'Heathen' in the Bible

Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.

And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.

And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.

But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD.

And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.

Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

But [in the meantime] the people were still sacrificing [to God] on the high places (hilltops) [as the pagans did to their idols], for there was no [permanent] house yet built for the Name of the Lord.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser the king of Assyria, and saw the pagan altar which was at Damascus. Then King Ahaz sent a model of the altar to Urijah the priest along with a [detailed] pattern for all its construction.

And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.

And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:

And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.

And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out before the children of Israel.

And he built [pagan] altars in the house (temple) of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put My Name (Presence).”

Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations.

And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather us together, and deliver us from the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name, and glory in thy praise.

And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the fire, after the abominations of the heathen whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.

He built [pagan] altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name shall be in Jerusalem forever.”

So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.

Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the LORD God of Israel, did eat,

Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful [to God] and have married foreign (pagan) women, adding to the guilt of Israel.

So now, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do His will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from [your] foreign wives.”

They vowed to send away their [pagan] wives, and being guilty, they each offered a ram of the flock for their offense.

And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.

Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?

Moreover there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us.

Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.

And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.

Do we then hear about you that you have done all this great evil, acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign (pagan) women?”

Thus I cleansed and purified them from everything foreign (pagan), and I defined the duties of the priests and Levites, each one in his task;

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.

Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.

Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen.

Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness.

Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.

He cast out the heathen also before them, and divided them an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.

{A Psalm of Asaph.} O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance; thy holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.

Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.

Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?

Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

The LORD hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.

So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.

And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people;

They did not destroy the [pagan] peoples [in Canaan],As the Lord commanded them,

But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.

And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.

Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.

He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.

He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.

Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them.

The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

“But when I look [on the pagan prophets and priests], there is no one [who could predict these events],And there is no counselor among them,Who, if I ask, can give an answer.

Sing to the Lord a new song,Sing His praise from the end of the earth!You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it,You islands and coastlands, and those who inhabit them [sing His praise]!

I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.

Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

“O Lord, though our many sins testify against us” [prays Jeremiah],“Act now [for us and] for Your name’s sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]!For our backslidings are countless;We have sinned against You.

As they remember their children,So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their AsherimBeside green trees on the high hills.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ask ye now among the heathen, who hath heard such things: the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.

I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.

For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits.

The adversary hath spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things: for she hath seen that the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation.

They cried unto them, Depart ye; it is unclean; depart, depart, touch not: when they fled away and wandered, they said among the heathen, They shall no more sojourn there.

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of the LORD, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the heathen.

And she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the [pagan] nations and against My statutes more than the countries that are around her; for Israel has rejected My ordinances and has not walked in My statutes.’

So it will be a disgrace, a taunt, a warning and an object of horror to the [pagan] nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger and in wrath and in raging reprimands—I, the Lord, have spoken.

Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.

Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.

When they return there, they will remove from it all [traces of] its detestable things and all its repulsive things (remnants of paganism).

But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.