted.

"Listen! There's a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There's an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle.

Many nations will take them and bring them to their land and their own place. The house of Israel will put those nations to conscripted labor in the LORD's land. They will take captive those who were their captors, and will rule continually over those who oppressed them.

that struck down nations in anger with unceasing blows, that oppressed nations in fury with relentless persecution.

"The afterlife below is all astir to meet you when you arrive; it rouses up the spirits of the dead to greet you everyone who used to be world leaders. It has raised up from their thrones all who used to be kings of the nations.

All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb.

"This is what I've planned for the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

For the fields of Heshbon wither, as well as the vines of Sibmah. The rulers of the nations have struck down its choicest vines, which once reached Jazer and pushed to the desert. Its shoots spread out and passed over the sea."

"How terrible it will be for many nations, who rage like the roaring sea! Oh, how the uproar of nations is like the sound of rushing, mighty water How they roar!

The nations roar like the rushing of many waters, but the LORD will rebuke them, and they will run far away, chased like chaff blown down from the mountains or like thick dust that rolls along, blown along by a wind storm.

and were on mighty waters. Her revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; and she became the marketplace of nations.

So it will be on the earth and among the nations as when an olive tree is beaten, or as gleanings when the grape harvest has ended."

Therefore strong nations will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

"On this mountain, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will prepare for all nations a banquet of rich food, a banquet of well-aged wines rich food full of marrow, and refined wines of the finest vintage

And on this mountain, he will swallow up the burial shroud that enfolds all nations, the veil that is spread over all nations

Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Aruel, all that attack her and her fortification and besiege her, will become like a dream, with its visions in the night

as when a hungry man dreams he eats, but wakes up still hungry; or when a thirsty man dreams he drinks, but wakes up faint, with his thirst unquenched. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion.

His breath is like an overflowing torrent, and it rises right up to the neck, to shake the nations in the sieve of destruction, and to place in the jaws of the nations a bit that leads them astray.

At the thunder of your voice, the nations flee; at your silence, the nations scatter.

And the nations will be burned as if to ashes; like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.

"Come near, you nations, to listen, and pay attention, you nations! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes out of it.

For the LORD is angry against all the nations, and furious against all their armies. He has doomed them to destruction, and given them up to be slaughtered.

Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my ancestors save them the nations of Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel-assar?

"Look! The nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are reckoned as dust on the scales. Look! He even lifts up the islands like powder!

All the nations are as nothing before him they are reckoned by him as nothing and chaos.

Who has aroused victory from the east, and has summoned it to his service, and has handed over nations to him? Who brings down kings, and turns them into dust with his sword, into windblown stubble with his bow?

"I've called you in righteousness. I'll take hold of your hand. I'll preserve you and appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light for the nations,

Since you're precious in my sight and honored, and because I love you, I'm giving up people in your place, and nations in exchange for your life."

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the nations be assembled. "Who is there among them who can declare this, or announce the former things? Let them produce their witnesses to prove them right, and let them proclaim so people will say, "It's true.'

This is what the LORD says to his anointed, Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, as I strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him and gates that cannot keep closed:

"Gather together and come; draw near and enter, your fugitives from the nations. Those who carry around their wooden idols know nothing, nor do those who keep praying to a god that cannot save.

he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Israel and bring back those of Jacob I have preserved. I'll also make you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.

"For this what the LORD says, "Watch! I'll lift up my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the nations. They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.'

"Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my nation! For instruction will go out from me, and my justice will become a light for the nations.

I will quickly bring my deliverance near; my salvation is on the way. His arm will bring justice to the nations; the coastlands will hope for him, and they will wait for his arm.

The LORD has bared his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

so will he startle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths at him; for what had not been told them they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.

For you will spread out to the right hand and to the left, and your descendants will possess the nations and will populate the deserted towns.

"Look! I have made him a witness to the nations, a leader and commander of the nations.

Nations will come to your light, and kings before your dawn.

Then you will look and be radiant; your heart will swell with joy, because the abundance of the seas will be diverted to you, and the riches of the nations will come to you.

Your gates will always stand open by day or night, and they will not be shut, so that nations will bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.

For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be utterly ruined.

You'll suck the milk of nations, You'll suck the breasts of kings. Then you will realize that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

But as for you, you will be called priests of the LORD, and you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of the nations, and you will boast about their riches.

Your offspring will be known among the nations, and your descendants among the people. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed."

