'Hands' in the Bible

I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

“From Egypt also you will come away [as captives]With your hands on your head;For the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust (confide),And you will not be successful with them.”

For I heard a cry like a woman in labor,The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,The cry of the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem), who gasps for breath,Who stretches out her hands, saying,“Woe is me [my judgment comes]! I faint [in fear] before the murderers.”

The prophets prophesy falsely,And the priests rule on their own authority;And My people love [to have] it so!But what will you do when the end comes?

We have heard the report of it;Our hands become limp and helpless.Anguish has gripped us,Pain like that of a woman in childbirth.

For the customs and decrees of the peoples are [mere] delusion [exercises in futility];It is only wood which one cuts from the forest [to make a god],The work of the hands of the craftsman with the axe or cutting tool.

Silver that has been beaten [into plates] is brought from Tarshish,And gold from Uphaz,The work of the craftsman and of the hand of the goldsmith;Violet and purple are their clothing;They are all the work of skilled men.

Therefore thus says the Lord regarding the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, “Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, so that you will not die by our hand.”

“I have abandoned My house,I have given up My [precious] inheritance (Judah);I have given the [dearly] beloved of My lifeInto the hands of her enemies.

“So I will rescue you out of the hand of the wicked,And I will redeem you from the [grasping] palm of the terrible and ruthless [tyrant].”

I will pour out and nullify the counsel (plans) of [the men of] Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make their people fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives; and I will give their dead bodies as food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!For He has rescued the life of the needy oneFrom the hand of evildoers.

‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will turn back and dull the edge of the weapons of war that are in your hands, [those] with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the walls; and I will bring them into the center of this city (Jerusalem).

Then afterward,” says the Lord, “I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his servants and the people in this city who survive the virulent disease, the sword, and the famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemy, into the hand of those who seek their lives. And he will strike them with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them nor have mercy and compassion on them.”’

And I will place you in the hand of those who seek your life and in the hand of those whom you fear, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:They commit adultery and walk in lies;They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.All of them have become like Sodom to Me,And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’

Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “so that you have provoked Me to anger with the work (idols) of your hands to your own harm.

(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even the Chaldeans [who enslaved other nations]; and I will repay [all of] them according to their deeds and according to the work of their [own] hands.)’”

As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and suitable to you.

But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to put him to death.

For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the [bronze] pillars, the [bronze] Sea, the [bronze] bases [of the ten basins in Solomon’s temple used for washing sacrificial animals], and the rest of the articles that are left in this city (Jerusalem),

‘Ask now, and seeWhether a man can give birth [to a child].Why then do I see every manWith his hands on his loins, as a woman in labor?Why have all faces turned pale?

and Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye;

Yet, O Lord God, You said to me, “Buy the field with money and get witnesses,” even though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

Therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will take it.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil in My sight from their youth; for the children of Israel have been provoking Me to anger by the [idols that are the] work of their hands,” says the Lord.

Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “It is desolate, without man or animal; it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.”

In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South (the Negev), in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hand of the one who counts them,’ says the Lord.

I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. And [like the body of the calf] their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will place into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has withdrawn from you.

Therefore the princes (court officials) said to the king, “Please [we implore you] let this man [Jeremiah] be put to death; for [speaking] in this way he discourages and weakens [the will of] the soldiers who remain in this city and he discourages and weakens [the will of] all the people by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but rather their harm.”

Then King Zedekiah [fearing the princes] said, “Listen, he is in your hand; for the king is in no position to do anything against you.”

But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives, who made our lives, be assured that I will not put you to death or put you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”

But if you will not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans [of Babylon] and they will set it on fire; and you yourself will not escape from their hand.’”

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews [my former subjects] who have deserted to join the Chaldeans, for the enemy may put me into their hand and they will mock me and abuse me.”

Also, all your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city [Jerusalem] will be burned down with fire.’”

But I will protect you [Ebed-melech] on that day,” says the Lord, “and you will not be handed over to the men of whom you are afraid.

But now, listen carefully, [because of your innocence] I am freeing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you [carefully]; but if you would prefer not to come with me to Babylon, then do not do so. Look, all the land is before you; go wherever it seems good and right (convenient) for you to go.”

But Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, so they may [either] put us to death or exile us to Babylon.”

“Take some large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brickwork [of the terrace] which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of the men of Judah;

Why do you [deliberately] provoke Me to anger with the works (idols) of your hands, burning sacrifices and incense to [make-believe] gods in the land of Egypt, where you [of your own accord] have come to live [as temporary residents], that you might be cut off and become a curse and a disgrace [an object of taunts] among all the nations of the earth?

thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘You and your wives have both declared with your mouth and fulfilled it with your hand, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven (Ishtar) and to pour out drink offerings to her.” Surely then confirm your vows and go ahead and perform your vows! [If you intend to defy all My warnings, proceed!]’

Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of those who seek his life, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy and was seeking his life.’”

“The Daughter of Egypt has been shamed,Given over to the power of the people of the north [the Chaldeans of Babylonia].”

I will put them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his servants. Afterward Egypt will be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the Lord.

“Because of the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of the war-horses [of the Babylonian king],The rattling of his chariots, and the rumbling of his wheels,The fathers have not looked and turned back for their children,So weak are their hands [with terror]

For every head is [shaven] bald and every beard cut off; there are cuts (slashes) on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins [all expressions of mourning].

“The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,And his hands fall limp and helpless;Anguish has seized him,And agony like that of a woman in childbirth.