'Despised' in the Bible
He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility].
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.”
Now when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He made her able to bear children, but Rachel was barren.
Then she conceived again and gave birth to a son and said, “Because the Lord heard that I am unloved, He has given me this son also.” So she named him Simeon (God hears).
But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment for their wickedness and make amends because they rejected My ordinances and their soul rejected My statutes.
but a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and is disgusting to you—because you have rejected and despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept [in self-pity] before Him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
will by no means see the land which I swore to [give to] their fathers; nor will any who treated me disrespectfully and rejected Me see it.
But your children whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they will know the land which you have despised and rejected.
Because he has despised and rejected the word of the Lord, and has broken His commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; [the responsibility for] his wickedness and guilt will be upon him.’”
But if the Lord creates an entirely new thing, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, along with all that belongs to them, and they descend alive into Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), then you will understand that these men have spurned and rejected the Lord!”
“But Jeshurun (Israel) became fat and kicked [at God].You became fat, thick, sleek, and obstinate!Then he abandoned God who had made him,And scorned the Rock of his salvation.
Then Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your [boasting] mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Is this not the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them!”
So the sin of the [two] young men [Hophni and Phinehas] was very great before the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord disrespectfully.
But some worthless men said, “How can this man save and rescue us?” And they regarded Saul with contempt and did not bring him a gift. But he ignored the insult and kept silent.
When the Philistine looked around and saw David, he derided and disparaged him because he was [just] a young man, with a ruddy complexion, and a handsome appearance.
Then, as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter [David’s wife], looked down from the window above and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she felt contempt for him in her heart [because she thought him undignified].
Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife. You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
They rejected His statutes and His covenant which He made with their fathers, as well as His warnings that he gave them. And they followed vanity [that is, false gods, idols] and became vain (empty-headed). They followed the [pagan practices of the] nations which surrounded them, although the Lord had commanded that they were not to do as they did.
This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:‘The virgin daughter of ZionHas despised you and mocked you;The daughter of JerusalemHas shaken her head behind you!
It happened that as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the City of David, Michal [David’s wife] the daughter of Saul, looking down through a window, saw King David leaping and dancing [in celebration]; and she despised him in her heart.
But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked us and regarded us with contempt and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
[And Nehemiah prayed] Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their taunts on their own heads. Give them up as prey in a land of captivity.
“If I have despised and rejected the claim of my male or female servantsWhen they filed a complaint against me,
In his eyes an evil person is despised,But he honors those who fear the Lord [and obediently worship Him with awe-inspired reverence and submissive wonder].He keeps his word even to his own disadvantage and does not change it [for his own benefit];
But I am [treated as] a worm [insignificant and powerless] and not a man;I am the scorn of men and despised by the people.
For He has not despised nor detested the suffering of the afflicted;Nor has He hidden His face from him;But when he cried to Him for help, He listened.
You have spurned and repudiated the covenant with Your servant;You have profaned his crown [by casting it] in the dust.
Then they despised the pleasant land [of Canaan];They did not believe in His word nor rely on it,
They would not accept my counsel,And they spurned all my rebuke.
And you say, “How I hated instruction and discipline,And my heart despised correction and reproof!
A man will be commended according to his insight and sound judgment,But the one who is of a perverse mind will be despised.
But I say that wisdom is better than strength, though the poor man’s wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded.
“Many waters cannot quench love,Nor can rivers drown it.If a man would offer all the riches of his house for love,It would be utterly scorned and despised.”
Ah, sinful nation,A people loaded down with wickedness [with sin, with injustice, with wrongdoing],Offspring of evildoers,Sons who behave corruptly!They have abandoned (rejected) the Lord,They have despised the Holy One of Israel [provoking Him to anger],They have turned away from Him.
Therefore, as the tongue of fire consumes the stubble [from straw]And the dry grass collapses into the flame,So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away like fine dust;Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hostsAnd despised and discarded the word of the Holy One of Israel.
“Because these people (Judah) have refused the gently flowing waters of ShiloahAnd rejoice in Rezin [the king of Aram] and Remaliah’s son [Pekah the king of Israel],
The highways are deserted, the traveler has ceased [to appear].The enemy has broken the covenant, he has rejected the cities,He has no regard for [any] man.
this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him:“She has shown contempt for you and mocked you,The Virgin Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem);She has shaken her head behind you,The Daughter of Jerusalem!
He was despised and rejected by men,A Man of sorrows and pain and acquainted with grief;And like One from whom men hide their facesHe was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or esteem Him.
“The sons of those who oppressed you will come bowing down to you [in submission],And all those who despised you and treated you disrespectfully will bow down at the soles of your feet,And they will call you the City of the Lord,The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
“Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken jar?Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure?Why are he and his [royal] descendants hurled outAnd cast into a land which they do not know or understand?
“Have you not noticed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families [Israel the northern kingdom, and Judah the southern kingdom] which the Lord chose, He has rejected’? Thus they despise My [chosen] people, no longer are they [considered] as a nation in their sight.
“For behold, [Edom] I have made you small among the nationsAnd despised among men.
Yes, thus says the Lord God, “I will also deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely in the country of the king (Nebuchadnezzar) who made Zedekiah [the vassal] king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon Zedekiah shall die.
Now Zedekiah dishonored the oath by breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and pledged his allegiance, yet did all these things; he shall not escape.’”
Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “As I live, I will bring down on his own head My oath [made on My behalf by Nebuchadnezzar] which Zedekiah dishonored and My covenant which he broke.
But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and they despised and rejected My ordinances, which, if a man keeps, he will live; and they greatly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I decided to pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them.
because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My Sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their [worthless] idols.
because they had not observed My ordinances, but had [dishonored and] rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and set their eyes on the [man-made] idols of their fathers.
You have despised and scorned My sacred things and have profaned My Sabbaths.
They shall live in it securely; and they will build houses, plant vineyards and live securely when I execute judgment on all those around them who despise them. Then they will know [with clarity and confidence] that I am the Lord their God.”’”
Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they have rejected the law of the Lord [the sum of God’s instruction to His people]And have not kept His commandments;But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked,Caused them to go astray.
“Are you [degenerate ones] not as the [despised] sons of Ethiopia to Me,O sons of Israel?” says the Lord.“Have I not brought up Israel from the land of Egypt,And the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans (Syrians) from Kir?
“Behold [Edom], I shall [humiliate you and] make you small among the nations;You are greatly despised.
The Lord has given a command concerning you [O king of Nineveh]:“Your name will no longer be perpetuated.I will cut off the carved idols and cast imagesFrom the temple of your gods;I will prepare your grave,For you are vile and unworthy.”
“‘A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a Father, where is My honor? And if I am a Master, where is the [reverent] fear and respect due Me?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise My name. But you say, ‘How and in what way have we despised Your name?’
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.’
“So I have also made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality [to people] in [your administration of] the law.”