'Good' in the Bible

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;all who follow His instructions have good insight.His praise endures forever.

Return to your rest, my soul,for the Lord has been good to you.

How can I repay the Lordfor all the good He has done for me?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;His faithful love endures forever.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;His faithful love endures forever.

Turn away the disgrace I dread;indeed, Your judgments are good.

Teach me good judgment and discernment,for I rely on Your commands.

You are good, and You do what is good;teach me Your statutes.

It was good for me to be afflictedso that I could learn Your statutes.

Because of the house of the Lord our God,I will seek your good.

Do what is good, Lord, to the good,to those whose hearts are upright.

A Davidic song of ascents.How good and pleasant it iswhen brothers live together in harmony!

Praise Yahweh, for Yahweh is good;sing praise to His name, for it is delightful.

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.        His love is eternal.

The Lord is good to everyone;His compassion rests on all He has made.

Hallelujah!How good it is to sing to our God,for praise is pleasant and lovely.

Then you will understand righteousness, justice,and integrity—every good path.

So follow the way of good people,and keep to the paths of the righteous.

When it is in your power,don’t withhold good from the one it belongs to.

for I am giving you good instruction.Don’t abandon my teaching.

I possess good advice and competence;I have understanding and strength.

A beautiful woman who rejects good senseis like a gold ring in a pig’s snout.

The one who searches for what is good finds favor,but if someone looks for trouble, it will come to him.

The good person obtains favor from the Lord,but He condemns a man who schemes.

A man will be satisfied with goodby the words of his mouth,and the work of a man’s hands will reward him.

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down,but a good word cheers it up.

From the words of his mouth,a man will enjoy good things,but treacherous people have an appetite for violence.

Good sense wins favor,but the way of the treacherous never changes.

Disaster pursues sinners,but good rewards the righteous.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren,but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.

The disloyal one will get what his conduct deserves,and a good man, what his deeds deserve.

The evil bow before those who are good,the wicked, at the gates of the righteous.

Don’t those who plan evil go astray?But those who plan good find loyalty and faithfulness.

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere,observing the wicked and the good.

A man takes joy in giving an answer;and a timely word—how good that is!

Bright eyes cheer the heart;good news strengthens the bones.

Anyone who ignores discipline despises himself,but whoever listens to correction acquires good sense.

A violent man lures his neighbor,leading him in a way that is not good.

If anyone returns evil for good,evil will never depart from his house.

A joyful heart is good medicine,but a broken spirit dries up the bones.

It is certainly not good to fine an innocent personor to beat a noble for his honesty.

It is not good to show partiality to the guiltyby perverting the justice due the innocent.

A man who finds a wife finds a good thingand obtains favor from the Lord.

Even zeal is not good without knowledge,and the one who acts hastily sins.

The one who acquires good sense loves himself;one who safeguards understanding finds success.

A good name is to be chosen over great wealth;favor is better than silver and gold.

Eat honey, my son, for it is good,and the honeycomb is sweet to your palate;

These sayings also belong to the wise:It is not good to show partiality in judgment.

Good news from a distant landis like cold water to a parched throat.

It is not good to eat too much honeyor to seek glory after glory.

The one who leads the upright into an evil waywill fall into his own pit,but the blameless will inherit what is good.

It is not good to show partiality—yet a man may sin for a piece of bread.

The heart of her husband trusts in her,and he will not lack anything good.

She rewards him with good, not evil,all the days of her life.

She sees that her profits are good,and her lamp never goes out at night.

I said to myself, “Go ahead, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy what is good.” But it turned out to be futile.

I explored with my mind how to let my body enjoy life with wine and how to grasp folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom—until I could see what is good for people to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.

I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and enjoy the good life.

There is a person without a companion, without even a son or brother, and though there is no end to all his struggles, his eyes are still not content with riches. “So who am I struggling for,” he asks, “and depriving myself from good?” This too is futile and a miserable task.

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts.

When good things increase, the ones who consume them multiply; what, then, is the profit to the owner, except to gaze at them with his eyes?

