'Cease' in the Bible
“While the earth remains,Seedtime and harvest,Cold and heat,Winter and summer,And day and nightShall not cease.”
Moses said to him, “As soon as I leave the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease and there will be no more hail, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that the earth is the Lord’s.
It shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will bud, and I will no longer hear the constant grumblings of the Israelites, who are grumbling against you.”
For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.’
‘I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces [scattering them far away],I will remove the memory of them from men,”
That is why the soldiers of Israel could not stand [and defend themselves] before their enemies; they turned their backs [and ran] before them, because they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from among you.
For the Lord has made the Jordan a border between us and you, you sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no part in the Lord.” So your sons (descendants) may cause our sons to stop fearing the Lord.’
But when the judge died, they turned back and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, in following and serving other gods, and bowing down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.
And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, so that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
When Baasha heard about it, he ceased fortifying Ramah and stopped his work.
Then as soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes’ document was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe, and their colleagues, they went up hurriedly to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them stop [work] by force of arms.
So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to cease from among the Jews, nor their memory fade from their descendants.
“There [in death] the wicked cease from raging,And there the weary are at rest.
“Would He not let my few days alone,Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer
“[O God] turn your gaze from him so that he may rest,Until he fulfills his day [on earth] like a hired man.
“For there is hope for a tree,If it is cut down, that it will sprout again,And that the shoots of it will not cease nor fail, [but there is no such hope for man].
“O earth, do not cover my blood,And let there be no [resting] place for my cry [where it will cease being heard].
Cease from anger and abandon wrath;Do not fret; it leads only to evil.
He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;He breaks the bow into pieces and snaps the spear in two;He burns the chariots with fire.
Consider her ramparts,Go through her palaces,That you may tell the next generation [about her glory].
Restore us, O God of our salvation,And cause Your indignation toward us to cease.
You have put an end to his splendorAnd have hurled his throne to the ground.
Cease listening, my son, to instruction and disciplineAnd you will stray from the words of knowledge.
It is an honor for a man to keep away from strife [by handling situations with thoughtful foresight],But any fool will [start a] quarrel [without regard for the consequences].
Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go away;Even strife and dishonor will cease.
Do not weary yourself [with the overwhelming desire] to gain wealth;Cease from your own understanding of it.
in the day when the keepers of the house (hands, arms) tremble, and the strong men (feet, knees) bow themselves, and the grinders (molar teeth) cease because they are few, and those (eyes) who look through the windows grow dim;
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;Get your evil deeds out of My sight.Stop doing evil,
Stop regarding man, whose breath [of life] is in his nostrils [for so little time];For why should he be esteemed?
In this way I will punish the world for its evilAnd the wicked for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proudAnd will abase the arrogance of the tyrant.
Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound;No treader treads out wine in the presses,For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting.
The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Damascus [capital of Aram (Syria), and Israel’s defense against Assyria].“Listen carefully, Damascus will cease to be a cityAnd will become a fallen ruin.
A harsh vision has been shown to me;The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys.Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media!All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the Lord] have brought to an end.
For the tyrant will come to an end and the scorner will be finished,Indeed all who are intent on doing evil will be cut off—
“Get out of the [true] way, turn aside from the path [of God],Stop bothering us with the Holy One of Israel.”
“[Cease your mad running after idols to]Keep your feet from becoming bareAnd your throat from becoming dry;But you said, ‘It is hopeless!For I have loved strangers and foreign gods,And I will walk after them.’
Then I will cause the voices of joy and gladness, and the voices of the bridegroom and the bride to vanish from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem; for the land will become a ruin—a wasteland.
“Therefore [Jeremiah] you will say this word to them,‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,And let them never cease;For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a great blow,With a very serious and severely infected wound.
For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your time, the sound of joy and the shout of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
“For he will be [nourished] like a tree planted by the waters,That spreads out its roots by the river;And will not fear the heat when it comes;But its leaves will be green and moist.And it will not be anxious and concerned in a year of droughtNor stop bearing fruit.
“If this fixed order departsFrom before Me,” says the Lord,“Then the descendants of Israel also will ceaseFrom being a nation before Me forever.”
Moreover, I will cause to cease in Moab,” says the Lord, “the one who ascends and offers sacrifice in the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.
Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be heaped on rumor; they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law and guidance will be lost from the priest and [wise] counsel [will cease] from the elders.
They will burn down your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women (Gentile nations). Then I will make you cease your prostitution, and you will no longer hire your lovers.
Thus I will make lewdness cease from the land, that all women may be admonished and taught not to commit immoral acts as you have done.
So I will silence your songs, and the sound of your lyres will no longer be heard.
‘Thus says the Lord God,“I will also make the great people of Egypt ceaseBy the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
And I will make the land [of Israel] a desolation and a ruin, and her pride in her power will be brought to an end; and the mountains of Israel will be so deserted that no one will pass through.
‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My flock from them and make them stop tending the flock, so that the shepherds cannot feed themselves anymore. I will rescue My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”
“I will make a covenant of peace with them and will eliminate the predatory animals from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep [safely] in the woods.
‘Thus says the Lord God, “Enough, O princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and practice justice and righteousness. Stop your forceful seizure of property from My people,” says the Lord God.
And he will enter into a binding and irrevocable covenant with the many for one week (seven years), but in the middle of the week he will stop the sacrifice and grain offering [for the remaining three and one-half years]; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until the complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who causes the horror.”
“I will also put an end to all her rejoicing,Her feasts, her New Moons, her Sabbaths,And all her festivals.
Then I said,“O Lord God, please stop!How can Jacob stand,For he is so small [that he cannot endure this]?”