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sin
/ sins / sinned / sinful / sinner /
misdeeds / wrongdoing related
links Note:
There are numerous references to sin in the Bible. Scripture
herein is but a small sampling of relevant passages. |
"If you do well, you can hold up your head; but
if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward
you, yet you can be his master." [GEN 4:7]
Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in
the sins they committed against the LORD. [GEN 13:13]
Then the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."
[GEN 18:20-21]
But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night
and said to him, "You are about to die because of the woman
you have taken, for she has a husband." Abimelech, who had
not approached her, said: "O Lord, would you slay a man even
though he is innocent? He himself told me, 'She is my sister,' and
she herself also stated, 'He is my brother.' I did it in good
faith and with clean hands." God answered him in the dream:
"Yes, I know you did it in good faith. In fact, it was I who
kept you from sinning against me; that is why I did not let you
touch her. Therefore, return the man's wife - as a spokesman he
will intercede for you - that your life may be saved. If you do
not return her, you can be sure that you and all who are yours
will certainly die." [GEN 20:3-7]
Now that their father was dead, Joseph's brothers became
fearful and thought, "Suppose Joseph has been nursing a
grudge against us and now plans to pay us back in full for all the
wrong we did him!" So they approached Joseph and said:
"Before your father died, he gave us these instructions: 'You
shall say to Joseph, Jacob begs you to forgive the criminal
wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you so cruelly.' Please,
therefore, forgive the crime that we, the servants of your
father's God, committed." When they spoke these words to him,
Joseph broke into tears. Then his brothers proceeded to fling
themselves down before him and said, "Let us be your
slaves!" But Joseph replied to them: "Have no fear. Can
I take the place of God? Even though you meant harm to me, God
meant it for good, to achieve his present end, the survival of
many people. Therefore have no fear. I will provide for you and
for your children." By thus speaking kindly to them, he
reassured them. [GEN 50:15-21]
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said
to them, "I have sinned again! The LORD is just; it is I and
my subjects who are at fault. Pray to the LORD, for we have had
enough of God's thunder and hail. Then I will let you go; you need
stay no longer." Moses replied, "As soon as I leave the
city I will extend my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease,
and there will be no more hail. Thus you shall learn that the
earth is the LORD'S. But you and your servants, I know, do not yet
fear the LORD God." Now the flax and the barley were ruined,
because the barley was in ear and the flax in bud. But the wheat
and the spelt were not ruined, for they grow later. When Moses had
left Pharaoh's presence and had gone out of the city, he extended
his hands to the LORD. Then the thunder and the hail ceased, and
the rain no longer poured down upon the earth. But Pharaoh, seeing
that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, sinned again: he
with his servants became obdurate, and in his obstinacy he would
not let the Israelites go, as the LORD had foretold through Moses.
[EX 9:27-35]
Hastily Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against the LORD, your God, and against you. But now, do forgive me my sin once more, and pray the LORD, your God, to take at least this deadly pest from me."
[EX 10:16-17]
Having set out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came into the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. Here in the desert the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.
[EX 16:1-2]
Moses answered the people, "Do not be
afraid, for God has come to you only to test you and put his fear
upon you, lest you should sin." [EX 20:20]
"See, I am sending an angel before you, to
guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.
Be attentive to him and heed his voice. Do not rebel against him,
for he will not forgive your sin. My authority resides in him. If
you heed his voice and carry out all I tell you, I will be an
enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes." [Taken from EX
23:20-22]
"I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River; all who dwell in this land I will hand over to you to be driven out of your way. You shall not make a covenant with them or their gods. They must not abide in your land, lest they make you sin against me by ensnaring you into worshiping their gods."
[EX 23:31-33]
"Once a year Aaron shall perform the atonement
rite on [the altar's] horns. Throughout your generations this atonement is
to be made once a year with the blood of the atoning sin offering.