Here is what I have seen to be good: it is appropriate to eat, drink, and experience good in all the labor one does under the sun during the few days of his life God has given him, because that is his reward.

A man may father a hundred children and live many years. No matter how long he lives, if he is not satisfied by good things and does not even have a proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.

For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?

A good name is better than fine perfume,and the day of one’s death than the day of one’s birth.

Wisdom is as good as an inheritanceand an advantage to those who see the sun,

It is good that you grasp the one and do not let the other slip from your hand. For the one who fears God will end up with both of them.

There is certainly no righteous man on the earthwho does good and never sins.

Everything is the same for everyone: there is one fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not sacrifice. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as for the one who takes an oath, so for the one who fears an oath.

Wisdom is better than weapons of war,but one sinner can destroy much good.

In the morning sow your seed,and at evening do not let your hand rest,because you don’t know which will succeed,whether one or the other,or if both of them will be equally good.

For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

Learn to do what is good.Seek justice.Correct the oppressor.Defend the rights of the fatherless.Plead the widow’s cause.

If you are willing and obedient,you will eat the good things of the land.

He broke up the soil, cleared it of stones,and planted it with the finest vines.He built a tower in the middle of itand even dug out a winepress there.He expected it to yield good grapes,but it yielded worthless grapes.

What more could I have done for My vineyardthan I did?Why, when I expected a yield of good grapes,did it yield worthless grapes?

Woe to those who call evil goodand good evil,who substitute darkness for lightand light for darkness,who substitute bitter for sweetand sweet for bitter.

By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good, he will be eating butter and honey.

For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned.

When Moab appears on the high place,when he tires himself outand comes to his sanctuary to pray,it will do him no good.

everyone will be ashamedbecause of a people who can’t help.They are of no benefit, they are no help;they are good for nothing but shame and reproach.

He said, “Please, Lord, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and wholeheartedly, and have done what pleases You.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good,” for he thought: There will be peace and security during my lifetime.

Zion, herald of good news,go up on a high mountain.Jerusalem, herald of good news,raise your voice loudly.Raise it, do not be afraid!Say to the cities of Judah,“Here is your God!”

The craftsman encourages the metalworker;the one who flattens with the hammersupports the one who strikes the anvil,saying of the soldering, “It is good.”He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.

Tell us the coming events,then we will know that you are gods.Indeed, do something good or bad,then we will be in awe and perceive.

I was the first to say to Zion:Look! Here they are!And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.

How beautiful on the mountainsare the feet of the herald,who proclaims peace,who brings news of good things,who proclaims salvation,who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Why do you spend money on what is not food,and your wages on what does not satisfy?Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me,because the Lord has anointed Meto bring good news to the poor.He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,to proclaim liberty to the captivesand freedom to the prisoners;

I will make known the Lord’s faithful loveand the Lord’s praiseworthy acts,because of all the Lord has done for us—even the many good thingsHe has done for the house of Israeland has done for them based on His compassionand the abundance of His faithful love.

The Lord says this:As the new wine is found in a bunch of grapes,and one says, ‘Don’t destroy it,for there’s some good in it,’so I will act because of My servantsand not destroy them all.

“For My people are fools;they do not know Me.They are foolish children,without understanding.They are skilled in doing what is evil,but they do not know how to do what is good.”

This is what the Lord says:Stand by the roadways and look.Ask about the ancient paths:Which is the way to what is good?Then take itand find rest for yourselves.But they protested, “We won’t!”

We hoped for peace, but there was nothing good;for a time of healing, but there was only terror.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch,their idols cannot speak.They must be carried because they cannot walk.Do not fear them for they can do no harm—and they cannot do any good.

Can the Cushite change his skin,or a leopard his spots?If so, you might be able to do what is good,you who are instructed in evil.

Have You completely rejected Judah?Do You detest Zion?Why do You strike uswith no hope of healing for us?We hoped for peace,but there was nothing good;for a time of healing,but there was only terror.

He will be like a juniper in the Arabah;he cannot see when good comesbut dwells in the parched places in the wilderness,in a salt land where no one lives.

However, if it does what is evil in My sight by not listening to My voice, I will relent concerning the good I had said I would do to it.