'Contemptible' in the Bible
Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.”
So the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, nor is there any water, and we loathe this miserable food.”
There happened to be there a worthless and wicked man named Sheba the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. He blew a trumpet [to call Israel to revolt] and said,“We have no portion in DavidAnd no inheritance in the son of Jesse,Every man to his tents, O Israel!”
“Even when they had made for themselvesA calf of cast metalAnd said, ‘This is your godWho brought you up from Egypt,’And committed great [and contemptible] blasphemies,
“Yet they were disobedient and rebelled against You,And cast Your law behind their backsAnd killed Your prophets who warned themTo return to You;And they committed great [and contemptible] blasphemies.
For the queen’s conduct will become known to all women, causing them to look on their husbands with contempt (disrespect), since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’
For the Lord God of hosts says this, “Go to this [contemptible] steward,To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household [but is building himself a tomb worthy of a king, and say to him],
And in his place [in Syria] will arise a despicable and despised person, to whom royal majesty and the honor of kingship have not been conferred, but he will come [without warning] in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.
You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By thinking that the table of the Lord is contemptible and may be despised.
“But you [priests] profane it when you say, ‘The table of the Lord is defiled, and as for its fruit, its food is to be despised.’
Then his master called him and said to him, ‘You wicked and contemptible slave, I forgave all that [great] debt of yours because you begged me.
But this [ignorant, contemptible] crowd that does not know the Law is accursed and doomed!”
for they say, “His letters are weighty and forceful and impressive, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible [of no account].”
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that reveal my weakness [the things by which I am made weak in the eyes of my opponents].
But as for the cowards and unbelieving and abominable [who are devoid of character and personal integrity and practice or tolerate immorality], and murderers, and sorcerers [with intoxicating drugs], and idolaters and occultists [who practice and teach false religions], and all the liars [who knowingly deceive and twist truth], their part will be in the lake that blazes with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”