'Behind' in the Bible

One of them said, "I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!" (Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, not far behind him.

Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.

When they had brought them outside, they said, "Run for your lives! Don't look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!"

Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

then you must say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They have been sent as a gift to my lord Esau. In fact Jacob himself is behind us.'"

You must also say, 'In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.'" Jacob thought, "I will first appease him by sending a gift ahead of me. After that I will meet him. Perhaps he will accept me."

He put the servants and their children in front, with Leah and her children behind them, and Rachel and Joseph behind them.

Our livestock must also go with us! Not a hoof is to be left behind! For we must take these animals to serve the Lord our God. Until we arrive there, we do not know what we must use to serve the Lord."

The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them.

You are to hang this curtain under the clasps and bring the ark of the testimony in there behind the curtain. The curtain will make a division for you between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place.

The families of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle toward the west.

and commanded the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, you must leave here and walk behind it.

But stay about three thousand feet behind it. Keep your distance so you can see which way you should go, for you have not traveled this way before."

When Joshua gave the army its orders, the seven priests carrying the seven rams' horns before the Lord moved ahead and blew the horns as the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed behind.

Armed troops marched ahead of the priests blowing the horns, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark blowing rams' horns.

The seven priests carrying the seven rams' horns before the ark of the Lord marched along blowing their horns. Armed troops marched ahead of them, while the rear guard followed along behind the ark of the Lord blowing rams' horns.

Do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king, except you may plunder its goods and cattle. Set an ambush behind the city!"

He told them, "Look, set an ambush behind the city. Don't go very far from the city; all of you be ready!

When the king of Ai saw Israel, he and his whole army quickly got up the next day and went out to fight Israel at the meeting place near the Arabah. But he did not realize men were hiding behind the city.

As Ehud went out into the vestibule, he closed the doors of the upper room behind him and locked them.

They turned and went on their way, but they walked behind the children, the cattle, and their possessions.

One day Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, "Let me go to the fields so I can gather grain behind whoever permits me to do so." Naomi replied, "You may go, my daughter."

So Ruth went and gathered grain in the fields behind the harvesters. Now she just happened to end up in the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.

Take note of the field where the men are harvesting and follow behind with the female workers. I will tell the men to leave you alone. When you are thirsty, you may go to the water jars and drink some of the water the servants draw."

Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

Now Saul was walking behind the oxen as he came from the field. Saul asked, "What has happened to the people? Why are they weeping?" So they told him about the men of Jabesh.

Then the men of the garrison said to Jonathan and his armor bearer, "Come on up to us so we can teach you a thing or two!" Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Come up behind me, for the Lord has given them into the hand of Israel!"

Jonathan crawled up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer following behind him. Jonathan struck down the Philistines, while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them.

The priest replied, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod. If you wish, take it for yourself. Other than that, there's nothing here." David said, "There's nothing like it! Give it to me!"

Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul, "My lord, O king!" When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.

Then David instructed his men, "Each of you strap on your sword!" So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men followed David up, while two hundred stayed behind with the equipment.

The Benjaminites formed their ranks behind Abner and were like a single army, standing at the top of a certain hill.

Her husband went along behind her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Finally Abner said to him, "Go back!" So he returned home.

David instructed Joab and all the people who were with him, "Tear your clothes! Put on sackcloth! Lament before Abner!" Now King David followed behind the funeral bier.

So David asked the Lord what he should do. This time the Lord said to him, "Don't march straight up. Instead, circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.

In the spring of the year, at the time when kings normally conduct wars, David sent out Joab with his officers and the entire Israelite army. They defeated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed behind in Jerusalem.

He called his personal attendant and said to him, "Take this woman out of my sight and lock the door behind her!"

(Now she was wearing a long robe, for this is what the king's virgin daughters used to wear.) So Amnon's attendant removed her and bolted the door behind her.

So the king and all the members of his royal court set out on foot, though the king left behind ten concubines to attend to the palace.

Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon's mother, "Has it been reported to you that Haggith's son Adonijah has become king behind our master David's back?

May the Lord punish him for the blood he shed; behind my father David's back he struck down and murdered with the sword two men who were more innocent and morally upright than he -- Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel's army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah's army.

They marched out of the city with the servants of the district governors in the lead and the army behind them.

