'Earth' in the Bible

Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;For the Lord has spoken:“I have reared and brought up sons,But they have rebelled against Me and have broken away.

They [the stricken, deprived of all in which they had trusted] will go into the caves of the rocksAnd into the holes of the ground [fleeing]From the terror and dread of the LordAnd from the splendor of His majesty,When He arises to terrify the earth.

To go into the caverns of the rocks and into the clefts of the [ragged] cliffs [as they flee]From the terror and dread of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,When He arises to terrify the earth.

He will lift up a flag to [call] the distant nations [to bring His judgment on Judah],And will whistle for them from the ends of the earth;And indeed, they will come with great speed swiftly.

And one called out to another, saying,“Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts;The whole earth is filled with His glory.”

Then they will look to the earth, they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness and overwhelming night.

“My hand has found the wealth of the people like a nest,And as one gathers eggs that are abandoned, so I have gathered all the earth;And there was not one that flapped its wing, or that opened its beak and chirped.”

For the Lord, the God of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.

But with righteousness and justice He will judge the poor,And decide with fairness for the downtrodden of the earth;And He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LordAs the waters cover the sea.

And He will lift up a signal for the nationsAnd assemble the outcasts of Israel,And will gather the dispersed of JudahFrom the four corners of the earth.

And in that day you will say,“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name [in prayer].Make His deeds known among the peoples [of the earth];Proclaim [to them] that His name is exalted!”

Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent and glorious things;Let this be known throughout the earth.

Listen carefully, the day of the Lord is coming,Cruel, with wrath and raging anger,To make the land a horror [of devastation];And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;And the earth will be shaken from its placeAt the wrath of the Lord of hostsIn the day of His burning anger.

“The whole earth is at rest and is quiet;They break into shouts of joy.

“Sheol below is excited about you to meet you when you come [you tyrant of Babylon];It stirs up the spirits of the dead [to greet you], all the leaders of the earth;It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones [in astonishment at your fall].

“Those who see you will gaze at you,They will consider you, saying,‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,Who shook kingdoms,

“Prepare a slaughtering place for his sonsBecause of the wickedness [the sin, the injustice, the wrongdoing] of their fathers.They must not rise and take possession of the earth,And fill the face of the world with cities.”

This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.

All you inhabitants of the world, you who dwell on the earth,When a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it!When a trumpet is blown, you will hear it!

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.

In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the earth,

Who has planned this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?

The Lord of hosts has planned it, to defile the pride of all beauty,To bring into contempt and humiliation all the honored of the earth.

It will come to pass at the end of seventy years that the Lord will remember Tyre. Then she will return to her prostitute’s wages and will play the [role of a] prostitute [by trading] with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.

Behold, the Lord lays waste to the earth, devastates it, twists and distorts its face and scatters its inhabitants.

The earth will be completely laid waste and utterly pillaged, for the Lord has spoken this word.

The earth dries up and crumbles away, the world dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

The earth also is polluted by its inhabitants, because they have transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer the punishment of their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned [under the curse of God’s wrath], and few people are left.

For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,As the shaking of an olive tree,As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over [and only a little of the fruit remains].

From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory and honor to the Righteous One,”But I say, “I waste away, I waste away. Woe to me!The treacherous deal treacherously,Indeed, the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

Terror and pit [of destruction] and snareConfront you, O inhabitant of the earth.

Then it will be that he who flees at the sound of terror will fall into the pit,And he who comes up out of the pit will be caught in the snare;For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.

The earth is broken completely apart,The earth is split apart,The earth is shaken violently.

The earth reels back and forth like a drunkardAnd sways like a shack;Its transgression lies heavily upon it,And it will fall and not rise again.

So it will happen in that dayThat the Lord will visit and punish the host (fallen angels) of heaven on high,And the kings of the earth on the earth.

On this mountain [Zion] the Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples [to welcome His reign on earth],A banquet of aged wines—choice pieces [flavored] with marrow,Of refined, aged wines.

He will swallow up death [and abolish it] for all time.And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,And He will take away the disgrace of His people from all the earth;For the Lord has spoken.

In the night my soul longs for You [O Lord],Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;For [only] when Your judgments are experienced on the earthWill the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

We have been with child, we have twisted and struggled in labor;We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

Your dead will live;Their dead bodies will rise.You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy!For your dew is a dew of [celestial] light [heavenly, supernatural],And the earth will give birth to the spirits of the dead.

Listen carefully, the Lord is about to come out of His [heavenly] placeTo punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wickedness [their sin, their injustice, their wrongdoing];The earth will reveal the [innocent] blood shed upon herAnd will no longer cover her slain.

Listen carefully, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent [the Assyrian];Like a tempest of hail, a disastrous storm,Like a tempest of mighty overflowing waters,He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

Now do not carry on as scoffers,Or the bands which bind you will be made stronger;For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts [a decree]Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

Then you [Jerusalem] will be brought low,You will speak from the earth,And from the dust where you lie face downYour muffled words will come.Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the earth [like one produced by a medium],And your speech will whisper and squeak from the dust.

Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!Let the earth and all that is in it hear, and the world and all that comes forth from it.

“O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know and fully realize that You alone, Lord, are God.”

