'Wicked' in the Bible

But if you on your part warn the wicked man to turn from his [evil] way and he does not turn from his [evil] way, he will die in his sin; but you have saved your life.

Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back (change your way of thinking), turn back [in repentance] from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

And you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him in the day of his transgression; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stagger because of it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, whereas a righteous man will not be able to live because of his [previous acts of] righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’

But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will certainly die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices that which is just (fair) and right—

if a wicked man returns [what he took as] a pledge, pays back what he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes which ensure life, without committing injustice, he will certainly live; he will not die.

But when a wicked man turns back from his wickedness and practices what is just (fair) and right, he will live because of it.

I am not doing this for your sake,” says the Lord God. “Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your [wicked] ways, O house of Israel!”

Because of the transgression [of God’s people—their irreverence and ungodliness] the host will be given over to the wicked horn, along with the regular sacrifice; and righteousness and truth will be flung to the ground, and the horn will do as it pleases [by divine permission] and prosper.

Many will be purged, purified (made white) and refined, but the wicked will behave wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand, but those who are [spiritually] wise will understand.

“Are there not still treasures gained by wickednessIn the house of the wicked,And a short (inaccurate) measure [for grain] that is cursed?

“Can I [be guiltless and] justify deceptive scalesAnd a bag of dishonest weights?

“For [you have kept] the statutes of Omri [the idolatrous king],And all the works of the [wicked] house (dynasty) of Ahab;And you walk in their counsels and policies.Therefore, I shall hand you over for destruction and horrorAnd your [city’s] inhabitants for ridicule,And you shall bear the rebuke and scorn of My people.”

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news [telling of Assyria’s destruction],Who announces peace and prosperity!Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;Perform your vows.For the wicked one [the king of Assyria] will never again pass through you;He is completely cut off.

Therefore, the law is ineffective and ignoredAnd justice is never upheld,For the wicked surround the righteous;Therefore, justice becomes perverted.

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,And You cannot look favorably on wickedness.Why then do You look favorablyOn those who act treacherously?Why are you silent when the wicked (Chaldean oppressors) destroyThose more righteous than they?

“Woe (judgment is coming) to him who obtains wicked gain for his house [and thinks by so doing]To set his nest on high,That he may be rescued from the hand of evil.

You went forth for the salvation of Your people,For the salvation and rescue of Your anointed [people Israel].You struck the head from the house of the wickedTo lay him open from the thigh to the neck. Selah (pause, and calmly think of that).

“I will consume and sweep away man and beast;I will consume and sweep away the birds of the airAnd the fish of the sea,And the stumbling blocks (idols) along with the wicked;And I will cut off and destroy man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment [of a shepherd, but this time] of a foolish shepherd.

Though [impoverished] Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins.” Thus says the Lord of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the Wicked Territory, the people against whom the Lord is indignant forever.”

Then you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.

You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,” says the Lord of hosts.

so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].

Then as Jesus was reclining at the table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] came and ate with Him and His disciples.

The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, ‘Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]!’ Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by her deeds [in the lives of those who respond to Me].”

You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there. And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first. So will it also be with this wicked generation.”

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous

and throw the wicked into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping [over sorrow and pain] and grinding of teeth [over distress and anger].

An evil and [morally] unfaithful generation craves a [miraculous] sign; but no sign will be given to it, except the sign of [the prophet] Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

Then his master called him and said to him, ‘You wicked and contemptible slave, I forgave all that [great] debt of yours because you begged me.

But if that servant is evil and says in his heart, ‘My master is taking his time [he will not return for a long while],’

“But his master answered him, ‘You wicked, lazy servant, you knew that I reap [the harvest] where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter seed.

Then He returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Listen, the hour [of My sacrifice] is at hand and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners [whose way and nature is to oppose God].

When the scribes [belonging to the sect] of the Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with the sinners [including non-observant Jews] and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, “Why does He eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

For from within, [that is] out the heart of men, come base and malevolent thoughts and schemes, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders, adulteries,

But when Herod [Antipas] the tetrarch was repeatedly reprimanded [and convicted by John’s disapproval] for having Herodias, his brother’s wife [as his own], and for all the wicked things that Herod had done,

Blessed [morally courageous and spiritually alive with life-joy in God’s goodness] are you when people hate you, and exclude you [from their fellowship], and insult you, and scorn your name as evil because of [your association with] the Son of Man.

