'Thing' in the Bible

He shall make restitution for the ewe lamb four times as much [as the lamb was worth], because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.’”

She replied, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this disgraceful thing!

So now, do not let my lord the king take the report to heart that all the king’s sons are dead; for Amnon alone is dead.”

The woman said, “Now why have you planned such a thing against God’s people? For in speaking this word the king is like a guilty man, in that the king does not bring back his banished one.

Now I came to speak of this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. So your maidservant thought, ‘I will just speak to the king; perhaps the king will do what his maidservant requests.

Then two hundred men from Jerusalem who were invited [as guests to his sacrificial feast] went with Absalom. They went innocently and knew nothing [about his plan against David].

And the woman [of the house] took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well and scattered grain on it; so nothing was discovered.

But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as there are, and let the eyes of my lord the king see it; but why does my lord the king want to do this thing?”

and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not follow other gods; but he did not observe (remember, obey) what the Lord had commanded.

‘Thus says the Lord, “You shall not go up and fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing has come about from Me.”’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and returned to go home, in accordance with the word of the Lord.

Now this thing became a sin [for Israel]; because the people went to worship before the one [or the other of them] as far as Dan.

After this event, Jeroboam [still] did not turn from his evil way, but again made priests for the high places from among all the people. He ordained anyone who was willing, so that there would be priests for the high places.

And this thing (idol worship) became the sin of the house of Jeroboam to blot it out and eliminate it from the face of the earth.

It came about, as if it had been a trivial thing for Ahab to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him.

So he said to Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘Every demand you first sent to your servant I will do, but I cannot do this [additional] thing [as a condition of peace].’” And the messengers left; then they brought him word again.

Do this: remove the [thirty-two allied] kings, each from his place, and put captains in their place,

He said, “You have asked for a difficult thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

This is but a simple thing in the sight of the Lord; He will also hand over the Moabites to you.

Then his servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he has said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’”

In this matter may the Lord pardon your servant: when my master [the king] goes into the house of [his god] Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand and I bow in the house of Rimmon, when I bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant in this matter [of attending the king when he worships].”

Now the heart of the king of Aram (Syria) was enraged over this thing. He called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me which of us is helping the king of Israel?”

Then the royal officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God and said, “If the Lord should make windows in heaven [for the rain], could this thing take place?” Elisha said, “Behold, you will see it with your own eyes, but [because you doubt] you will not eat of it.”

The royal officer had answered the man of God and said, “Now behold, [even] if the Lord should make windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And Elisha had answered, “You will see it with your own eyes, but [because of your doubt] you will not eat it.”

So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a gift with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

Then Hazael said, “Surely not! For what is your servant, who is nothing more than a dog, that he would do this monstrous thing?” And Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”

He commanded them, saying, “This is the thing that you shall do: a third of you who come in [reporting for duty] on the Sabbath shall keep watch over the king’s house

And they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

Isaiah said, “This will be the sign to you from the Lord, that He will do the thing that He has spoken: shall the shadow [indicating the time of day] go forward ten steps, or go backward ten steps?”

and he said, “Far be it from me before my God that I would do this thing! Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For they brought it at the risk of their lives.” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

Then all the assembly agreed to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.

This was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the standard and estate of a man of high degree (prominence), O Lord God.

And now, O Lord, You are God, and you have spoken and promised this good thing to Your servant.

Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. But now, I beseech You, take away the wickedness and guilt of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not go up nor fight against your brothers (countrymen); return, every man to his house, for this thing is from Me.”’” And they listened to and obeyed the words of the Lord and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

Then the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall [defeated] at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said this and another said that.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers [said Ezra], who put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to adorn and glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,

Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.

But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and regarded us with contempt and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”

Then I reprimanded the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing—profaning the Sabbath day?

Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows fifty cubits high made, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully to the banquet with the king.” And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter is proper in the king’s view and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote [in order] to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

“For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me,And that of which I am afraid has come upon me.

“Now a word was secretly brought to me,And my ear received a whisper of it.

“Oh that my request would come to pass,And that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,And the breath of all mankind?

While I waste away like a rotten thing,Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

“Who can make a clean thing out of the unclean?No one!

“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?

“You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you;And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.

“He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks;And his eye sees every precious thing.

“Man dams up the streams from flowing [so that they do not trickle into the mine],And what is hidden he brings out to the light.

“They (Job’s friends) are dismayed and embarrassed, they no longer answer;The words have moved away and failed them,” [says Elihu].

“He explores the mountains as his pastureAnd searches after every green thing.

“Lay your hand on him;Remember the battle [with him]; you will not do such [an ill-advised thing] again!

