'Against' in the Bible

For, behold, I will call all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “and they will come and each one will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah [as My judicial act, the consequence of Judah’s deliberate disobedience].

I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

Now behold, I have made you today like a fortified city and like an iron pillar and like bronze walls against the whole land—against the [successive] kings of Judah, against its leaders, against its priests, and against the people of the land [giving you divine strength which no hostile power can overcome].

They will fight against you, but they will not [ultimately] prevail over you, for I am with you [always] to protect you and deliver you,” says the Lord.

“[Even] the priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’And those who deal with the law [given to Moses] did not know Me.The rulers and shepherds also transgressed against Me,And the prophets prophesied by [the authority and in the name of] BaalAnd walked after [idolatrous] things that did not benefit [them].

“Why do you complain and contend with Me?You have all rebelled (transgressed) against Me,” says the Lord.

Yet you keep saying, ‘I am innocent;Surely His anger has turned away from me.’Behold (listen very carefully), I will bring you to judgment and will plead my case against youBecause you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

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.

‘Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt,That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the Lord your GodAnd have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree,And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor and humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the barren heights in the wilderness [comes at My command] against the daughter of My people—not [a wind] to winnow and not to cleanse [from chaff, as when threshing, but]

a wind too strong and full for this comes at My word. Now I will also speak judgment against My people.”

“Warn the [neighboring] nations now [that our enemy is coming]!Announce to Jerusalem,‘Besiegers are coming from a far country,And they lift their voices and shout against the cities of Judah.

‘Like watchmen of a field they are against her on all sides,Because she has rebelled against Me,’ says the Lord.

Therefore a lion from the forest will kill them,A wolf of the deserts will destroy them,A leopard is watching their cities.Everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,Because their transgressions are many,Their desertions of faith are countless.

“For the house of Israel and the house of JudahHave dealt very treacherously (faithlessly) with Me,” declares the Lord.

‘Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.‘Do you not tremble [in awe] in My presence?For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,An eternal decree and a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass.Though the waves [of the sea] toss and break, yet they cannot prevail [against the sand ordained to hold them back];Though the waves and the billows roar, yet they cannot cross over [the barrier].[Is not such a God to be feared?]

‘But this people has a stubborn heart and a rebellious will [that draws them away from Me];They have turned away and have gone [into idolatry].

“Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;They will pitch their tents all around her;They will pasture, each one in his place [eating up all her rich grasses].

“[They shout], ‘Prepare for war against her;Arise, let us [take her by surprise and] attack her at noon.But alas, the daylight pales,The evening shadows grow long.

For the Lord of hosts has said,“Cut down her treesAnd build a siege [mound] against Jerusalem.This is the city which must be punished;There is nothing but oppression inside her [walls].

“Their houses shall be turned over to others,Their fields and their wives together;For I will stretch out My handAgainst the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord.

Therefore, thus says the Lord,“Behold, I am laying stumbling blocks before this people.The fathers and the sons togetherWill stumble against them;The neighbor and his friend will perish.”

“They seize bow and spear;They are cruel and inhuman and have no mercy.Their voice sounds like the roaring sea;They ride [in formation] on horses,Arrayed as a man for battleAgainst you, O Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem)!”

They are all the worst [kind] of [stiff-necked, godless] rebels,Going around spreading slander.They are [not gold and silver ore, but] bronze and iron;They are all corrupt.

Why are we sitting still [the people wonder]?Assemble yourselves, and let us enter the fortified citiesAnd let us die there,For the Lord our God has decreed our ruinAnd given us bitter and poisonous water to drink,Because we have sinned against the Lord.

Oh, that I (Jeremiah) could find comfort from my sorrow [for my grief is beyond healing],My heart is sick and faint within me!

For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil and horror against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me [to anger] by offering sacrifices and burning incense to Baal.

But I was like a gentle and tame lamb brought to the slaughter;And I did not know that they had devised plots and schemes against me, saying,“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;Let us cut him off from the land of the living,That his name be remembered no longer.”

