'Following' in the Bible

For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.”

Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him,

For if you turn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.

and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

“Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this unfaithful act which you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away from following the Lord this day, by building yourselves an altar, to rebel against the Lord this day?

that you must turn away this day from following the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel tomorrow.

If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if to offer a burnt offering or grain offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, may the Lord Himself require it.

Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from following the Lord this day, by building an altar for burnt offering, for grain offering or for sacrifice, besides the altar of the Lord our God which is before His tabernacle.”

But it came about when the judge died, that they would turn back and act more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them and bow down to them; they did not abandon their practices or their stubborn ways.

Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hands; behold, the Lord has gone out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.

“From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down,Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples;From Machir commanders came down,And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office.

He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.

Samuel said to the people, “Do not fear. You have committed all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.

“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all night.

So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to the left from following Abner.

So Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not willing to turn aside from following him.

Abner repeated again to Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?”

Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will you refrain from telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?”

Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have gone away in the morning, each from following his brother.”

Then Joab returned from following Abner; when he had gathered all the people together, nineteen of David’s servants besides Asahel were missing.

“Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.

So all the men of Israel withdrew from following David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri; but the men of Judah remained steadfast to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem.

He had conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest; and following Adonijah they helped him.

“But if you or your sons indeed turn away from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,

So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.

He acted very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the sons of Israel.

When He had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the Lord and made them commit a great sin.

For he clung to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses.

Now, therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel.

Solomon numbered all the aliens who were in the land of Israel, following the census which his father David had taken; and 153,600 were found.

From the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord they conspired against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there.

Josiah removed all the abominations from all the lands belonging to the sons of Israel, and made all who were present in Israel to serve the Lord their God. Throughout his lifetime they did not turn from following the Lord God of their fathers.

Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the Lord which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record:

Because they turned aside from following Him,And had no regard for any of His ways;

Let his posterity be cut off;In a following generation let their name be blotted out.

Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O Lord,We have waited for You eagerly;Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.

“I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,

“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens,Following one in the center,Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice,Will come to an end altogether,” declares the Lord.

“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,“I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth,The love of your betrothals,Your following after Me in the wilderness,Through a land not sown.

“Then I said,‘How I would set you among My sonsAnd give you a pleasant land,The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father,And not turn away from following Me.’

Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it.

But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, ‘Go prophesy to My people Israel.’

And those who have turned back from following the Lord,And those who have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him.”