'Midst' in the Bible

I said, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days;Your years are [eternal] throughout all generations.

The Lord will send the scepter of Your strength from Zion, saying,“Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”

In the courts of the Lord’s house (temple)—In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Who sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,Upon Pharaoh and all his servants.

And made Israel pass through the midst of it,For His lovingkindness endures forever;

On the willow trees in the midst of BabylonWe hung our harps.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me;You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies,And Your right hand will save me.

“I, [Wisdom, continuously] walk in the way of righteousness,In the midst of the paths of justice,

And you will be [as unsteady] as one who lies down in the middle of the sea,And [as vulnerable to disaster] as one who lies down on the top of a ship’s mast, saying,

The way of an eagle in the air,The way of a serpent on a rock,The way of a ship in the middle of the sea,And the way of a man with a maid.

The Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem) is left like a [deserted] shelter in a vineyard,Like a watchman’s hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city [isolated, surrounded by devastation].

When the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion and has cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning,

He dug it all around and cleared away its stones,And planted it with the choicest vine (the people of Judah).And He built a tower in the center of it;And also hewed out a wine vat in it.Then He expected it to produce [the choicest] grapes,But it produced only worthless ones.

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others],Until there is no more room [for others],So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

Therefore the anger of the Lord has burned against His people,And He has stretched out His hand against them and has struck them down.And the mountains trembled, and their dead bodies lay like rubbish in the middle of the streets.In spite of all this God’s anger is not turned away,But His hand is still stretched out [in judgment].

Then I said,“Woe is me! For I am ruined,Because I am a man of [ceremonially] unclean lips,And I live among a people of unclean lips;For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

The Lord has removed [His] people far away,And there are many deserted places in the midst of the land.

“Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it; and let us breach its wall and tear it apart [each of us taking a portion] and set up the son of Tabeel over it as its [puppet] king,”

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish [for with judgment comes the promise of salvation]. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He will make them honored [by the presence of the Messiah], by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

For the Lord, the God of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.

Rejoice and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

[Say to the ruler] “Give us advice, make a decision [for Moab, king of Judah];Cast your shadow [over us] like night in the midst of noon;Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive [to his pursuer].

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a memorial stone to the Lord near its border.

In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and with Assyria [in a Messianic league], a blessing in the midst of the earth,

For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,As the shaking of an olive tree,As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over [and only a little of the fruit remains].

And Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of the filthAs a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,But the Lord will humiliate his pride in spite of the [skillful] movements of his hands.

For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,They will sanctify My Name;They will sanctify the Holy One of JacobAnd will stand in awe and reverent fear of the God of Israel.

“I will open rivers on the barren heightsAnd springs in the midst of the valleys;I will make the wilderness a reed-pool of waterAnd the dry land springs of water.

Depart, depart, go out from there (the lands of exile),Touch no unclean thing;Go out of the midst of her (Babylon), purify yourselves,You who carry the articles of the Lord [on your journey from there].

“Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;You will cry for help, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’If you take away from your midst the yoke [of oppression],The finger pointed in scorn [toward the oppressed or the godly], and [every form of] wicked (sinful, unjust) speech,

Then His people remembered the days of old, of Moses [and they said],Where is He who brought our fathers up out of the [Red] Sea, with the shepherds of His flock [Moses and Aaron]?Where is He who put His Holy Spirit in their midst,

“Those who [vainly attempt to] sanctify and cleanse themselves to go to the gardens [to sacrifice to idols],Following after one in the center,Who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things and mice,Will come to an end together,” says the Lord.

“Run for safety, you children of Benjamin,Out of the midst of Jerusalem!And blow a trumpet in Tekoa [in Judah]And raise a signal-fire in Beth-haccherem [near Jerusalem];For evil is looking down [with eager anticipation] from the north,And great destruction.

“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.

And if these [neighboring nations] will diligently learn the ways of My people, to swear by My Name, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—even as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up among My people.

“Why should You be [hesitant and inactive] like a man astounded and perplexed,Like a mighty man unable to save?Yet You, O Lord, are among us,And we are called by Your name;Do not leave us!”

“Like the partridge that hatches eggs which she has not laid,So is he who makes a fortune in ways that are unjust.It will be lost to him before his days are over,And in the end he will be [nothing but] a fool.”

‘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).

For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your [false] prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to the dreams which they dream or to yours,

‘Their prince will be one of them,And their ruler will come forward from among them.I will bring him near and he shall approach Me,For who is he who would have the boldness and would dare [on his own initiative] to risk his life to approach Me?’ says the Lord.

Yet when they came into the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern (underground water reservoir).

“Also her mercenaries in her armyAre like fattened calves,For they too have turned back and have fled together;They did not stand [their ground],Because the day of their disaster has come upon them,The time of their punishment.

“In the shadow of HeshbonThe fugitives stand powerless [helpless and without strength],For a fire has gone out from Heshbon,A flame from the midst of Sihon;It has destroyed the forehead of MoabAnd the crowns of the heads of [the arrogant Moabites] the ones in tumult.

“Wander away from the midst of BabylonAnd go out of the land of the Chaldeans;Be like the male goats [who serve as leaders] at the head of the flocks.

“A sword against their horses and against their chariotsAnd against all the foreign troops that are in her midst,And they will become [as weak and defenseless as] women!A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

Flee out of Babylon,Let every one of you save his life!Do not be destroyed in her punishment,For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance;He is going to pay her what she has earned.

