'Evil' in the Bible

Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their wrongdoing and their sin.”

Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are great.”

“My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”

When Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,

because of their evil ways that provoked Me to anger, going and burning incense to serve other gods that they, you, and your fathers did not know.

But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

The Lord can no longer bear your evil deeds and the detestable acts you have committed, so your land has become a waste, a desolation, and an object of cursing, without inhabitant, as you see today.

Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done.

Then your survivors will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive, how I was crushed by their promiscuous hearts that turned away from Me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil things they did, their detestable practices of every kind.

“This is what the Lord God says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and cry out over all the evil and detestable practices of the house of Israel, who will fall by the sword, famine, and plague.

So I will bring the most evil of nationsto take possession of their houses.I will put an end to the pride of the strong,and their sacred places will be profaned.

The Lord said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plan evil and give wicked advice in this city.

Because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies, even though I have not caused him grief, and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil way to save his life,

“Then after all your evil—Woe, woe to you!”—the declaration of the Lord God—

There you will remember your ways and all your deeds that you have defiled yourselves with, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil things you have done.

You will know that I am Yahweh, house of Israel, when I have dealt with you because of My name rather than according to your evil ways and corrupt acts.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

I will make the streams dryand sell the land into the hands of evil men.I will bring desolationon the land and everything in itby the hands of foreigners.I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Tell them: As I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?

“Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and detestable practices.

“This is what the Lord God says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

The two kings, whose hearts are bent on evil, will speak lies at the same table but to no avail, for still the end will come at the appointed time.

But they never consider that I remember all their evil.Now their sins are all around them;they are right in front of My face.

They please the king with their evil,the princes with their lies.

I trained and strengthened their arms,but they plot evil against Me.

All their evil appears at Gilgal,for there I came to hate them.I will drive them from My housebecause of their evil, wicked actions.I will no longer love them;all their leaders are rebellious.

So it will be done to you, Bethel,because of your extreme evil.At dawn the king of Israel will be totally destroyed.

Since Gilead is full of evil,they will certainly come to nothing.They sacrifice bulls in Gilgal;even their altars will be like heaps of rockson the furrows of a field.

Therefore, the wise person will keep silentat such a time,for the days are evil.

Seek good and not evilso that you may live,and the Lord, the God of Hosts,will be with you,as you have claimed.

Hate evil and love good;establish justice in the gate.Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be graciousto the remnant of Joseph.

You dismiss any thought of the evil dayand bring in a reign of violence.

Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing.

Then God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it.

Woe to those who dream up wickednessand prepare evil plans on their beds!At morning light they accomplish itbecause the power is in their hands.

Therefore, the Lord says:I am now planning a disasteragainst this nation;you cannot free your necks from it.Then you will not walk so proudlybecause it will be an evil time.

You hate good and love evil.You tear off people’s skinand strip their flesh from their bones.

Both hands are good at accomplishing evil:the official and the judge demand a bribe;when the powerful man communicates his evil desire,they plot it together.

One has gone out from you,who plots evil against Yahweh,and is a wicked counselor.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?Why are You silentwhile one who is wicked swallows upone who is more righteous than himself?

And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lampsand punish the men who settle down comfortably,who say to themselves:The Lord will not do good or evil.

Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.

Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

You have wearied the Lord with your words.Yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?”When you say, “Everyone who does what is evil is good in the Lord’s sight, and He is pleased with them,” or “Where is the God of justice?”

“You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me.

But let your word ‘yes’ be ‘yes,’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no.’ Anything more than this is from the evil one.

so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

And do not bring us into temptation,but deliver us from the evil one.[For Yours is the kingdom and the powerand the glory forever. Amen.]

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why are you thinking evil things in your hearts?

Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil.

But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Then off it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first. That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.

the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,

For God said:Honor your father and your mother; and,The one who speaks evil of father or mothermust be put to death.

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, blasphemies.

An evil and adulterous generation demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away.

So those slaves went out on the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good. The wedding banquet was filled with guests.

“But his master replied to him, ‘You evil, lazy slave! If you knew that I reap where I haven’t sown and gather where I haven’t scattered,

Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

For Moses said:Honor your father and your mother; andWhoever speaks evil of father or mothermust be put to death.

For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders,

adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, promiscuity, stinginess, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

“Don’t stop him,” said Jesus, “because there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name who can soon afterward speak evil of Me.

But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done,

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do what is good or to do what is evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

You are blessed when people hate you,when they exclude you, insult you,and slander your name as evilbecause of the Son of Man.

But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.

A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.

At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and He granted sight to many blind people.

and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her);

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that man’s last condition is worse than the first.”

As the crowds were increasing, He began saying: “This generation is an evil generation. It demands a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.

But the Lord said to him: “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and evil.

“He told him, ‘I will judge you by what you have said, you evil slave! If you knew I was a tough man, collecting what I didn’t deposit and reaping what I didn’t sow,

“This, then, is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

The world cannot hate you, but it does hate Me because I testify about it—that its deeds are evil.

I am not prayingthat You take them out of the worldbut that You protect them from the evil one.

God raised up His Servant and sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of a crime or of moral evil, it would be reasonable for me to put up with you Jews.

so that even facecloths or work aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!”

The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?”

Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.

“I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest,” replied Paul. “For it is written, You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.”

The shouting grew loud, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees’ party got up and argued vehemently: “We find nothing evil in this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

Then they said to him, “We haven’t received any letters about you from Judea. None of the brothers has come and reported or spoken anything evil about you.

They are filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, and wickedness. They are full of envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,

slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek;

And why not say, just as some people slanderously claim we say, “Let us do what is evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is deserved!

For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do.

So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me.

Love must be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.