'Ways' in the Bible

All a man’s ways seem right to him,but the Lord evaluates the motives.

or you will learn his waysand entangle yourself in a snare.

My son, give me your heart,and let your eyes observe my ways.

Rejoice, young man, while you are young,and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.And walk in the ways of your heartand in the sight of your eyes;but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

and many peoples will come and say,“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,to the house of the God of Jacob.He will teach us about His waysso that we may walk in His paths.”For instruction will go out of Zionand the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Who gave Jacob to the robber,and Israel to the plunderers?Was it not the Lord?Have we not sinned against Him?They were not willing to walk in His ways,and they would not listen to His instruction.

“For as heaven is higher than earth,so My ways are higher than your ways,and My thoughts than your thoughts.

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;I will lead him and restore comfortto him and his mourners,

They seek Me day after dayand delight to know My ways,like a nation that does what is rightand does not abandon the justice of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;they delight in the nearness of God.”

“If you keep from desecrating the Sabbath,from doing whatever you want on My holy day;if you call the Sabbath a delight,and the holy day of the Lord honorable;if you honor it, not going your own ways,seeking your own pleasure, or talking too much;

They have not known the path of peace,and there is no justice in their ways.They have made their roads crooked;no one who walks on them will know peace.

Why, Yahweh, do You make us stray from Your ways?You harden our hearts so we do not fear You.Return, because of Your servants,the tribes of Your heritage.

You welcome the one who joyfully does what is right;they remember You in Your ways.But we have sinned, and You were angry.How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?

One slaughters an ox, one kills a man;one sacrifices a lamb, one breaks a dog’s neck;one offers a grain offering, one offers pig’s blood;one offers incense, one praises an idol—all these have chosen their waysand delight in their detestable practices.

How skillfully you pursue love;you also teach evil women your ways.

“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place.

Instead, if you really change your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,

If they will diligently learn the ways of My people—to swear by My name, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ just as they taught My people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among My people.

I scattered them with a winnowing forkat the gates of the land.I made them childless; I destroyed My people.They would not turn from their ways.

for My gaze takes in all their ways. They are not concealed from Me, and their guilt is not hidden from My sight.

So now, say to the men of Judah and to the residents of Jerusalem: This is what the Lord says: I am about to bring harm to you and make plans against you. Turn now, each from your evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds.

Yet My people have forgotten Me.They burn incense to false idolsthat make them stumble in their wayson the ancient roadsand walk on new paths, not the highway.

If they had really stood in My council,they would have enabled My people to hear My wordsand would have turned them back from their evil waysand their evil deeds.

So now, correct your ways and deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God so that He might relent concerning the disaster that He warned about.

the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men in order to give to each person according to his ways and the result of his deeds.

because of their evil ways that provoked Me to anger, going and burning incense to serve other gods that they, you, and your fathers did not know.

He has walled in my ways with cut stones;He has made my paths crooked.

נ NunLet us search out and examine our ways,and turn back to the Lord.

The end is now upon you;I will send My anger against youand judge you according to your ways.I will punish you for all your detestable practices.

I will not look on you with pity or spare you,but I will punish you for your waysand for your detestable practices within you.Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”

I will pour out My wrath on you very soon;I will exhaust My anger against youand judge you according to your ways.I will punish you for all your detestable practices.

I will not look on you with pity or spare you.I will punish you for your waysand for your detestable practices within you.Then you will knowthat it is I, Yahweh, who strikes.

Didn’t you walk in their ways and do their detestable practices? It was only a short time before you behaved more corruptly than they did.

Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Instead, don’t I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives?

“But you say, ‘The Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ Now listen, house of Israel: Is it My way that is unfair? Instead, isn’t it your ways that are unfair?

But the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ Is it My ways that are unfair, house of Israel? Instead, isn’t it your ways that are unfair?

“Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways.” This is the declaration of the Lord God. “Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so they will not be a stumbling block that causes your punishment.

There you will remember your ways and all your deeds that you have defiled yourselves with, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil things you have done.

You will know that I am Yahweh, house of Israel, when I have dealt with you because of My name rather than according to your evil ways and corrupt acts.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

From the day you were createdyou were blameless in your waysuntil wickedness was found in you.

Tell them: As I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live. Repent, repent of your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?

Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s way isn’t fair.’ I will judge each of you according to his ways, house of Israel.”

“Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and detestable practices.

It is not for your sake that I will act”—the declaration of the Lord God—“let this be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated because of your ways, house of Israel!

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of heaven, because all His works are true and His ways are just. He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

The same judgment will happento both people and priests.I will punish them for their waysand repay them for their deeds.

Ephraim’s watchman is with my God.The prophet encounters a fowler’s snareon all his ways.Hostility is in the house of his God!

The Lord also has a dispute with Judah.He is about to punish Jacob according to his ways;He will repay him based on his actions.

Let whoever is wise understand these things,and whoever is insightful recognize them.For the ways of the Lord are right,and the righteous walk in them,but the rebellious stumble in them.

Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing.

Then God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them. And He did not do it.

and many nations will come and say,“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,to the house of the God of Jacob.He will teach us about His waysso we may walk in His paths.”For instruction will go out of Zionand the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Now, the Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways:

The Lord of Hosts says this: “Think carefully about your ways.

Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

But didn’t My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us.”

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

“So I in turn have made you despised and humiliated before all the people because you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in your instruction.”

And child, you will be calleda prophet of the Most High,for you will go before the Lordto prepare His ways,

Every valley will be filled,and every mountain and hill will be made low;the crooked will become straight,the rough ways smooth,

God raised up His Servant and sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”

Oh, the depth of the richesboth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!How unsearchable His judgmentsand untraceable His ways!

This is why I have sent Timothy to you. He is my dearly loved and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you about my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.

Long ago God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways.

for 40 years.Therefore I was provoked with that generationand said, “They always go astray in their hearts,and they have not known My ways.”

An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.

for we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a mature man who is also able to control his whole body.

Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them.

They sang the song of God’s servant Moses and the song of the Lamb:Great and awe-inspiring are Your works,Lord God, the Almighty;righteous and true are Your ways,King of the Nations.