'People' in the Bible

You have freed me from the feuds among my people;You have appointed me the head of nations;a people I had not known serve me.

The God of Israel spoke;the Rock of Israel said to me,“The one who rules the people with justice,who rules in the fear of God,

The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and He stirred up David against them to say: “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.”

Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough, withdraw your hand now!” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, “Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and my father’s family.”

Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted.”

Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the ram’s horn, and all the people proclaimed, “Long live King Solomon!”

All the people followed him, playing flutes and rejoicing with such a great joy that the earth split open from the sound.

However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for the Lord’s name had not been built.

Your servant is among Your people You have chosen, a people too numerous to be numbered or counted.

So give Your servant an obedient heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.

People came from everywhere, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.

When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he greatly rejoiced and said, “May the Lord be praised today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!”

not including his 3,300 deputies in charge of the work. They ruled over the people doing the work.

I will live among the Israelites and not abandon My people Israel.”

“Since the day I brought My people Israel out of Egypt,I have not chosen a city to build a temple inamong any of the tribes of Israel,so that My name would be there.But I have chosen David to rule My people Israel.”

Hear the petition of Your servantand Your people Israel,which they pray toward this place.May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven.May You hear and forgive.

When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy,because they have sinned against You,and they return to You and praise Your name,and they pray and plead with Youfor mercy in this temple,

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your people Israel.May You restore them to the landYou gave their ancestors.

may You hear in heavenand forgive the sin of Your servantsand Your people Israel,so that You may teach them the good waythey should walk in.May You send rain on Your landthat You gave Your people for an inheritance.

whatever prayer or petitionanyone from Your people Israel might have—each man knowing his own afflictionsand spreading out his hands toward this temple—

Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israelbut has come from a distant landbecause of Your name—

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place,and do according to all the foreigner asks You for.Then all the people on earth will know Your name,to fear You as Your people Israel doand know that this temple I have builtis called by Your name.

When Your people go out to fight against their enemies,wherever You send them,and they pray to Yahwehin the direction of the city You have chosenand the temple I have built for Your name,

May You forgive Your peoplewho sinned against Youand all their rebellions against You,and may You give them compassionin the eyes of their captors,so that they may be compassionate to them.

For they are Your people and Your inheritance;You brought them out of Egypt,out of the middle of an iron furnace.

May Your eyes be open to Your servant’s petitionand to the petition of Your people Israel,listening to them whenever they call to You.

For You, Lord God, have set them apart as Your inheritancefrom all the people on earth,as You spoke through Your servant Moseswhen You brought their ancestors out of Egypt.

“May the Lord be praised! He has given rest to His people Israel according to all He has said. Not one of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses has failed.

May my words I have made my petition with before the Lord be near the Lord our God day and night, so that He may uphold His servant’s cause and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires,

On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So they blessed the king and went home to their tents rejoicing and with joyful hearts for all the goodness that the Lord had done for His servant David and for His people Israel.

These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who ruled over the people doing the work.

Rehoboam replied, “Go home for three days and then return to me.” So the people left.

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to these people?”

They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to these people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”

He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”

Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us!’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins!

So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.”

Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him

The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the Lord to carry out His word, which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him:What portion do we have in David?We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.Israel, return to your tents;David, now look after your own house!So Israel went to their tents,

“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,

If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will murder me and go back to the king of Judah.”

So the king sought advice.Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here is your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”

This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.

Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and set up priests from every class of people who were not Levites.

After all this Jeroboam did not repent of his evil way but again set up priests for the high places from every class of people. He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places.

Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go disguise yourself, so they won’t know that you’re Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there; it was he who told about me becoming king over this people.

Go tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I raised you up from among the people, appointed you ruler over My people Israel,

For the Lord will strike Israel and the people will shake as a reed shakes in water. He will uproot Israel from this good soil that He gave to their ancestors. He will scatter them beyond the Euphrates because they made their Asherah poles, provoking the Lord.

