'Wicked' in the Bible

The wicked is a ransom for the righteous,And the treacherous is in the place of the upright.

The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination,How much more when he brings it with evil intent!

A wicked man displays a bold face,But as for the upright, he makes his way sure.

Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;Do not destroy his resting place;

For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,But the wicked stumble in time of calamity.

Do not fret because of evildoersOr be envious of the wicked;

For there will be no future for the evil man;The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

He who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,”Peoples will curse him, nations will abhor him;

But to those who rebuke the wicked will be delight,And a good blessing will come upon them.

Take away the wicked before the king,And his throne will be established in righteousness.

Like a trampled spring and a polluted wellIs a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

Like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver drossAre burning lips and a wicked heart.

The wicked flee when no one is pursuing,But the righteous are bold as a lion.

Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,But those who keep the law strive with them.

When the righteous triumph, there is great glory,But when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

Like a roaring lion and a rushing bearIs a wicked ruler over a poor people.

When the wicked rise, men hide themselves;But when they perish, the righteous increase.

When the righteous increase, the people rejoice,But when a wicked man rules, people groan.

The righteous is concerned for the rights of the poor,The wicked does not understand such concern.

If a ruler pays attention to falsehood,All his ministers become wicked.

When the wicked increase, transgression increases;But the righteous will see their fall.

An unjust man is abominable to the righteous,And he who is upright in the way is abominable to the wicked.

I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.

I have seen everything during my lifetime of futility; there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his wickedness.

Do not be excessively wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time?

So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are soon forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.

There is futility which is done on the earth, that is, there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the wicked. On the other hand, there are evil men to whom it happens according to the deeds of the righteous. I say that this too is futility.

It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers a sacrifice and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as the swearer is, so is the one who is afraid to swear.

the beginning of his talking is folly and the end of it is wicked madness.

Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,For what he deserves will be done to him.

Who justify the wicked for a bribe,And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!

But with righteousness He will judge the poor,And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth;And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

Thus I will punish the world for its evilAnd the wicked for their iniquity;I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proudAnd abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.

“The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,The scepter of rulers

Though the wicked is shown favor,He does not learn righteousness;He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.

As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;He devises wicked schemesTo destroy the afflicted with slander,Even though the needy one speaks what is right.

“There is no peace for the wicked,” says the Lord.

His grave was assigned with wicked men,Yet He was with a rich man in His death,Because He had done no violence,Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

Let the wicked forsake his wayAnd the unrighteous man his thoughts;And let him return to the Lord,And He will have compassion on him,And to our God,For He will abundantly pardon.

But the wicked are like the tossing sea,For it cannot be quiet,And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

“Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

“How well you prepare your wayTo seek love!Therefore even the wicked womenYou have taught your ways.

Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,That you may be saved.How long will your wicked thoughtsLodge within you?

‘For wicked men are found among My people,They watch like fowlers lying in wait;They set a trap,They catch men.

The bellows blow fiercely,The lead is consumed by the fire;In vain the refining goes on,But the wicked are not separated.

Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You;Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:Why has the way of the wicked prospered?Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?

Thus says the Lord concerning all My wicked neighbors who strike at the inheritance with which I have endowed My people Israel, “Behold I am about to uproot them from their land and will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

This wicked people, who refuse to listen to My words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have gone after other gods to serve them and to bow down to them, let them be just like this waistband which is totally worthless.

“So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked,And I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent.”

“Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath,Even a whirling tempest;It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.

‘A clamor has come to the end of the earth,Because the Lord has a controversy with the nations.He is entering into judgment with all flesh;As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the Lord.”

Behold, the tempest of the Lord!Wrath has gone forth,A sweeping tempest;It will burst on the head of the wicked.

When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.

Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself.

I will give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it.

And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.”

Because you disheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him grief, but have encouraged the wicked not to turn from his wicked way and preserve his life,

The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.

“But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,” declares the Lord God, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?

“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.

Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.

and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am against you; and I will draw My sword out of its sheath and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword will go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north.

And you, O slain, wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end,’

while they see for you false visions, while they divine lies for you—to place you on the necks of the wicked who are slain, whose day has come, in the time of the punishment of the end.

When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand.

But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares 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, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’

And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’

But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness,

if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them.

“And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have been wicked.

Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.

But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.

When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

“Is there yet a man in the wicked house,Along with treasures of wickednessAnd a short measure that is cursed?

“Can I justify wicked scalesAnd a bag of deceptive weights?

From you has gone forthOne who plotted evil against the Lord,A wicked counselor.

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news,Who announces peace!Celebrate your feasts, O Judah;Pay your vows.For never again will the wicked one pass through you;He is cut off completely.

Therefore the law is ignoredAnd justice is never upheld.For the wicked surround the righteous;Therefore justice comes out perverted.

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil,And You can not look on wickedness with favor.Why do You look with favorOn those who deal treacherously?Why are You silent when the wicked swallow upThose more righteous than they?

“I will remove man and beast;I will remove the birds of the skyAnd the fish of the sea,And the ruins along with the wicked;And I will cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord.

Though 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, and the people toward whom the Lord is indignant forever.”

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

You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.

Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous,

Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

“But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.

But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done,

As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.

For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

But the Jews, becoming jealous and taking along some wicked men from the market place, formed a mob and set the city in an uproar; and attacking the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring them out to the people.

having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.

But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren, either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church.