'Ordinances' in the Bible

“Now these are the ordinances (laws) which you shall set before the Israelites:

Then Moses came and told the people everything that the Lord had said and all the ordinances. And all the people answered with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”

You are to follow My judgments (precepts, ordinances) and keep My statutes and live by them. I am the Lord your God.

So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which, if a person keeps them, he shall live; I am the Lord.

But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments (precepts) and shall not commit any of these repulsive acts, neither the native-born, nor the stranger who lives temporarily among you

You shall observe and keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.’”

‘Therefore keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out [as it did those before you].

‘Therefore you shall carry out My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them, so that you may live securely on the land.

if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul rejects My ordinances, so that you will not [obediently] do all My commandments, and in this way break My covenant,

But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment for their wickedness and make amends because they rejected My ordinances and their soul rejected My statutes.

These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws which the Lord established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses at Mount Sinai.

On the fourteenth day of this month at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and ordinances you shall keep it.”

If a stranger lives among you as a resident alien and observes the Passover to the Lord, in accordance with its statutes and its ordinances, so shall he do; you shall have one statute, both for the resident alien and for the native of the land.’”

then the congregation shall judge between the offender and the blood avenger according to these ordinances.

These are the commandments and the ordinances (judgments) which the Lord commanded through Moses to the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan [across from] Jericho.

“Now, O Israel, listen and pay attention to the statutes and the judgments (God’s legal decisions) which I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

“Look, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may do them in the land which you are entering to possess.

Or what great nation has statutes and judgments so righteous (upright, just) as this whole law which I am placing before you today?

Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments (legal decisions) which I am speaking today in your hearing, so that you may learn them and observe them carefully.

and you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the judgments which I am setting before you today.

“These are the statutes and judgments (precepts) which you shall be careful to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

“This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments (precepts). Therefore, you shall be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess.

“The priests shall teach Your ordinances (judgments) to Jacob,And Your law to Israel.They shall put incense before You,And whole burnt offerings on Your altar.

“He selected the best [land] for himself,For there the leader’s portion was reserved;Yet he came with the leaders of the people;He carried out the justice (righteous will) of the Lord,And His ordinances (judgments) with Israel.”

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance at Shechem.

“For all His judgments (legal decisions) were before me,And from His statutes I did not turn aside.

because they have abandoned Me and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways and followed My commandments, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances as did his father David.

To this day they act in accordance with their former [pagan] customs: they do not [really] fear the Lord, nor do they obey their statutes and ordinances, nor the law, nor the commandments which the Lord commanded the sons (descendants) of Jacob, whom He named Israel;

The statutes and the ordinances and the law and the commandment which He wrote for you [by the hand of Moses], you shall observe and do forever. You shall not fear (worship, serve) other gods.

Then you will prosper, if you are careful to observe and fulfill the statutes and ordinances which the Lord commanded Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and courageous, do not fear nor be dismayed.

I will establish his kingdom forever if he loyally and continually obeys My commandments and My ordinances, as is done today.’

As for you [Solomon], if you will walk before me as your father David walked, and do everything that I have commanded you, and observe My statutes and My ordinances,

and I will not again remove Israel from the land which I appointed for your fathers, if they will only be careful to do everything that I have commanded them in regard to all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”

They celebrated the Feast of Booths, as it is written, and offered the fixed number of daily burnt offerings, in accordance with the ordinances, as each day required;

For Ezra had set his heart (resolved) to study and interpret the Law of the Lord, and to practice it and teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.

We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

“Then You came down on Mount Sinai,And spoke with them from heaven;And You gave them fair ordinances and true laws,Good statutes and commandments.

And You admonished them and warned them to turn them back to Your law.Yet they acted presumptuously and arrogantly and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your ordinances,Which by keeping, a man will live.But they turned a stubborn shoulder, stiffened their neck, and would not listen.

are joining with their fellow Israelites, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law, which was given through Moses the servant of God, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of God our Lord, and His ordinances and statutes:

“Do you know the ordinances of the heavens,Or [can you] establish their rule over the earth?

For all His ordinances were before me,And I did not put away His statutes from me.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether.

“If his children turn away from My lawAnd do not walk in My ordinances,

With my lips I have told ofAll the ordinances of Your mouth.

My soul is crushed with longingFor Your ordinances at all times.

I have chosen the faithful way;I have placed Your ordinances before me.

Turn away my reproach which I dread,For Your ordinances are good.

And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,For I wait for Your ordinances.

I have remembered [carefully] Your ancient ordinances, O Lord,And I have taken comfort.

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to YouBecause of Your righteous ordinances.

They continue this day according to Your ordinances,For all things [all parts of the universe] are Your servants.

I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,For You Yourself have taught me.

I have sworn [an oath] and have confirmed it,That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.

Accept and take pleasure in the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,And teach me Your ordinances.

Great are Your tender mercies and steadfast love, O Lord;Revive me and give me life according to Your ordinances.

He declares His word to Jacob,His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.

He has not dealt this way with any [other] nation;They have not known [understood, appreciated, heeded, or cherished] His ordinances.Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

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.

“If this fixed order departsFrom before Me,” says the Lord,“Then the descendants of Israel also will ceaseFrom being a nation before Me forever.”

Thus says the Lord, ‘If My covenant with day and night does not stand, and if I have not established the fixed patterns of heaven and earth, [the whole order of nature,]

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.’

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor kept My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’

And you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord; for you have not walked in My statutes nor have you executed My ordinances, but you have acted in accordance with the ordinances of the nations around you.”’”

that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

if he walks in My statutes and [keeps] My ordinances so as to act with integrity; [then] he is [truly] righteous and shall certainly live,” says the Lord God.

he keeps his hand from [oppressing] the poor, does not receive interest or increase [from the needy], but executes My ordinances and walks in My statutes; he shall not die for the sin (guilt) of his father; he shall certainly live.

because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My Sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their [worthless] idols.

“But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers nor observe their ordinances nor defile yourselves with their idols.

I am the Lord your God; walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and observe them.

Yet the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, which, if a man keeps, he will live; they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I decided to pour out My wrath on them and finish My anger against them in the wilderness.

because they had not observed My ordinances, but had [dishonored and] rejected My statutes and had profaned My Sabbaths, and set their eyes on the [man-made] idols of their fathers.

[Therefore] I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live;

I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My ordinances and do them.

“My servant David will be king over them, and they all will have one shepherd. They will also walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them.

If they are ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the design of the temple (house), its layout, its exits, its entrances, all its designs, all its statutes, and all its laws. And write it down in their sight, so that they may keep its whole design and all its statutes and do them.

The Lord said to me, “Son of man, pay careful attention, see with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the statutes of the house of the Lord and all its laws; and pay careful attention to the entering of the house [by people], with all the departures from the sanctuary [of people, those who are allowed to enter the temple and all those who are excluded from the sanctuary].

we have sinned and committed wrong, and have behaved wickedly and have rebelled, turning away from Your commandments and ordinances.

“Yet from the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of hosts. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’

You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. What profit is it if we keep His ordinances, and walk around like mourners before the Lord of hosts?

“Remember [with thoughtful concern] the Law of Moses My servant, the statutes and the ordinances which I commanded him on [Mount] Horeb [to give] to all Israel.