'Dead' in the Bible

The sinful nation is as good as dead, the people weighed down by evil deeds. They are offspring who do wrong, children who do wicked things. They have abandoned the Lord, and rejected the Holy One of Israel. They are alienated from him.

And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.

Those who accumulate houses are as good as dead, those who also accumulate landed property until there is no land left, and you are the only landowners remaining within the land.

Those who get up early to drink beer are as good as dead, those who keep drinking long after dark until they are intoxicated with wine.

Therefore Sheol (the realm of the dead) has increased its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure;And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her [boisterous] uproar and her [drunken] revelers descend into it.

Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.

Those who call evil good and good evil are as good as dead, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn bitter into sweet and sweet into bitter.

Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding.

Those who are champions at drinking wine are as good as dead, who display great courage when mixing strong drinks.

Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,

Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, is as good as dead, a cudgel with which I angrily punish.

Whoever is captured will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall dead, killed by the sword.

Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

‘Your pomp and magnificence have been brought down to Sheol,Along with the music of your harps;The maggots [which prey on the dead] are spread out under you [as a bed]And worms are your covering [Babylonian rulers].’

How great is your fall from heaven, O shining one, son of the morning! How are you cut down to the earth, low among the dead bodies!

But you are brought down to join the dead, to the far reaches of the Pit.

But you are cast away from your grave, like a repulsive branch, your clothing is the slain, those pierced by the sword; those who go down to the Pit. Like a dead body trampled underfoot,

The waters of Nimrim will become dry: for the grass is burned up, the young grass is coming to an end, every green thing is dead.

For Heshbon’s terraced vineyardsand the grapevines of Sibmah have withered.The rulers of the nationshave trampled its choice vinesthat reached as far as Jazerand spread to the desert.Their shoots spread outand reached the Dead Sea.

The many nations massing together are as good as dead, those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea's waves. The people making such an uproar are as good as dead, those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.

The nations rage like the raging of many waters.He rebukes them, and they flee far away,driven before the wind like chaff on the hillsand like tumbleweeds before a gale.

The land of buzzing wings is as good as dead, the one beyond the rivers of Cush,

They (warriors) will be left together for the mountain birds of prey,And for the beasts of the earth;And the birds of prey will [spend the] summer feeding on them,And all the beasts of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

Egypt’s spirit will be disturbed within it,and I will frustrate its plans.Then they will seek idols, ghosts,spirits of the dead, and spiritists.

Thou that art full of stirs, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: thy slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword?

Ho! crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim, and the dead flower of his glory which is on the head of those who are overcome by strong drink!

And the dead flower of his glory, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first early fruit before the summer; which a man takes and puts in his mouth the minute he sees it.

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,And with Sheol (the place of the dead) we have made an agreement,When the overwhelming scourge passes by, it will not reach us,For we have made lies our refuge and we have concealed ourselves in deception.”

“Your covenant with death will be annulled,And your agreement with Sheol (the place of the dead) will not stand;When the overwhelming scourge passes through,Then you will become its trampling ground.

Ariel is as good as dead -- Ariel, the town David besieged! Keep observing your annual rituals, celebrate your festivals on schedule.

Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, who do their work in secret and boast, "Who sees us? Who knows what we're doing?"

"The rebellious children are as good as dead," says the Lord, "those who make plans without consulting me, who form alliances without consulting my Spirit, and thereby compound their sin.

Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, those who rely on war horses, and trust in Egypt's many chariots and in their many, many horsemen. But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel and do not seek help from the Lord.

The destroyer is as good as dead, you who have not been destroyed! The deceitful one is as good as dead, the one whom others have not deceived! When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed; when you finish deceiving, others will deceive you!

Their slain will be thrown out; and as for their dead bodies their stench will ascend; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.

And the heavens will be rolled together like the roll of a book: and all their army will be gone, like a dead leaf from the vine, or a dry fruit from the fig-tree.

Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

I said, “In mid-lifeI am to go through the gates of Sheol (the place of the dead),I am to be summoned, deprived of the remainder of my years.”

“For Sheol cannot praise or thank You,Death cannot praise You and rejoice in You;Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.

The grass becomes dry, the flower is dead; because the breath of the Lord goes over it: truly the people is grass.

The grass is dry, the flower is dead; but the word of our God is eternal.

As for him whose food is the dust of a dead fire, he has been turned from the way by a twisted mind, so that he is unable to keep himself safe by saying, What I have here in my hand is false.

Why, then, when I came, was there no man? and no one to give answer to my voice? has my hand become feeble, so that it is unable to take up your cause? or have I no power to make you free? See, at my word the sea becomes dry, I make the rivers a waste land: their fish are dead for need of water, and make an evil smell.

Yet the Lord was willingTo crush Him, causing Him to suffer;If He would give Himself as a guilt offering [an atonement for sin],He shall see His [spiritual] offspring,He shall prolong His days,And the will (good pleasure) of the Lord shall succeed and prosper in His hand.

We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.

“Then you will see and be radiant,And your heart will tremble [with joy] and rejoiceBecause the abundant wealth of the seas will be brought to you,The wealth of the nations will come to you.

For we have all become like an unclean person, and all our good acts are like a dirty robe: and we have all become old like a dead leaf, and our sins, like the wind, take us away.

Who sit among the graves [trying to conjure up evil spirits] and spend the night in the secret places [where spirits are thought to dwell];Who eat swine’s flesh,And their pots hold the broth of unclean meat;

“As they leave, they will see the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never go out, and they will be a horror to all mankind.”