You, O Lord are [uncompromisingly] righteous and consistently just when I plead my case with You;Yet let me discuss issues of justice with You:Why has the way of the wicked prospered?Why are those who deal in treachery (deceit) at ease and thriving?

“My inheritance has become to MeLike a lion in the forest;She has raised her voice and roared against Me;So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.

“Is My inheritance like a speckled bird of prey to Me [unlike the others]?Are the birds of prey (enemies) surrounding her on every side?Go, gather all the [wild] beasts of the field;Bring them to devour [her]!

Thus says the Lord regarding all My evil neighbors (Gentile nations) who strike at the inheritance which I have granted to My people Israel, “Behold, I will uproot them from their land and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.

I will smash them one against another, both the fathers and the sons together,” says the Lord. “I shall destroy them [nothing will restrain Me]; I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion.”’”

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!For our backslidings are countless;We have sinned against You.

We know and acknowledge, O Lord,Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.

“You have abandoned (rejected) Me,” says the Lord.“You keep going backward.Therefore I shall stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;I am tired of delaying [your punishment]!

“I will make their widows more numerous before MeThan the sand of the seas;I will bring against them, against the mother of the young men,A destroyer at noonday;I will suddenly cause anguish and terrorTo fall on her.

“And I will make you to this peopleA fortified wall of bronze;They will fight against you,But they will not prevail over you,For I am with you [always] to save youAnd protect you,” says the Lord.

“Now when you tell these people all these words and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed all this great tragedy against us? And what is our iniquity, what is the sin which we have committed against the Lord our God?’

Now then, say to the men of Judah and to the citizens of Jerusalem, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am shaping a disaster and working out a plan against you. Turn back, each of you from his evil way; correct your habits and change your actions for the better.”’

Then [my enemies] said, “Come and let us work out schemes against Jeremiah. Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest [as Jeremiah predicts], nor the counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us strike him with our tongue [by making charges against him before the king], and let us ignore anything he says.”

Yet You, O Lord, knowAll their deadly plotting against me;Do not forgive their wickednessOr blot out their sin from Your sight.But let them be overthrown before You;Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to bring on this city and on all its towns, all the devastation that I have declared against it, because they have become stiff-necked and refused to hear and obey My words.’”

For I have heard the whispering and defaming words of many,“Terror on every side!Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”All my familiar and trusted friends,[Those who are] watching for my fall, say,“Perhaps he will be persuaded and deceived; then we will overcome him,And take our revenge on him.”

“Please inquire of the Lord for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal [favorably] with us according to all His wonderful works and force him to withdraw from us.”

‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, [those] with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the center of this city (Jerusalem).

I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm in anger, in fury, and in great indignation and wrath.

For I have set My face against this city to do harm and not good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire.”’

“Understand this, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley,O rock of the plain,” says the Lord—“You who say, ‘Who will come down against us?Or who will enter into our dwelling places?’

“For I will prepare and appoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you,Each with his weapons;And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedarsAnd throw them in the fire.

Concerning the prophets:My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me,All my bones shake;I have become like a drunken man,A man whom wine has overcome,Because of the LordAnd because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].

Therefore behold (hear this), I am against the [counterfeit] prophets,” says the Lord, “[I am descending on them with punishment, these prophets] who steal My words from one another [imitating the words of the true prophets].

Hear this, I am against the prophets,” says the Lord, “who use their [own deceitful] tongues and say, ‘Thus says the Lord.’

Hear this, I am against those who have prophesied false and made-up dreams,” says the Lord, “and have told them and have made My people err and go astray by their lies and by their reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them nor do they benefit and enhance [the life of] these people in the slightest way,” says the Lord.

behold (hear this), I will send for all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant [to enact My plan], and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these surrounding nations; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing [that is, an object of warning and ridicule] and an everlasting desolation.

I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations.

For behold, I am beginning to work disaster in the city which is called by My Name, and shall you go unpunished? You will not be exempt from punishment, for I am calling for a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’

“Therefore prophesy all these words against them and say to them:‘The Lord will roar from on highAnd utter His voice from His holy dwelling;He will roar mightily against His fold and pasture.He will jubilantly shout like those who tread the grapes [in the wine press],Against all the inhabitants of the earth.

