'Nations' in the Bible

You nations, come here and listen;you peoples, pay attention!Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,the world and all that comes from it.

The Lord is angry with all the nations—furious with all their armies.He will set them apart for destruction,giving them over to slaughter.

Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria?

Did the gods of the nations that my predecessors destroyed rescue them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the Edenites in Telassar?

Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;they are considered as a speck of dust in the scales;He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

All the nations are as nothing before Him;they are considered by Himas nothingness and emptiness.

Who has stirred him up from the east?He calls righteousness to his feet.The Lord hands nations over to him,and he subdues kings.He makes them like dust with his sword,like wind-driven stubble with his bow.

“This is My Servant; I strengthen Him,this is My Chosen One; I delight in Him.I have put My Spirit on Him;He will bring justice to the nations.

“I, Yahweh, have called Youfor a righteous purpose,and I will hold You by Your hand.I will keep You and appoint Youto be a covenant for the peopleand a light to the nations,

All the nations are gathered together,and the peoples are assembled.Who among them can declare this,and tell us the former things?Let them present their witnessesto vindicate themselves,so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”

The Lord says this to Cyrus, His anointed,whose right hand I have graspedto subdue nations before him,to disarm kings,to open the doors before himand the gates will not be shut:

“Come, gather together,and draw near, you fugitives of the nations.Those who carry their wooden idols,and pray to a god who cannot save,have no knowledge.

He says,“It is not enough for you to be My Servantraising up the tribes of Jacoband restoring the protected ones of Israel.I will also make you a light for the nations,to be My salvation to the ends of the earth.”

This is what the Lord God says:Look, I will lift up My hand to the nations,and raise My banner to the peoples.They will bring your sons in their arms,and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

Pay attention to Me, My people,and listen to Me, My nation;for instruction will come from Me,and My justice for a light to the nations.I will bring it about quickly.

My righteousness is near,My salvation appears,and My arms will bring justice to the nations.The coastlands will put their hope in Me,and they will look to My strength.

The Lord has displayed His holy armin the sight of all the nations;all the ends of the earth will seethe salvation of our God.

so He will sprinkle many nations.Kings will shut their mouths because of Him,For they will see what had not been told them,and they will understand what they had not heard. >

For you will spread out to the right and to the left,and your descendants will dispossess nationsand inhabit the desolate cities.

so you will summon a nation you do not know,and nations who do not know you will run to you.For the Lord your God,even the Holy One of Israel,has glorified you.”

I will bring them to My holy mountainand let them rejoice in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and sacrificeswill be acceptable on My altar,for My house will be called a house of prayerfor all nations.”

Nations will come to your light,and kings to the brightness of your radiance.

Then you will see and be radiant,and your heart will tremble and rejoice,because the riches of the sea will become yoursand the wealth of the nations will come to you.

Your gates will always be open;they will never be shut day or nightso that the wealth of the nationsmay be brought into you,with their kings being led in procession.

For the nation and the kingdomthat will not serve you will perish;those nations will be annihilated.

You will nurse on the milk of nations,and nurse at the breast of kings;you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviorand Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

But you will be called the Lord’s priests;they will speak of you as ministers of our God;you will eat the wealth of the nations,and you will boast in their riches.

Their descendants will be known among the nations,and their posterity among the peoples.All who see them will recognizethat they are a people the Lord has blessed.

For as the earth produces its growth,and as a garden enables what is sown to spring up,so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praiseto spring up before all the nations.

Nations will see your righteousnessand all kings, your glory.You will be called by a new namethat the Lord’s mouth will announce.

I trampled the winepress alone,and no one from the nations was with Me.I trampled them in My angerand ground them underfoot in My fury;their blood spattered My garments,and all My clothes were stained.

I crushed nations in My anger;I made them drunk with My wrathand poured out their blood on the ground.

as fire kindles the brushwood,and fire causes water to boil—to make Your name known to Your enemies,so that nations will tremble at Your presence!

For this is what the Lord says:I will make peace flow to her like a river,and the wealth of nations like a flood;you will nurse and be carried on her hipand bounced on her lap.

“Knowing their works and their thoughts, I have come to gather all nations and languages; they will come and see My glory.

I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, Lud (who are archers), Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away—who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. And they will proclaim My glory among the nations.

They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as a gift to the Lord on horses and chariots, in litters, and on mules and camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem,” says the Lord, “just as the Israelites bring an offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.

I chose you before I formed you in the womb;I set you apart before you were born.I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

See, I have appointed you todayover nations and kingdomsto uproot and tear down,to destroy and demolish,to build and plant.

At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

I thought: How I long to make you My sonsand give you a desirable land,the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.I thought: You will call Me, my Father,and never turn away from Me.

then you can swear, “As the Lord lives,”in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,then the nations will be blessed by Himand will pride themselves in Him.

A lion has gone up from his thicket;a destroyer of nations has set out.He has left his lairto make your land a waste.Your cities will be reduced to uninhabited ruins.

Warn the nations: Look!Proclaim to Jerusalem:Those who besiege are comingfrom a distant land;they raise their voicesagainst the cities of Judah.

Therefore listen, you nationsand you witnesses,learn what the charge is against them.

I will scatter them among the nations that they and their fathers have not known. I will send a sword after them until I have finished them off.”

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all the inhabitants of the desert who clip the hair on their temples. All these nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

This is what the Lord says:Do not learn the way of the nationsor be terrified by signs in the heavens,although the nations are terrified by them,

Who should not fear You,King of the nations?It is what You deserve.For among all the wise people of the nationsand among all their kingdoms,there is no one like You.

