'Command' in the Bible

So they conspired against Zechariah and stoned him [to death] at the command of the king, in the courtyard of the house of the Lord.

Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.

As soon as the king’s order spread, the Israelites gave in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, [olive] oil, honey, and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in the tithe of everything abundantly.

The singers, the sons of Asaph, were also in their places in accordance with the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the gatekeepers at each gate did not need to leave their service, because their kinsmen the Levites prepared for them.

So, now issue a decree to make these men stop [work], so that this city is not rebuilt until a [new] command is issued by me.

Therefore let us now make a covenant with our God to send away all the [foreign] wives and their children, in accordance with the advice of my lord and of those who tremble [in reverent obedience] at the commandment of our God; and let it be done in accordance with the Law.

But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command, which was delivered [to her] by the eunuchs. So the king became extremely angry and burned with rage.

If it pleases the king, let a royal command be issued by him and let it be written in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be repealed or modified, that Vashti is no longer to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better and more worthy than she.

So it came about when the king’s command and his decree were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered together in the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace [and placed] in the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

Esther had not revealed her family or her people [that is, her Jewish background], just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her just as when she was under his care.

Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disregarding the king’s command?”

So the couriers, who were mounted on the royal relay horses, left quickly, urged on by the king’s command; and the decree was issued at the citadel in Susa [the capital].

In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s command and his decree arrived, the Jews celebrated with gladness and joy, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews [and their God] had fallen on them.

Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar) on the thirteenth day when the king’s command and edict were about to be executed, on the [very] day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain power over them [and slaughter them], it happened the other way around so that the Jews themselves gained power over those who hated them.

obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually,

The command of Esther established these customs for Purim, and it was written in the book [of the royal archives].

“Do you know how God establishes and commands them,And makes the lightning of His [storm] cloud shine?

“Is it at your command that the eagle mounts upAnd makes his nest on high [in an inaccessible place]?

Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;Our lips are our own; who is lord and master over us?”

Yet the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,And in the night His song will be with me,A prayer to the God of my life.

You are my King, O God;Command victories and deliverance for Jacob (Israel).

When He set for the sea its boundarySo that the waters would not transgress [the boundaries set by] His command,When He marked out the foundations of the earth—

I counsel you to keep the command of the king because of the oath before God [by which you swore loyalty to him].

Whoever keeps and observes a royal command will experience neither trouble nor misery;For a wise heart will know the proper time and [appropriate] procedure.

“I will turn it into a wasteland;It will not be pruned or cultivated,But briars and thorns will come up.I will also command the clouds not to rain on it.”

I send Assyria against a godless nationAnd commission it against the people of My wrathTo take the spoil and to seize the plunder,And to trample them down like mud in the streets.

He has stretched out His hand over the sea,He has shaken the kingdoms;The Lord has given a command concerning Canaan to destroy her strongholds and her fortresses [like Tyre and Sidon].

But they kept silent and did not say a word to him in reply, for King Hezekiah’s command was, “Do not answer him.”

For the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker says this,“Ask Me about the things to come concerning My sons,And give Me orders concerning the work of My hands.

“Take millstones [as a female slave does] and grind meal;Remove your veil, strip off the skirt,Uncover the leg, cross the rivers [at the command of your captors].

Considering these [tragedies], will You restrain Yourself, O Lord [and not help us]?Will You keep silent and humiliate and oppress us beyond measure?

But the Lord said to me,“Do not say, ‘I am [only] a young man,’Because everywhere I send you, you shall go,And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

But you [Jeremiah], gird up your loins [in preparation]! Get up and tell them all which I command you. Do not be distraught and break down at the sight of their [hostile] faces, or I will bewilder you before them and allow you to be overcome.

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]

For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.

But this thing I did command them: ‘Listen to and obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, so that it may be well with you.’

They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom), to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire [to honor Molech, the fire god]—which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart (mind).

which I commanded your fathers at the time that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Listen to My voice and do according to all that I command you. So you shall be My people, and I will be your God,’

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.

“Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house [Jeremiah], and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you shall say this to your masters:

They built the high places [for worship] of Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom (son of Hinnom) to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to [worship and honor] Molech—which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this repulsive thing, to cause Judah to sin.

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.’”

“The command which Jonadab the son of Rechab gave to his sons not to drink wine has been observed [as a custom for more than two hundred years]. To this day they do not drink wine, for they have obeyed their father’s command. But I have repeatedly spoken to you, yet you have not listened to Me.

Indeed, the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have observed the command of their father which he gave them, but this people has not listened to Me.’”’

Then Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father and have kept all his commands and have done according to all that he commanded you,

Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying,

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants who believed in, trusted in, and relied on Him! They violated the king’s command and surrendered their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.

Ephraim is oppressed; he is broken and crushed by [divine] judgment,Because he was determined to follow man’s command (vanities, filth, secular precepts).

“Though they hide on the summit of [Mount] Carmel,I will track them down and take them from there;And though they hide from My sight on the floor of the sea,From there I shall command the serpent and it will bite them.

“And though they go into captivity before their enemies,From there I shall command the sword to kill them,And I will set My eyes against them for evil (judgment, punishment) and not for good [that is, not for correction leading to restoration].”

“For behold, I am commanding,And I shall shake and sift the house of Israel among all nations [and cause it to tremble]Like grain is shaken in a sieve [removing the chaff],But not a kernel [of the faithful remnant] shall fall to the ground and be lost [from My sight].

And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”

Peter replied to Him, “Lord, if it is [really] You, command me to come to You on the water.”

The Pharisees said to Him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”

They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries (tefillin) wide [to make them more conspicuous] and make their tassels long.

He replied to them, “What did Moses command you?”

They continually begged Him not to command them to go into the abyss.

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?”

But he said to his father, ‘Look! These many years I have served you, and I have never neglected or disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me [so much as] a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends;

You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you.

This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.

Yet death ruled [over mankind] from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who had not sinned as Adam did. Adam is a type of Him (Christ) who was to come [but in reverse—Adam brought destruction, Christ brought salvation].

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,” and any other commandment are summed up in this statement: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

but now has been disclosed and through the prophetic Scriptures has been made known to all the nations, according to the commandment of the eternal God, leading them to obedience to the faith,

But I am saying this as a concession, not as a command.

Now concerning the virgins [of marriageable age] I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy.

If anyone thinks and claims that he is a prophet [a true spokesman for God] or spiritually astute [filled with and energized by the Holy Spirit], let him recognize that the things which I write to you are the Lord’s commandment.

If anyone does not recognize this [that it is a command of the Lord], he is not recognized [by God].

so that you will behave properly toward outsiders [exhibiting good character, personal integrity, and moral courage worthy of the respect of the outside world], and be dependent on no one and in need of nothing [be self-supporting].

Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus by the commandment of God our Savior, and of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed) our Hope [the fulfillment of our salvation],

Keep commanding and teaching these things.

and at the appointed time has made known His word and revealed it as His message, through preaching, which was entrusted to me according to the command of God our Savior—

Tell them these things. Encourage and rebuke with full authority. Let no one disregard or despise you [conduct yourself and your teaching so as to command respect].

who has become a priest, not on the basis of a physical and legal requirement in the Law [concerning his ancestry as a descendant of Levi], but on the basis of the power of an indestructible and endless life.

For, on the one hand, a former commandment is cancelled because of its weakness and uselessness [because of its inability to justify the sinner before God]

For when every commandment in the Law had been read by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and goats [which had been sacrificed], together with water and scarlet wool and with a bunch of hyssop, and he sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people,

For they could not bear the command, “If even a wild animal touches the mountain, it will be stoned [to death].”

This is His commandment, that we believe [with personal faith and confident trust] in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and [that we unselfishly] love and seek the best for one another, just as He commanded us.

And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should also [unselfishly] love his brother and seek the best for him.

Now I ask you, lady, not as if I were writing to you a new commandment, but [simply reminding you of] the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.