'Religious' in the Bible

"And this day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a religious feast for Yahweh throughout your generations; you will celebrate it as a lasting statute.

{And} when you come into the land that Yahweh will give to you, as he said, you will keep this {religious custom}.

{And} when your children say to you, 'What [is] this {religious custom} for you?'

On the fifteenth day of this month [is] a religious feast, unleavened bread must be eaten for seven days.

" 'Then on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will have a holy convocation; {you will not do any regular work}, and you will hold a religious feast for Yahweh for seven days.

Jeroboam also inaugurated a religious feast in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the religious feast which was in Judah, and he offered [sacrifices] on the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, by sacrificing to the calves that he had made; and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

He offered [sacrifices] on the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month which his heart had devised. He inaugurated a religious feast for the {Israelites}, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals! You will see Jerusalem, a peaceful settlement, a tent that stays put; its stakes will never be pulled up; none of its ropes will snap in two.

“Assemble yourselves and come;Come together, you survivors of the nations!They are ignorant,Who carry around their wooden idols [in religious processions or into battle]And keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.

“They lift it on their shoulders [in religious processions or into battle] and carry it;They set it in its place and there it remains standing.It cannot move from its place.Even if one cries to it [for help], the idol cannot answer;It cannot save him from his distress.

and [then dare to] come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My Name, and say, ‘We are protected and set free [by this act of religious ritual]!’—only to go on with this wickedness and these disgusting and loathsome things?

The Lord says, "Do not start following pagan religious practices. Do not be in awe of signs that occur in the sky even though the nations hold them in awe.

But they must make sure you learn to follow the religious practices of my people. Once they taught my people to swear their oaths using the name of the god Baal. But then, they must swear oaths using my name, saying, "As surely as the Lord lives, I swear." If they do these things, then they will be included among the people I call my own.

“A sword against the Chaldeans,” says the Lord,“And against the inhabitants of BabylonAnd against her princes (officials, civic rulers) and against her wise men (astrologers, religious rulers)!

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

He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel and their kings will no longer defile My holy name by their religious prostitution and by the corpses of their kings at their high places.

And [during] the seven days of the religious feast he shall provide [as] a burnt offering to Yahweh seven bulls and seven rams without defect for each of the seven days, and [as] a sin offering a he-goat for each day.

He will speak words against the Most High and oppress the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change religious festivals and laws, and the holy ones will be handed over to him for a time, times, and half a time.

I will put an end to all her celebration: her annual religious festivals, monthly new moon celebrations, and weekly Sabbath festivities -- all her appointed festivals.

"I absolutely despise your festivals! I get no pleasure from your religious assemblies!

Therefore they will now be the first to go into exile, and the religious banquets where they sprawl on couches will end.

I will take away their abominable religious practices; then those who survive will become a community of believers in our God, like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

Look! I [am] going to rebuke {your offspring}, and I will scatter offal on your faces, [the] offal of your religious feasts, and you will be carried to it.

"Let it be so on this occasion," Jesus replied; "for so we ought to fulfil every religious duty." Then he consented;

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord [as a religious duty].’

Then the disciples of John [the Baptist] came to Jesus, asking, “Why do we and the Pharisees often fast [as a religious exercise], but Your disciples do not fast?”

And one of them, an expert in religious law, asked him a question to test him:

However, the Pharisees and the experts in religious law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

The expert in religious law said, "The one who showed mercy to him." So Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

One of the experts in religious law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too."

But Jesus replied, "Woe to you experts in religious law as well! You load people down with burdens difficult to bear, yet you yourselves refuse to touch the burdens with even one of your fingers!

Woe to you experts in religious law! You have taken away the key to knowledge! You did not go in yourselves, and you hindered those who were going in."

So Jesus asked the experts in religious law and the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?"

Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see.

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' now I tell you the same.

Now the high priest rose up, and all those with him (that is, the religious party of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy.

He was religious and God-fearing--and so was every member of his household. He was also liberal in his charities to the people, and continually offered prayer to God.

Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

But the Jews incited the prominent women, who worshiped God, and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.

But some from the religious party of the Pharisees who had believed stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to observe the law of Moses."

Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect.

Even some of the Asiarchs (officials) who were his friends sent word to him and repeatedly warned him not to venture into the amphitheater.

They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.

For they had bartered the reality of God for what is unreal, and had offered divine honours and religious service to created things, rather than to the Creator--He who is for ever blessed. Amen.

You are observing religious days and months and seasons and years.

I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet [in the congregation].

But if a widow has children or grandchildren [who are adults], see to it that these first learn to show great respect to their own family [as their religious duty and natural obligation], and to compensate their parents or grandparents [for their upbringing]; for this is acceptable and pleasing in the sight of God.

Indeed, all who delight in pursuing righteousness and are determined to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be hunted and persecuted [because of their faith].

wherefore, a kingdom that cannot be shaken receiving, may we have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly, with reverence and religious fear;

If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

Pure and unblemished religion [as it is expressed in outward acts] in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit and look after the fatherless and the widows in their distress, and to keep oneself uncontaminated by the [secular] world.