But Yahweh is the true God;He is the living God and eternal King.The earth quakes at His wrath,and the nations cannot endure His rage.

Pour out Your wrath on the nationsthat don’t recognize Youand on the familiesthat don’t call on Your name,for they have consumed Jacob;they have consumed him and finished him offand made his homeland desolate.

Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?Or can the skies alone give showers?Are You not the Lord our God?We therefore put our hope in You,for You have done all these things.

Lord, my strength and my stronghold,my refuge in a time of distress,the nations will come to Youfrom the ends of the earth, and they will say,“Our fathers inherited only lies,worthless idols of no benefit at all.”

Therefore, this is what the Lord says:Ask among the nations,Who has heard things like these?Virgin Israel has done a most terrible thing.

“Many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why did the Lord do such a thing to this great city?’

I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘and send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them a desolation, a derision, and ruins forever.

This whole land will become a desolate ruin, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years.

I will bring on that land all My words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book that Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

For many nations and great kings will enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.’”

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and make all the nations I am sending you to, drink from it.

So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations drink from it, everyone the Lord sent me to.

The tumult reaches to the ends of the earthbecause the Lord brings a case against the nations.He enters into judgment with all flesh.As for the wicked, He hands them over to the sword—this is the Lord’s declaration.

I will make this temple like Shiloh. I will make this city an object of cursing for all the nations of the earth.”

All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” Jeremiah the prophet then went on his way.

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him.’”

I will be found by you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “I will restore you to the place I deported you from.”

I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse and a desolation, an object of scorn and a disgrace among all the nations where I have banished them.

For I will be with you—this is the Lord’s declaration—to save you!I will bring destruction on all the nationswhere I have scattered you;however, I will not bring destruction on you.I will discipline you justly,and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

For this is what the Lord says:Sing with joy for Jacob;shout for the chief of the nations!Proclaim, praise, and say,“Lord, save Your people,the remnant of Israel!”

Nations, hear the word of the Lord,and tell it among the far off coastlands!Say: The One who scattered Israel will gather him.He will watch over him as a shepherd guards his flock,

This city will bear on My behalf a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth, who will hear of all the good I will do for them. They will tremble with awe because of all the good and all the peace I will bring about for them.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities:

“Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah’s reign until today.

Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took the whole remnant of Judah, those who had returned from all the nations where they had been banished to live in the land of Judah for a while—

You are provoking Me to anger by the work of your hands. You are burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt where you have gone to live for a while. As a result, you will be cut off and become an object of cursing and insult among all the nations of earth.

The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet about the nations:

The nations have heard of your dishonor,and your outcry fills the earth,because warrior stumbles against warriorand together both of them have fallen.

And you, My servant Jacob, do not be afraid—this is the Lord’s declaration—for I will be with you.I will bring destruction on all the nationswhere I have banished you,but I will not bring destruction on you.I will discipline you with justice,and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

Mourn for him, all you surrounding nations,everyone who knows his name.Say: How the mighty scepter is shattered,the glorious staff!

I have heard a message from the Lord;a messenger has been sent among the nations:Assemble yourselves to come against her.Rise up for war!

Look, I will certainly make you insignificant among the nations,despised among humanity.

Announce to the nations;proclaim and raise up a signal flag;proclaim, and hide nothing.Say: Babylon is captured;Bel is put to shame;Marduk is devastated;her idols are put to shame;her false gods, devastated.

For I will soon stir up and bring against Babylonan assembly of great nations from the north country.They will line up in battle formation against her;from there she will be captured.Their arrows will be like those of a skilled warriorwho does not return empty-handed.

your mother will be utterly humiliated;she who bore you will be put to shame.Look! She will lag behind all the nations—a dry land, a wilderness, an Arabah.

How the hammer of the whole earthis cut down and smashed!What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

At the sound of Babylon’s conquest the earth will quake; a cry will be heard among the nations.

Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord’s hand,making the whole earth drunk.The nations drank her wine;therefore, the nations go mad.

You are My battle club,My weapons of war.With you I will smash nations;with you I will bring kingdoms to ruin.

Raise a signal flag in the land;blow a ram’s horn among the nations;set apart the nations against her.Summon kingdoms against her—Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.Appoint a marshal against her;bring up horses like a swarm of locusts.

Set apart the nations for battle against her—the kings of Media,her governors and all her officials,and all the lands they rule.

How Sheshach has been captured,the praise of the whole earth seized.What a horror Babylon has becomeamong the nations!

I will punish Bel in Babylon.I will make him vomit what he swallowed.The nations will no longer stream to him;even Babylon’s wall will fall.

This is what Yahweh of Hosts says:Babylon’s thick walls will be totally demolished,and her high gates consumed by fire.The peoples will have labored for nothing;the nations will exhaust themselves only to feed the fire.

How she sits alone,the city once crowded with people!She who was great among the nationshas become like a widow.The princess among the provinceshas been put to forced labor.

ג GimelJudah has gone into exilefollowing affliction and harsh slavery;she lives among the nationsbut finds no place to rest.All her pursuers have overtaken herin narrow places.

י YodThe adversary has seizedall her precious belongings.She has even seen the nationsenter her sanctuary—those You had forbiddento enter Your assembly.

ט TetZion’s gates have fallen to the ground;He has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.Her king and her leaders live among the nations,instruction is no more,and even her prophets receiveno vision from the Lord.

ס Samek“Stay away! Unclean!” people shouted at them.“Away, away! Don’t touch us!”So they wandered aimlessly.It was said among the nations,“They can stay here no longer.”

ר ReshThe Lord’s anointed, the breath of our life,was captured in their traps.We had said about him,“We will live under his protection among the nations.”