“Because I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over My people Israel, but you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have caused My people Israel to sin, provoking Me with their sins,

At that time the people of Israel were divided: half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri.

However, the people who followed Omri proved stronger than those who followed Tibni son of Ginath. So Tibni died and Omri became king.

Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.” But the people didn’t answer him a word.

Then Elijah said to the people, “I am the only remaining prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Yahweh. The God who answers with fire, He is God.”All the people answered, “That sounds good.”

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near me.” So all the people approached him. Then he repaired the Lord’s altar that had been torn down:

Answer me, Lord! Answer me so that this people will know that You, Yahweh, are God and that You have turned their hearts back.”

When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!”

So he turned back from following him, took the team of oxen, and slaughtered them. With the oxen’s wooden yoke and plow, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he left, followed Elijah, and served him.

All the elders and all the people said to him, “Don’t listen or agree.”

Then Ben-hadad sent messengers to him and said, “May the gods punish me and do so severely if Samaria’s dust amounts to a handful for each of the people who follow me.”

The prophet said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Because you released from your hand the man I had set apart for destruction, it will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.’”

In the letters, she wrote:Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.

They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people.

The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him. Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.

So he asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to fight Ramoth-gilead?”Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

But Micaiah said, “If you ever return safely, the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you people!”

He walked in all the ways of his father Asa; he did not turn away from them but did what was right in the Lord’s sight. However, the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.

Then he sent a message to King Jehoshaphat of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?”Jehoshaphat said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

Then he said to Gehazi, “Say to her, ‘Look, you’ve gone to all this trouble for us. What can we do for you? Can we speak on your behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?’”She answered, “I am living among my own people.”

Then Elisha said, “Get some meal.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve it for the people to eat.” And there was nothing bad in the pot.

A man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with his sack full of 20 loaves of barley bread from the first bread of the harvest. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”

But Elisha’s attendant asked, “What? Am I to set 20 loaves before 100 men?”“Give it to the people to eat,” Elisha said, “for this is what the Lord says: ‘They will eat, and they will have some left over.’”

When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. Then, as he was passing by on the wall, the people saw that there was sackcloth under his clothes next to his skin.

Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp.It was then that six quarts of fine meal sold for a shekel and 12 quarts of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

The king had appointed the captain, his right-hand man, to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway. He died, just as the man of God had predicted when the king came to him.

This is what happened to him: the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

and Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?”He replied, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their little ones to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women.”

So Jehu got up and went into the house. The young prophet poured the oil on his head and said, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people, Israel.

The next morning when he went out and stood at the gate, he said to all the people, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who struck down all these?

Then Jehu brought all the people together and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him a lot.

When Athaliah heard the noise from the guard and the crowd, she went out to the people at the Lord’s temple.

As she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar according to the custom. The commanders and the trumpeters were by the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and screamed “Treason! Treason!”

Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people that they would be the Lord’s people and another covenant between the king and the people.

So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They broke its altars and images into pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, at the altars.Then Jehoiada the priest appointed guards for the Lord’s temple.

He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king from the Lord’s temple. They entered the king’s palace by way of the guards’ gate. Then Joash sat on the throne of the kings.

All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death by the sword in the king’s palace.

Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

So the priests agreed they would not take money from the people and they would not repair the temple’s damage.

Therefore, the Lord gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped from the power of the Arameans. Then the people of Israel dwelt in their tents as before,

Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was 16 years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.

The Lord afflicted the king, and he had a serious skin disease until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, while Jotham, the king’s son, was over the household governing the people of the land.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the land of Naphtali—and deported the people to Assyria.

Yet the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense on the high places.Jotham built the Upper Gate of the Lord’s temple.

So the king of Assyria listened to him and marched up to Damascus and captured it. He deported its people to Kir but put Rezin to death.

Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, and the king’s burnt offering and his grain offering. Also offer the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings. Sprinkle on the altar all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of sacrifice. The bronze altar will be for me to seek guidance.”