'Deceit' in the Bible
Isaac said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has [fraudulently] taken away your blessing [for himself].”
“They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,And their inmost soul prepares deceit and fraud.”
My lips will not speak unjustly,Nor will my tongue utter deceit.
“If I have walked with falsehood,Or if my foot has chased after deceit,
His mouth is full of curses and deceit (fraud) and oppression;Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness [injustice and sin].
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute wickedness,And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Keep your tongue from evilAnd your lips from speaking deceit.
Those who seek my life lay snares for me,And those who seek to injure me threaten mischievous things and destruction;They devise treachery all the day long.
“You give your mouth to evilAnd your tongue frames deceit.
He who practices deceit will not dwell in my house;He who tells lies and half-truths will not continue [to remain] in my presence.
For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me;They have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
Whose mouths speak deceit [without restraint],And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Set me free and rescue me from the hand of [hostile] foreigners,Whose mouth speaks deceit [without restraint],And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
He who speaks truth [when he testifies] tells what is right,But a false witness utters deceit [in court].
Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil,But counselors of peace have joy.
A righteous man hates lies,But a wicked man is loathsome, and he acts shamefully.
Food gained by deceit is sweet to a man,But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel [just as sin may be sweet at first, but later its consequences bring despair].
He who hates, disguises it with his lips,But he stores up deceit in his heart.
His grave was assigned with the wicked,But He was with a rich man in His death,Because He had done no violence,Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
“Of whom do you make fun?Against whom do you open wide your mouthAnd stick out your tongue?Are you not children of rebellion (sin),Offspring of deceit,
‘As a cage is full of birds,So are their houses full of deceit and treachery;Therefore they have become influential and rich.
“Why then has this people of JerusalemTurned away with a perpetual turning away [from Me]?They hold tightly to deceit (idolatry);They refuse to repent and return [to God].
“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.
Then the Lord said to me, “The [counterfeit] prophets are prophesying lies in My Name. I have neither sent them nor authorized them nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you made-up visions [pretending to call forth responses from handmade gods], a worthless divination and the deceit of their own mind.
How long [shall this state of affairs continue]? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,
Ephraim surrounds Me with liesAnd the house of Israel with deceit;Judah is also unruly against God,Even against the faithful Holy One.
A merchant, in whose hand are false and fraudulent balances;He loves to oppress and exploit.
saying,“When will the New Moon [festival] be overSo that we may sell grain,And the Sabbath ended so that we may open the wheat market,Making the ephah [measure] smaller and the shekel bigger [that is, selling less for a higher price]And to cheat by falsifying the scales,
Therefore you will give parting giftsOn behalf of Moresheth-gath (Micah’s home);The houses of Achzib (Place of Deceit) will become a deceptionTo the kings of Israel.
“On that day I will also punish all those who leap over the temple threshold,Who fill their [pagan] lord’s temple with violence and deceit.