It came about that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him [and his prayer] so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.”

One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that I will seek:That I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life,To gaze upon the beauty [the delightful loveliness and majestic grandeur] of the LordAnd to meditate in His temple.

The young lions lack [food] and grow hungry,But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.

They repay evil for good, they attack and try to kill me,Because I follow what is good.

They devise acts of injustice, saying,“We are ready with a well-conceived plan.”For the inward thought and the heart of a man are deep (mysterious, unsearchable).

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;The Lord bestows grace and favor and honor;No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

“My covenant I will not violate,Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.

It is a good and delightful thing to give thanks to the Lord,To sing praises to Your name, O Most High,

I will set no worthless or wicked thing before my eyes.I hate the practice of those who fall away [from the right path];It will not grasp hold of me.

A perverse heart shall depart from me;I will not tolerate evil.

Do not incline my heart to [consent to or tolerate] any evil thing,Or to practice deeds of wickednessWith men who plan and do evil;And let me not eat of their delicacies (be tempted by their gain).

You open Your handAnd satisfy the desire of every living thing.

I also will laugh at your disaster;I will mock when your dread and panic come,

“The beginning of wisdom is: Get [skillful and godly] wisdom [it is preeminent]!And with all your acquiring, get understanding [actively seek spiritual discernment, mature comprehension, and logical interpretation].

What the wicked fears will come upon him,But the desire of the righteous [for the blessings of God] will be granted.

He who finds a [true and faithful] wife finds a good thingAnd obtains favor and approval from the Lord.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

He who is satisfied loathes honey,But to the hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet.

That which has been is that which will be [again],And that which has been done is that which will be done again.So there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which it can be said,“See this, it is new”?It has already existed for [the vast] ages [of time recorded or unrecorded]Which were before us.

For the [earthly] fate of the sons of men and the fate of animals is the same. As one dies, so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no preeminence or advantage for man [in and of himself] over an animal, for all is vanity.

The end of a matter is better than its beginning;Patience of spirit is better than haughtiness of spirit (pride).

“Behold, I have discovered this,” says the Preacher, “while adding one thing to another to find an explanation,

Who is like the wise man?And who knows the interpretation of a matter?A man’s wisdom illumines his face,And causes his stern face to beam.

Do not be in a hurry to get out of his presence. Do not join in a malevolent matter, for the king will do whatever he pleases.

Then I commended pleasure and enjoyment, because a man [without God] has no better thing under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be merry, for this will stand by him in his toil through the days of his life which God has given him under the sun.

The light is sweet and pleasant, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.

Furthermore, they are afraid of a high place and of dangers on the road; the almond tree (hair) blossoms [white], and the grasshopper (a little thing) is a burden, and the caperberry (desire, appetite) fails. For man goes to his eternal home and the mourners go about the streets and market places.

For God will bring every act to judgment, every hidden and secret thing, whether it is good or evil.

Then Isaiah said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too small a thing for you to try the patience of men, but will you try the patience of my God as well?

For the waters of Nimrim are desolate.Indeed the grass is withered, the new growth dies;There is no green thing.

You turn things upside down [with your perversity]!Shall the potter be considered equal with the clay,That the thing that is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;Or the thing that is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

“This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that He has spoken:

In fact, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;Now look, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing,Now it will spring forth;Will you not be aware of it?I will even put a road in the wilderness,Rivers in the desert.

That kind of man (the idolater) feeds on ashes [and is satisfied with ashes]! A deceived mind has led him astray, so that he cannot save himself, or ask, “Is this thing [that I am holding] in my right hand not a lie?”

He says, “It is too trivial a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;I will also make You a light to the nationsThat My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Depart, depart, go out from there (the lands of exile),Touch no unclean thing;Go out of the midst of her (Babylon), purify yourselves,You who carry the articles of the Lord [on your journey from there].

So will My word be which goes out of My mouth;It will not return to Me void (useless, without result),Without accomplishing what I desire,And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

“Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things?Can a land be born in one day?Or can a nation be brought forth in a moment?As soon as Zion was in labor, she also brought forth her sons.

“For cross over to the coasts of Kittim (Cyprus) [to the west] and see,Send also to Kedar (Arabia) [to the east] and carefully observe and considerAnd see whether there has been such [a thing] as this!

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

That is to say, “If a man divorces his wifeAnd she goes [away] from himAnd becomes another man’s [wife],Will he return to her again? [Of course not!]Will not that land [where such a thing happened] be completely desecrated?But you [rebelled against Me and you] are a prostitute with many lovers;Yet you turn to Me.” says the Lord.

“But the shameful act [of idolatry] has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.