‘A noise has come to the end of the earth,For the Lord has a controversy with and an indictment against the nations.He is entering into judgment with all mankind;As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ says the Lord.”

Then the priests and the [false] prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “This man is deserving of death, for he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears.”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

Therefore, now change your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.

“Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put Micah to death? Did he not [reverently] fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord? And did not the Lord relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But [here] we are [thinking of] committing a great evil against ourselves.”

And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land in words similar to all those of Jeremiah.

The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times prophesied against many lands and against great kingdoms, of war and of disaster and of virulent disease.

Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and counseled rebellion against the Lord.’”

therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He will not have anyone [born] to live among this people, nor will he see the good that I am about to do to My people,” says the Lord, “because he has spoken and preached rebellion against the Lord.”’”

“Is Ephraim My dear son?Is he a darling and beloved child?For as often as I have spoken against him,I certainly still remember him.Therefore My affection is renewed and My heart longs for him;I will surely have mercy on him,” says the Lord.

and he will lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him [for evaluation and judgment],” says the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed”’?”

See the siege ramps [of mounded earth that the enemy has built against the walls]; they have come up to the city to capture it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans [of Babylon] who fight against it, because of the sword, the famine and the virulent disease [that have overcome the people]. What You have spoken has come to pass, and behold, You see it.

The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will come in and set this city on fire and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs incense has been offered to Baal and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods to provoke Me to anger.

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah which are torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword,

‘While they (the besieged Jews) are coming to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, for I have hidden My face [in disgust] from this city because of all their wickedness.

I will cleanse them from all their wickedness (guilt) by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon (forgive) all their sins by which they rebelled against Me.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his sovereignty and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all of its cities:

when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, against Lachish and Azekah, for these were the [only] fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

Behold, I am going to command [the Chaldeans who rule Babylon],’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and set it on fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.’”

But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans [who rule Babylon] and for fear of the army of the Arameans.’ So we have lived in Jerusalem.”

Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold (hear this), I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened, and I have called to them, but they have not answered.’”

“Take a scroll [of parchment] and write on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel and Judah, and all the nations, from the day I [first] spoke to you in the days of [King] Josiah until this day.

It may be that their supplication [for mercy] will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”

I will also punish him and his descendants and his servants for their wickedness, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the destruction that I have declared against them—but they would not listen.”’”

And the Chaldeans [of Babylon] will come again and fight against this city, and they will capture it and set it on fire.”’

For even if you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only the wounded men among them, yet they would rise up, every man confined in his tent, and burn down this city with fire.’”

Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “In what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land?’

Then King Zedekiah [fearing the princes] said, “Listen, he is in your hand; for the king is in no position to do anything against you.”

‘Then behold, all the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon and those women will say [to you, King Zedekiah],“Your close friendsHave prevailed against your better judgment and have overpowered and deceived you;While your feet were sunk in the mire [of trouble],They turned back.”

Now regarding the capture of Jerusalem: In the ninth year of [the reign of] Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it;

“Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words [of judgment] against this city through disaster and not for good; and they will take place before you on that day.

Now the Lord has brought it about and has done just as He promised. Because you [people of Judah] have sinned against the Lord and did not listen to and honor His voice, therefore this thing has happened to you.

Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we fail to act in accordance with all the things that the Lord your God sends you to tell us.

that you have deceived yourselves; for you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, “Pray for us to the Lord our God; and whatever the Lord our God says, declare it to us and we will do it.”

But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they may [either] put us to death or exile us to Babylon.”

Therefore now thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, “Why did you commit this great evil against yourselves [bringing disaster] that will cut off from you man and woman, child and infant, out of Judah, leaving yourselves without a remnant?

“Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe—even to cut off (destroy) all Judah [from the land].

Because you have burned sacrifices [to idols] and because you have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law and in His statutes and in His testimonies, therefore this tragedy has fallen on you, as it has this day.”

And this will be the sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.’

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the [Gentile] nations.