'Wickedness' in the Bible

For, behold, I will call all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “and they will come and each one will set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its surrounding walls, and against all the cities of Judah [as My judicial act, the consequence of Judah’s deliberate disobedience].

I will speak My judgments against them for all the wickedness of those who have abandoned (rejected) Me, offered sacrifices or burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the [idolatrous] works of their own hands.

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see;Where have you not been violated?You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods]Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert,And you have desecrated the landWith your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).

O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness,That you may be saved.How long will your wicked and immoral thoughtsLodge within you?

‘They are fat and they are sleek (prosperous),They excel in acts of wickedness;They do not plead the cause,The cause of the orphan, so that they [the wicked] may prosper,And they do not defend the rights of the poor.

“As a fountain springs up and pours out its fresh waters,So she [continually] pours out her fresh wickedness.Violence and destruction are heard inside her [walls];Sickness and wounds are always before Me.

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?

“But go now to My place which was in Shiloh [in Ephraim], where I first set My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

“I have listened and heard,But they have spoken what is not right;No man repented of his wickedness,Saying, ‘What have I done?’Everyone turns to his [individual] course,As the horse rushes like a torrent into battle.

“What right has My beloved [to be] in My houseWhen she has done many vile things and acted treacherously [over and over again]?Can vows and the meat of your sacrifices remove your wickedness from you and cancel the consequences of your sin,So that you can [escape your judgment and] rejoice?”

How long must the land mournAnd the grass of the countryside wither?Because of the wickedness and hypocrisy of those who live in it,The beasts and the birds are consumed and are swept away [by the drought],Because men [mocking me] have said, “He will not [live long enough to] see [what happens at] our final end.”

And the people to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword; and they will have no one to bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour out their [own] wickedness on them [and not only on the imposters posing as prophets, for the people could not have been deceived without their own consent].

We know and acknowledge, O Lord,Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.

I will make them an object of horror to all nations of the earth because of Manasseh [the despicable] son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for the [evil and detestable] things which he did in Jerusalem.

“The wind [of adversity] will carry away all your shepherds (rulers, statesmen),And your lovers (allies) will go into exile.Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated and disgracedBecause of all your wickedness.

For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God);The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it].The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness;And their power is not right.

“For both [false] prophet and priest are ungodly (profane, polluted);Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lord.

“Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem:They commit adultery and walk in lies;They encourage and strengthen the hands of evildoers,So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.All of them have become like Sodom to Me,And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

‘While they (the besieged Jews) are coming to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill the houses with the dead bodies of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, for I have hidden My face [in disgust] from this city because of all their wickedness.

because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and incense to serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

But they did not listen or turn [obediently] from their wickedness, and stop burning sacrifices and incense to other gods.

Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives [who served their foreign gods], your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives [who imitated the sin of the queens], which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

“The smoking sacrifices (incense) that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem—you and your forefathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land—did not the Lord remember [in detail your idolatry] and did it not all come into His mind?