But love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; for your reward will be great (rich, abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High; because He Himself is kind and gracious and good to the ungrateful and the wicked.

The [intrinsically] good man produces what is good and honorable and moral out of the good treasure [stored] in his heart; and the [intrinsically] evil man produces what is wicked and depraved out of the evil [in his heart]; for his mouth speaks from the overflow of his heart.

Now there was a woman in the city who was [known as] a sinner; and when she found out that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume;

Now as the crowds were increasing [in number], He began to say, “This [present] generation is a wicked generation; it seeks a sign (attesting miracle), but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].

Now all the tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews] were coming near Jesus to listen to Him.

Both the Pharisees and the scribes began muttering and complaining, saying, “This man accepts and welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents [that is, changes his inner self—his old way of thinking, regrets past sins, lives his life in a way that proves repentance; and seeks God’s purpose for his life].”

But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’

He said to the servant, ‘I will judge and condemn you by your own words, you worthless servant! Did you [really] know that I was a stern man, picking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow?

For I tell you that this [Scripture] which is written must be completed and fulfilled in Me: ‘And He was counted with the criminals’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment [and is settled].”

The world cannot hate you [since you are part of it], but it does hate Me because I denounce it and testify that its deeds are evil.

So a second time they called the man who had been [born] blind, and said to him, “Give God glory and praise [for your sight]! We know this Man [Jesus] is a sinner [separated from God].”

Then he answered, “I do not know whether He is a sinner [separated from God]; but one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”

this Man, when handed over [to the Roman authorities] according to the predetermined decision and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross and put to death by the hands of lawless and godless men.

And Peter solemnly testified and continued to admonish and urge them with many more words, saying, “Be saved from this crooked and unjust generation!”

But the [unbelieving] Jews became jealous, and taking along some thugs from [the lowlifes in] the market place, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and then attacking Jason’s house tried to bring Paul and Silas out to the people.

God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].

who gave Himself [as a sacrifice to atone] for our sins [to save and sanctify us] so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father—

Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

so that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish in the midst of a [morally] crooked and [spiritually] perverted generation, among whom you are seen as bright lights [beacons shining out clearly] in the world [of darkness],

And although you were at one time estranged and alienated and hostile-minded [toward Him], participating in evil things,

and by unlimited seduction to evil and with all the deception of wickedness for those who are perishing, because they did not welcome the love of the truth [of the gospel] so as to be saved [they were spiritually blind, and rejected the truth that would have saved them].

and [pray] that we will be rescued from perverse and evil men; for not everyone has the faith.

But evil men and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God.

And if it is difficult for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the godless and the sinner?

(for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts),

Therefore, [let me warn you] beloved, knowing these things beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men [who distort doctrine] and fall from your own steadfastness [of mind, knowledge, truth, and faith],

I am writing to you, fathers [those believers who are spiritually mature], because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men [those believers who are growing in spiritual maturity], because you have been victorious and have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children [those who are new believers, those spiritually immature], because you have come to know the Father.

I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has existed from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and vigorous, and the word of God remains [always] in you, and you have been victorious over the evil one [by accepting Jesus as Savior].

and not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother [Abel]. And why did he murder him? Because Cain’s deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

We know [with confidence] that anyone born of God does not habitually sin; but He (Jesus) who was born of God [carefully] keeps and protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the adjacent cities, since they in the same way as these angels indulged in gross immoral freedom and unnatural vice and sensual perversity. They are exhibited [in plain sight] as an example in undergoing the punishment of everlasting fire.

‘I know your deeds and your toil, and your patient endurance, and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and have tested and critically appraised those who call themselves apostles (special messengers, personally chosen representatives, of Christ), and [in fact] are not, and have found them to be liars and impostors;

and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their anguish and their sores (abscesses, boils); and they did not repent of what they had done nor hate their wickedness.

Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy (vile, impure), still be filthy; and the one who is righteous (just, upright), still be righteous; and the one who is holy, still be holy.”