'Ourselves' in the Bible

They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.

He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”

So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.”

Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the Lord our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the Lord.”

So we have brought as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

but we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”

Is not the iniquity of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although a plague came on the congregation of the Lord,

When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.”

Then all the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil by asking for ourselves a king.”

Then Jonathan said, “Behold, we will cross over to the men and reveal ourselves to them.

Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

Please let us go to the Jordan and each of us take from there a beam, and let us make a place there for ourselves where we may live.” So he said, “Go.”

Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the Lord do what is good in His sight.”

But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers’ households of Israel said to them, “You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.

Thus in Judah it was said,“The strength of the burden bearers is failing,Yet there is much rubbish;And we ourselves are unableTo rebuild the wall.”

We also placed ourselves under obligation to contribute yearly one third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

“Let us choose for ourselves what is right;Let us know among ourselves what is good.

Who said, “Let us possess for ourselvesThe pastures of God.”

Know that the Lord Himself is God;It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

“Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;Let us delight ourselves with caresses.

“Let us go up against Judah and terrorize it, and make for ourselves a breach in its walls and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”

Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,And with Sheol we have made a pact.The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,And our sorrows He carried;Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,Smitten of God, and afflicted.

‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,And drive hard all your workers.

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and the Lord changed His mind about the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But we are committing a great evil against ourselves.”

nor to build ourselves houses to dwell in; and we do not have vineyard or field or seed.

But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune.

You who rejoice in Lodebar,And say, “Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?”

Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’

‘And forgive us our sins,For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.And lead us not into temptation.’”

Then they said, “What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”

and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

They came to the chief priests and the elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.

and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along.

And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves.

But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.

who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;

For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you.

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?

Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.

For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;

We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.

For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses,

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding.

For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for we were the first to come even as far as you in the gospel of Christ;

I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in the same steps?

All this time you have been thinking that we are defending ourselves to you. Actually, it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ; and all for your upbuilding, beloved.

But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.

Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.

For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete.

But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!

therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure.

not because we do not have the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our example.

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.

and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.

If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.