For just as the soil brings forth its shoots, and as a garden makes what is sown within it spring up, so the LORD God will make righteousness and praise spring up before all the nations for Zion's sake."

The nations will see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and people will call you by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

"Pass through the gates! prepare the way for the people! Build up! Build up the highway! Clear it of stumbling stones, speak among the nations.

just as fire sets twigs ablaze and the fire causes water to boil to make known your name to your enemies, yes, to your enemies before you, so that the nations might quake at your presence!

This is what the LORD says: "See, I will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; and you will nurse, and you will be carried on her hip, and bounced upon her knees.

"But as for me, I know their actions and their thoughts. Come and gather all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory.

"I will put up signs among them, and from them I will send survivors to the nations to Tarshish, Libya, and Lydia, (who draw the bow), to Tubal and Greece, to the far off coastlands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. Then they will proclaim my glory among the nations.

They will bring all yes, all! of your kindred from all the nations to my holy mountain Jerusalem as an offering to the LORD on horses, in chariots, in wagons, and on mules yes, even on mules! and on camels," says the LORD, "just as the Israelis bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the LORD's house.

"I knew you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart for me before you were born; I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations."

See, today I've appointed you to prophesy about nations and kingdoms, to pull up and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

At that time people will call Jerusalem, "The Throne of the LORD," and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. They'll no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.

"I said, "How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.' I said, "You will call me, my father, and won't turn back from following me.'

If you swear, "as surely as the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations will be blessed by him, and in him they will boast."

A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruined, and without inhabitants.

"Tell the nations, "Here they come!' Proclaim to Jerusalem, "The besieging forces are coming from a distant land. They cry out against the cities of Judah.

Therefore, hear, nations, and know, congregation, what will happen to them.

I'll scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I'll pursue them with the sword until I've finished them off."

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the people of Ammon, Moab, all those who live in the desert and shave the corners of their beard; indeed all the other nations that are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel that is uncircumcised of heart."

This is what the LORD says: "Don't learn the way of the nations, and don't be terrified by signs in the heavens, though the nations are terrified of them.

Who wouldn't fear you, king of the nations? This is what you deserve! Indeed, among all the wise men of the nations, and throughout all their kingdoms, there is no one like you!

The LORD is the true God; he's the living God and the everlasting king. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.

Pour out your anger on the nations that don't acknowledge you, and on the families that don't call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured and consumed him; they have devastated his habitation.

Can any of the worthless gods of the nations make it rain? Can the heavens themselves bring forth showers? Aren't you the one who does this, LORD our God? So we hope in you, for you are the one who does all these things.

LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in a time of difficulty, to you the nations will come, and from the ends of the earth they'll say, "Surely our ancestors inherited deception, things that are worthless, and in which there is no profit."

"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "Ask the nations. Who has ever heard of anything like this? You have done a most horrible thing, virgin Israel.

"Many nations will pass by this city and say to one another, "Why did the LORD do this to this great city?'

I'm now sending for all the tribes from the north, declares the LORD, and for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I'll bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I'll utterly destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting desolation.

This entire land will be a desolation and a waste, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

I'll bring on that land all the things I spoke against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied about the nations.

Indeed many nations and great kings will make slaves even of them, and I'll repay them according to their deeds, according to what they have done.'"

For this is what the LORD God of Israel says to me, "Take this cup of the wine of burning anger from my hand and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.

So I took the cup from the LORD's hand, and I made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it:

A tumult reaches to the ends of the earth because the LORD is bringing an indictment against the nations. He judges all flesh. He has given the wicked over to the sword,' declares the LORD.

then I'll make this house like Shiloh and make this city into a curse to all the nations of the earth.'"'"

All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until his country's time also comes, and then many nations and great kings will use him as a slave.

Hananiah, in front of all the people, said, "This is what the LORD says: "In the same way, within two years, I'll break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.'" Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: "I've put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. They'll serve him, and I've even given the wild animals to him."'"

I'll be found by you,' declares the LORD, "and I'll restore your security and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I've driven you,' declares the LORD. "I'll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.'

I'll pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague, and I'll make them a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. I'll make them a curse, an object of horror, and scorn, and a desolation in all the nations to which I've driven them,

For I'll be with you to save you,' declares the LORD. "For I'll put an end to all the nations where I scattered you; but I won't make an end of you. I'll discipline you justly, but I certainly won't leave you unpunished.'