Go and close the door behind you and your sons. Pour the olive oil into all the containers; set aside each one when you have filled it."

So she left him and closed the door behind her and her sons. As they were bringing the containers to her, she was pouring the olive oil.

She went up and laid him down on the prophet's bed. She shut the door behind her and left.

Now Elisha was sitting in his house with the community leaders. The king sent a messenger on ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the leaders, "Do you realize this assassin intends to cut off my head?" Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and lean against it. His master will certainly be right behind him."

So they got up and fled at dusk, leaving behind their tents, horses, and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

Jehu ordered his officer Bidkar, "Pick him up and throw him into the part of the field that once belonged to Naboth of Jezreel. Remember, you and I were riding together behind his father Ahab, when the Lord pronounced this judgment on him,

Another third of you will be stationed at the Foundation Gate. Still another third of you will be stationed at the gate behind the royal guard. You will take turns guarding the palace.

But he left behind some of the poor of the land and gave them fields and vineyards.

The Levites even left their pasturelands and their property behind and came to Judah and Jerusalem, for Jeroboam and his sons prohibited them from serving as the Lord's priests.

Now Jeroboam had sent some men to ambush the Judahite army from behind. The main army was in front of the Judahite army; the ambushers were behind it.

So I stationed people at the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. I stationed the people by families, with their swords, spears, and bows.

From that day forward, half of my men were doing the work and half of them were taking up spears, shields, bows, and body armor. Now the officers were behind all the people of Judah

The hungry eat up his harvest, and take it even from behind the thorns, and the thirsty swallow up their fortune.

The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.

It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had a head of white hair.

When Israel left Egypt, when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,

You squeeze me in from behind and in front; you place your hand on me.

Their tongues wound like a serpent; a viper's venom is behind their lips. (Selah)

So I loathed all the fruit of my effort, for which I worked so hard on earth, because I must leave it behind in the hands of my successor.

My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the window, peering through the lattice.

The Lover to His Beloved: Oh, you are beautiful, my darling! Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending from Mount Gilead.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread; your mouth is lovely. Your forehead behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate.

Like a slice of pomegranate is your forehead behind your veil.

Your land is devastated, your cities burned with fire. Right before your eyes your crops are being destroyed by foreign invaders. They leave behind devastation and destruction.

There will be some left behind, like when an olive tree is beaten -- two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top, four or five on its fruitful branches," says the Lord God of Israel.

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over!

You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying, "This is the correct way, walk in it," whether you are heading to the right or the left.

This is what the Lord says: "The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia, along with the Sabeans, those tall men, will be brought to you and become yours. They will walk behind you, coming along in chains. They will bow down to you and pray to you: 'Truly God is with you; he has no peer; there is no other God!'"

Behind the door and doorpost you put your symbols. Indeed, you depart from me and go up and invite them into bed with you. You purchase favors from them, you love their bed, and gaze longingly on their genitals.

But he left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing. He gave them fields and vineyards at that time.

If grape pickers came to pick your grapes, would they not leave a few grapes behind? If robbers came at night, would they not pillage only what they needed?

Leave your orphans behind and I will keep them alive. Your widows too can depend on me."

But he left behind some of the poor and gave them fields and vineyards.

Then a wind lifted me up and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place,

Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

All his retinue -- his attendants and his troops -- I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.

Say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary -- the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life's passion. Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die by the sword.

Like fire they devour everything in their path; a flame blazes behind them. The land looks like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness -- for nothing escapes them!

"If thieves came to rob you during the night, they would steal only as much as they wanted! If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, they would leave some behind for the poor! But you will be totally destroyed!

Plague goes before him; pestilence marches right behind him.

I was attentive that night and saw a man seated on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in the ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

But a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak.

But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, because you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's."

When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak,

But after turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan. You are not setting your mind on God's interests, but on man's."

but he ran off naked, leaving his linen cloth behind.

But when the feast was over, as they were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it,

And he got up and followed him, leaving everything behind.

As she stood behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the perfumed oil.

She came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his cloak, and at once the bleeding stopped.

As they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country. They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus.

She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation."

When they reached Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila behind there, but he himself went into the synagogue and addressed the Jews.

After we sighted Cyprus and left it behind on our port side, we sailed on to Syria and put in at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded: Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and steadfast, which reaches inside behind the curtain,

I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day when I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,