'Things' in the Bible

Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things—do not all go to one place?”

Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.

Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things;Let this be known throughout the earth.

You turn things around!Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

“O Lord, by these things men live,And in all these is the life of my spirit;O restore me to health and let me live!

Declare the things that are going to come afterward,That we may know that you are gods;Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

“Behold, the former things have come to pass,Now I declare new things;Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

“I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,In paths they do not know I will guide them.I will make darkness into light before themAnd rugged places into plains.These are the things I will do,And I will not leave them undone.”

You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;Your ears are open, but none hears.

All the nations have gathered togetherSo that the peoples may be assembled.Who among them can declare thisAnd proclaim to us the former things?Let them present their witnesses that they may be justified,Or let them hear and say, “It is true.”

“Do not call to mind the former things,Or ponder things of the past.

‘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.

Those who fashion a graven image are all of them futile, and their precious things are of no profit; even their own witnesses fail to see or know, so that they will be put to shame.

“Remember these things, O Jacob,And Israel, for you are My servant;I have formed you, you are My servant,O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb,“I, the Lord, am the maker of all things,Stretching out the heavens by MyselfAnd spreading out the earth all alone,

Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,And you shall commit to Me the work of My hands.

“I have not spoken in secret,In some dark land;I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,‘Seek Me in a waste place’;I, the Lord, speak righteousness,Declaring things that are upright.

Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over;Their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle.The things that you carry are burdensome,A load for the weary beast.

“Remember the former things long past,For I am God, and there is no other;I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,And from ancient times things which have not been done,Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;

“Yet you said, ‘I will be a queen forever.’These things you did not considerNor remember the outcome of them.

“But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day:Loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in full measureIn spite of your many sorceries,In spite of the great power of your spells.

“I declared the former things long agoAnd they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them.Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.

“You have heard; look at all this.And you, will you not declare it?I proclaim to you new things from this time,Even hidden things which you have not known.

“Assemble, all of you, and listen!Who among them has declared these things?The Lord loves him; he will carry out His good pleasure on Babylon,And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.

These two things have befallen you;Who will mourn for you?The devastation and destruction, famine and sword;How shall I comfort you?

“Among the smooth stones of the ravineIs your portion, they are your lot;Even to them you have poured out a drink offering,You have made a grain offering.Shall I relent concerning these things?

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,And as a garden causes the things sown in it to spring up,So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praiseTo spring up before all the nations.

When You did awesome things which we did not expect,You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.

Our holy and beautiful house,Where our fathers praised You,Has been burned by fire;And all our precious things have become a ruin.

Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O Lord?Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

“For My hand made all these things,Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.“But to this one I will look,To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.

“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.

“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens,Following one in the center,Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice,Will come to an end altogether,” declares the Lord.

“I brought you into the fruitful landTo eat its fruit and its good things.But you came and defiled My land,And My inheritance you made an abomination.

“The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’And those who handle the law did not know Me;The rulers also transgressed against Me,And the prophets prophesied by BaalAnd walked after things that did not profit.

“Also on your skirts is foundThe lifeblood of the innocent poor;You did not find them breaking in.But in spite of all these things,

‘Will He be angry forever?Will He be indignant to the end?’Behold, you have spokenAnd have done evil things,And you have had your way.”

I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

“If you will return, O Israel,” declares the Lord,“Then you should return to Me.And if you will put away your detested things from My presence,And will not waver,

“Your ways and your deedsHave brought these things to you.This is your evil. How bitter!How it has touched your heart!”

It shall come about when they say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the Lord, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer,

For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the Lord, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

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

but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

“For even your brothers and the household of your father,Even they have dealt treacherously with you,Even they have cried aloud after you.Do not believe them, although they may say nice things to you.”

“If you say in your heart,‘Why have these things happened to me?’Because of the magnitude of your iniquityYour skirts have been removedAnd your heels have been exposed.

Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain?Or can the heavens grant showers?Is it not You, O Lord our God?Therefore we hope in You,For You are the one who has done all these things.

O Lord, my strength and my stronghold,And my refuge in the day of distress,To You the nations will comeFrom the ends of the earth and say,“Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood,Futility and things of no profit.”

When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

I will also give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.

When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

‘Why do you cry out over your injury?Your pain is incurable.Because your iniquity is greatAnd your sins are numerous,I have done these things to you.

But they put their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it.

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh,’ declares the Lord, ‘but I will give your life to you as booty in all the places where you may go.’”

In the days of her affliction and homelessnessJerusalem remembers all her precious thingsThat were from the days of old,When her people fell into the hand of the adversaryAnd no one helped her.The adversaries saw her,They mocked at her ruin.

The adversary has stretched out his handOver all her precious things,For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,The ones whom You commandedThat they should not enter into Your congregation.

All her people groan seeking bread;They have given their precious things for foodTo restore their lives themselves.“See, O Lord, and look,For I am despised.”

“For these things I weep;My eyes run down with water;Because far from me is a comforter,One who restores my soul.My children are desolateBecause the enemy has prevailed.”

To defraud a man in his lawsuit—Of these things the Lord does not approve.

Because of this our heart is faint,Because of these things our eyes are dim;

They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them.

So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around.

When they come there, they will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.

But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God.

Then I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

“How languishing is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot.

Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.

“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Say, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and princes and brought them to him in Babylon.

But he rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt that they might give him horses and many troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant and escape?

Now he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and behold, he pledged his allegiance, yet did all these things; he shall not escape.’”

“Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother

(though he himself did not do any of these things), that is, he even eats at the mountain shrines, and defiles his neighbor’s wife,

I said to them, ‘Cast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.’

But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and play the harlot after their detestable things?

For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will accept them and there I will seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things.

There you will remember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil things that you have done.

You have despised My holy things and profaned My sabbaths.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her.

Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

These things will be done to you because you have played the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.

The people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things that you are doing mean for us?”

They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God.

The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse and every wall will fall to the ground.

Then he said to me, “The north chambers and the south chambers, which are opposite the separate area, they are the holy chambers where the priests who are near to the Lord shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering; for the place is holy.

And you have not kept charge of My holy things yourselves, but you have set foreigners to keep charge of My sanctuary.”

And they shall not come near to Me to serve as a priest to Me, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they will bear their shame and their abominations which they have committed.

“It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;He knows what is in the darkness,And the light dwells with Him.

Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.

I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.

But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels.

“In that day I will also make a covenant for themWith the beasts of the field,The birds of the skyAnd the creeping things of the ground.And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land,And will make them lie down in safety.

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;Whoever is discerning, let him know them.For the ways of the Lord are right,And the righteous will walk in them,But transgressors will stumble in them.

“But I will remove the northern army far from you,And I will drive it into a parched and desolate land,And its vanguard into the eastern sea,And its rear guard into the western sea.And its stench will arise and its foul smell will come up,For it has done great things.”