“Come out of her midst, My people,And each of you [escape and] save yourselfFrom the fierce anger of the Lord.

“Therefore behold (listen carefully), the days are comingWhen I will judge and punish the idols of Babylon;Her whole land will be perplexed and shamed,And all her slain will fall in her midst.

And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates.

He also took out of the city one official who was overseer of the soldiers, and seven of the king’s advisers who were found in the city, and the scribe of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men who were still in the city.

“The Lord has rejected all the strong menIn my midst;He has proclaimed an established time against meTo crush my young men.The Lord has trampled down as in a wine pressThe Virgin Daughter of Judah.

Because of the sins of her [counterfeit] prophetsAnd the wickedness of her [unfaithful] priests,Who have shed in her midstThe blood of the just and righteous;

Now it came about [when I was] in my thirtieth year [of life], on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles beside the River Chebar [in Babylonia], the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

As I looked, I saw a stormy wind coming out of the north, a great cloud with fire flashing continually from it; and a brightness was around it, and in its core [there was] something like glowing [amber-colored] metal in the midst of the fire.

Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form.

Among the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire.

You shall burn one third with fire in the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

Again take some hair and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I, I Myself, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you and I will scatter to all the winds the remnant of you.

One third of you will die of virulent disease or be consumed by famine among you; one third will fall by the sword around you; and one third I will scatter to all the winds, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.

The slain will fall among you, then you shall know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.

For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will repay you for your evil ways, while your abominations are among you; and you will know (recognize, understand) [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.’

My eye will show no pity nor will I spare [you]. I will repay you in accordance with your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know and understand that it is I, the Lord, who strikes you.

Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods].

The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, throughout all of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh [in distress] and grieve over all the repulsive acts which are being committed in it.”

Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the Lord’s house, which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Your dead whom you have laid in the midst of your city are the meat and this city is the pot; but I shall force you out of [the security of] it.

“And I will bring you out of the midst of the city and hand you over to strangers and execute judgment against you.

This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be meat [safe] in it, but I will judge you at the border of Israel.

Then the glory and brilliance of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and paused over the mountain, [the Mount of Olives] which is east of the city.

“Son of man, you live among a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but do not see, who have ears to hear but do not hear; for they are a rebellious people.

The prince who is among them will load his provisions and supplies on his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig a hole through the wall to go out. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.

So I will tear down the wall which you have plastered with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundations will be exposed; when it falls, you will perish in its midst. And you shall know and understand fully that I am the Lord.

I will set My face against that man [that hypocrite] and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people; and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.

“But if the prophet [who speaks without My authority] is enticed to speak a word [of his own], it is I the Lord who have caused that prophet [to speak falsely to please the inquirer, thus allowing himself to be a party to the inquirer’s sin], and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

“Nevertheless, I will restore them [again] from their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters (outlying cities), the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them [I will restore you from] your own captivity [in the day of the Lord God],

As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely in the country of the king (Nebuchadnezzar) who made Zedekiah [the vassal] king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon Zedekiah shall die.

and say,‘What was your mother [Jerusalem and Judah]?A lioness among lions!She lay down among young lions,She reared her cubs.

But they rebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; they did not throw away the detestable things on which they feasted their eyes, nor did they give up the idols of Egypt.“Then I decided to pour out My wrath on them and finish My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

You will be fuel for the fire; your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I the Lord have spoken.’”

You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time [of doom] will come, and makes idols to defile her, contrary to her interest!

In you they have treated father and mother lightly. They have oppressed the stranger among you; and in your presence they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.

In you are men who slander for the purpose of shedding blood, and in your presence they have eaten [food offered to idols] at the mountain shrines; in your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.

“Behold, therefore, I strike My hands [together] at your dishonest gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you.

“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross (metallic waste) to Me. All of them are (useless) bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you [O Israel] into the midst of Jerusalem.

As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will put you there and melt you.

I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it.

As silver is melted in the furnace, so will you be melted in the midst of it; and you will know [without any doubt] that I the Lord have poured out My wrath on you [O Israel].’”

There is a conspiracy of her [false] prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured [human] life; they have taken [in their greed] treasure and precious things; they have made many widows among her.

Her princes within her are like wolves tearing and devouring the prey, shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain.

For when they had killed their children [as offerings] to their idols, then they came the same day to My sanctuary to profane it [by daring to offer a sacrifice there also]. And behold, this they did within My house.

“For her blood [that she has shed] remains in her midst;She put it on the bare rock;She did not pour it on the groundTo cover it with dust.

therefore, behold, I am going to give you to the people of the East as a possession, and they will set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they will eat your fruit and drink your milk.

Her island in the midst of the sea will become a dry place to spread nets, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God, ‘and she will become a prey and a spoil for the nations.

Also they will take your riches as spoil and plunder your merchandise, and tear down your walls and your pleasant houses, and throw your stones and your timber and the debris [from your city] out in the water.

Thus says the Lord God to Tyre, “Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall when the wounded groan, when the slaughter occurs in your midst?

“Your riches, your wares, your merchandiseYour oarsmen and your pilots,Your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,And all your men of war who are with you,With all your company that is in your midst,Will sink in the heart of the seasOn the day of your ruin.

“You were the anointed cherub who covers and protects,And I placed you there.You were on the holy mountain of God;You walked in the midst of the stones of fire [sparkling jewels].