'Enemy' in the Bible
“Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power,Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
“The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil;My desire shall be gratified against them;I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them.’
But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands.
or with any deadly object of stone, and without seeing it dropped on him so that he died, while he was not his enemy nor seeking his injury,
Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you.
so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns.
and toward her afterbirth which issues from between her legs and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.
Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,That their adversaries would misjudge,That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant,And the Lord has not done all this.”’
‘I will make My arrows drunk with blood,And My sword will devour flesh,With the blood of the slain and the captives,From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’
“The eternal God is a dwelling place,And underneath are the everlasting arms;And He drove out the enemy from before you,And said, ‘Destroy!’
Now the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said,“Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands.”
When the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said,“Our god has given our enemy into our hands,Even the destroyer of our country,Who has slain many of us.”
then Saul was even more afraid of David. Thus Saul was David’s enemy continually.
So Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I put you to death?’”
The men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly.
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? May the Lord therefore reward you with good in return for what you have done to me this day.
Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear to the ground with one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”
Then they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life; thus the Lord has given my lord the king vengeance this day on Saul and his descendants.”
“He delivered me from my strong enemy,From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
“When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house,
“If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is,
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name,
“When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;
Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” And he answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord.
“If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house,
“When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near,
But if you do go, do it, be strong for the battle; yet God will bring you down before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down.”
Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.
For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”
Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.
Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed what he was to her.
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
“He has also kindled His anger against meAnd considered me as His enemy.
“May my enemy be as the wickedAnd my opponent as the unjust.
“Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy,Or exulted when evil befell him?
‘Behold, He invents pretexts against me;He counts me as His enemy.
Let the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it;And let him trample my life down to the groundAnd lay my glory in the dust. Selah.
From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strengthBecause of Your adversaries,To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
The enemy has come to an end in perpetual ruins,And You have uprooted the cities;The very memory of them has perished.
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,Having sorrow in my heart all the day?How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
And You have not given me over into the hand of the enemy;You have set my feet in a large place.
By this I know that You are pleased with me,Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
For You are the God of my strength; why have You rejected me?Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
Because of the voice of the enemy,Because of the pressure of the wicked;For they bring down trouble upon meAnd in anger they bear a grudge against me.
For it is not an enemy who reproaches me,Then I could bear it;Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me,Then I could hide myself from him.
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;Preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
Turn Your footsteps toward the perpetual ruins;The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary.
How long, O God, will the adversary revile,And the enemy spurn Your name forever?
Remember this, O Lord, that the enemy has reviled,And a foolish people has spurned Your name.
“The enemy will not deceive him,Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
For the enemy has persecuted my soul;He has crushed my life to the ground;He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
Faithful are the wounds of a friend,But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.
But they rebelledAnd grieved His Holy Spirit;Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy,He fought against them.
Do not go out into the fieldAnd do not walk on the road,For the enemy has a sword,Terror is on every side.
The Lord said, “Surely I will set you free for purposes of good;Surely I will cause the enemy to make supplication to youIn a time of disaster and a time of distress.
‘Like an east wind I will scatter themBefore the enemy;I will show them My back and not My faceIn the day of their calamity.’”
“Please inquire of the Lord on our behalf, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is warring against us; perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us.”
‘All your lovers have forgotten you,They do not seek you;For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy,With the punishment of a cruel one,Because your iniquity is greatAnd your sins are numerous.
Thus says the Lord,“Restrain your voice from weepingAnd your eyes from tears;For your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord,“And they will return from the land of the enemy.
Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to give over Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt to the hand of his enemies, to the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave over Zedekiah king of Judah to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’”
Her uncleanness was in her skirts;She did not consider her future.Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;She has no comforter.“See, O Lord, my affliction,For the enemy has magnified himself!”
“For these things I weep;My eyes run down with water;Because far from me is a comforter,One who restores my soul.My children are desolateBecause the enemy has prevailed.”
In fierce anger He has cut offAll the strength of Israel;He has drawn back His right handFrom before the enemy.And He has burned in Jacob like a flaming fireConsuming round about.
He has bent His bow like an enemy;He has set His right hand like an adversaryAnd slain all that were pleasant to the eye;In the tent of the daughter of ZionHe has poured out His wrath like fire.
The Lord has become like an enemy.He has swallowed up Israel;He has swallowed up all its palaces,He has destroyed its strongholdsAnd multiplied in the daughter of JudahMourning and moaning.
The Lord has rejected His altar,He has abandoned His sanctuary;He has delivered into the hand of the enemyThe walls of her palaces.They have made a noise in the house of the LordAs in the day of an appointed feast.
The Lord has done what He purposed;He has accomplished His wordWhich He commanded from days of old.He has thrown down without sparing,And He has caused the enemy to rejoice over you;He has exalted the might of your adversaries.
You called as in the day of an appointed feastMy terrors on every side;And there was no one who escaped or survivedIn the day of the Lord’s anger.Those whom I bore and reared,My enemy annihilated them.
The kings of the earth did not believe,Nor did any of the inhabitants of the world,That the adversary and the enemyCould enter the gates of Jerusalem.
Thus says the Lord God, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting heights have become our possession,’
Put the trumpet to your lips!Like an eagle the enemy comes against the house of the Lord,Because they have transgressed My covenantAnd rebelled against My law.
Therefore, thus says the Lord God,“An enemy, even one surrounding the land,Will pull down your strength from youAnd your citadels will be looted.”
“Recently My people have arisen as an enemy—You strip the robe off the garmentFrom unsuspecting passers-by,From those returned from war.
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.Though I fall I will rise;Though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.
Then my enemy will see,And shame will cover her who said to me,“Where is the Lord your God?”My eyes will look on her;At that time she will be trampled downLike mire of the streets.
You too will become drunk,You will be hidden.You too will search for a refuge from the enemy.
“They will be as mighty men,Treading down the enemy in the mire of the streets in battle;And they will fight, for the Lord will be with them;And the riders on horses will be put to shame.