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,And marked off the heavens with a span [of the hand],And calculated the dust of the earth with a measure,And weighed the mountains in a balanceAnd the hills in a pair of scales?

Do you [who worship idols] not know? Have you not heard?Has it not been told to you from the beginning?Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth [the omnipotence of God and the stupidity of bowing to idols]?

It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;[It is He] who stretches out the heavens like a veilAnd spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

It is He who reduces dignitaries to nothing,Who makes the judges (rulers) of the earth meaningless (useless).

Scarcely have they been planted,Scarcely have they been sown,Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,But He merely blows on them, and they wither,And a strong wind carries them away like stubble.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earthDoes not become tired or grow weary;There is no searching of His understanding.

The islands and coastlands have seen and they fear;The ends of the earth tremble;They have drawn near and have come.

You whom I [the Lord] have taken from the ends of the earth,And called from its remotest partsAnd said to you, ‘You are My servant,I have chosen you and have not rejected you [even though you are exiled].

“He will not be disheartened or crushed [in spirit];[He will persevere] until He has established justice on the earth;And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

This is what God the Lord says,He who created the heavens and stretched them out,Who spread out the earth and its produce,Who gives breath to the people on itAnd spirit to those who walk on it,

Sing to the Lord a new song,Sing His praise from the end of the earth!You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,You islands and coastlands, and those who inhabit them [sing His praise]!

“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’Bring My sons from far wayAnd My daughters from the ends of the earth,

Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it!Shout in triumph, you depths of the earth;Break forth into jubilant rejoicing, you mountains,O forest, and every tree in it!For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,And He shows His glory in Israel.

For the Lord, your Redeemer, and He who formed you from the womb says this,“I am the Lord, Maker of all things,Who alone stretches out the heavens,Who spreads out the earth by Myself,

“Rain down, O heavens, from above,Let the clouds pour down righteousness [all the blessings of God];Let the earth open up, let salvation bear fruit,And righteousness spring up with it;I, the Lord, have created it.

“I made the earth and created man upon it.My hands, stretched out the heavens,And I commanded all their host.

For the Lord, who created the heavens (He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this,“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;For I am God, and there is no other.

“My hand founded and established the earth,And My right hand spread out the heavens;When I call to them, they stand together [in obedience to carry out My decrees].

Get out of Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans [who reign there]!Declare with a voice of jubilation, proclaim this,Send it out to the end of the earth;Say, “The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob.”

He says, “It is too trivial a thing that You should be My ServantTo raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;I will also make You a light to the nationsThat My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Shout for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,And break forth into singing, O mountains!For the Lord has comforted His peopleAnd will have compassion on His afflicted.

“Kings will be your attendants,And their princesses your nurses.They will bow down to you with their faces to the earthAnd lick the dust of your feet;And you shall know [with an understanding based on personal experience] that I am the Lord;For they shall not be put to shame who wait and hope expectantly for Me.

“Lift up your eyes to the heavens,Then look to the earth beneath;For the heavens will be torn to pieces and vanish like smoke,And the earth will wear out like a garmentAnd its inhabitants will die in like manner.But My salvation will be forever,And My righteousness (justice) [and faithfully fulfilled promise] will not be broken.

That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker,Who stretched out the heavensAnd laid the foundations of the earth,That you continually tremble with fear all day long because of the rage of the oppressor,As he takes aim to destroy?And where is the rage of the oppressor?

I have put My words in your mouth and have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the [renewed] heavens and lay the foundations of the [renewed] earth, and to say to Zion (Jerusalem), ‘You are My people.’”

The Lord has bared His holy arm (His infinite power)Before the eyes of all the nations [revealing Himself as the One by Whom Israel is redeemed from captivity],That all the ends of the earth may seeThe salvation of our God.

“For your husband is your Maker,The Lord of hosts is His name;And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,Who is called the God of the whole earth.

“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me,As I swore [an oath] that the waters of NoahWould not flood the earth again;In the same way I have sworn that I will not be angry with youNor will I rebuke you.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your waysAnd My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,And do not return there without watering the earth,Making it bear and sprout,And providing seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

Then you will take pleasure in the Lord,And I will make you ride on the high places of the earth,And I will feed you with the [promised] heritage of Jacob your father;For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

“For in fact, darkness will cover the earthAnd deep darkness will cover the peoples;But the Lord will rise upon you [Jerusalem]And His glory and brilliance will be seen on you.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,So the Lord God will [most certainly] cause righteousness and justice and praiseTo spring up before all the nations [through the power of His word].

And give Him no rest [from your prayers] until He establishes JerusalemAnd makes her a praise on the earth.

Listen carefully, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth,Say to the Daughter of Zion, “Look now, your salvation is coming [in the Lord];Indeed, His reward is with Him, and His restitution accompanies Him.”

“I trampled the peoples in My angerAnd made them drunk with [the cup of] My wrath,And I spilled their lifeblood on the earth.”

“Behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth;And the former things [of life] will not be remembered or come to mind.

This is what the Lord says,“Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.Where, then, is a house that you could build for Me?And where will My resting place be?

“For just as the new heavens and the new earthWhich I make will remain and endure before Me,” declares the Lord,“So your offspring and your name will remain and endure.