This altar is most sacred to the LORD." [Taken from EX 30:10]
Moses asked Aaron, "What did this people ever do to you that you should lead them into so grave a sin?" Aaron replied, "Let not my lord be angry. You know well enough how prone the people are to evil." [Taken from EX 32:21-22]
On the next day Moses said to the people,
"You have committed a grave sin. I will go up to the LORD,
then; perhaps I may be able to make atonement for your sin."
So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Ah, this people has
indeed committed a grave sin in making a god of gold for
themselves! If you would only forgive their sin! If you will not,
then strike me out of the book that you have written." The
LORD answered, "Him only who has sinned against me will I
strike out of my book. Now, go and lead the people whither I have
told you. My angel will go before you. When it is time for me to
punish, I will punish them for their sin." Thus the LORD
smote the people for having had Aaron make the [golden] calf for
them. [Taken from EX 32:30-35]
Having come down in a cloud, the LORD stood with
him there and proclaimed his name, "LORD." Thus the LORD
passed before him and cried out, "The LORD, the LORD, a
merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and
fidelity, continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and
forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the
guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the
third and fourth generation for their fathers' wickedness!"
Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship. Then he said,
"If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our
company. This is indeed a stiff-necked people; yet pardon our
wickedness and sins, and receive us as your own." [EX 34:5-9]
"If a private person commits a sin inadvertently by doing one of the things which are forbidden by the commandments of the LORD, and thus becomes guilty, should he later on learn of the sin he committed, he shall
bring [the required offering]" [Taken from LEV 4:27-28] [Note:
Under the Old Covenant, an offering was made to atone for sins. In
the New Testament, Jesus became the perfect offering.]
"If any person refuses to give the
information which, as a witness of something he has seen or
learned, he has been adjured to give, and thus commits a sin and
has guilt to bear... or if someone, without being aware of it,
touches some human uncleanness, whatever kind of uncleanness this
may be, and then recognizes his guilt; or if someone, without
being aware of it, rashly utters an oath to do good or evil, such
as men are accustomed to utter rashly, and then recognizes that he
is guilty of such an oath; then whoever is guilty in any of these
cases shall confess the sin he has incurred, and as his sin
offering for the sin he has committed he shall bring to the LORD
[the required offering]." The priest shall then make
atonement for his sin. [Taken from LEV 5:1,3-6] [Note: Under
the Old Covenant, an offering was made to atone for sins. In the
New Testament, Jesus became the perfect offering.]
"Thus the priest shall make atonement for the sin
that the man committed in any of the above cases, and it will be
forgiven. The rest of the flour, like the cereal offerings, shall
belong to the priest." [LEV 5:13]
"If someone, without being aware of it, commits such a sin by doing one of the things which are forbidden by some commandment of the LORD, that he incurs guilt for which he must answer,
he shall bring as a guilt offering to the priest [the required
offering] of the established value. The priest shall then make atonement for the fault which was unwittingly committed, and it will be forgiven.
Such is the offering for guilt; the penalty of the guilt must be paid to the LORD."
[Taken from LEV 5:17-19] [Note: Under the Old Covenant, an
offering was made to atone for sins. In the New Testament, Jesus
became the perfect offering.]
The LORD said to Moses, "If someone commits
a sin of dishonesty against the LORD by denying his neighbor a
deposit or a pledge for a stolen article, or by otherwise
retaining his neighbor's goods unjustly, or if, having found a
lost article, he denies the fact and swears falsely about it with
any of the sinful oaths that men make in such cases, he shall
therefore, since he has incurred guilt by his sin, restore the
thing that was stolen or unjustly retained by him or the deposit
left with him or the lost article he found or whatever else he
swore falsely about; on the day of his guilt offering he shall
make full restitution of the thing itself, and in addition, give
the owner one fifth of its value. As his guilt offering he shall
bring to the LORD [the required offering] of the established
value. When he has presented this as his guilt offering to the
priest, the latter shall make atonement for him before the LORD,
and he will be forgiven whatever guilt he may have incurred."
[Taken from LEV 5:20-26] [Note: Under the Old Covenant, an
offering was made to atone for sins. In the New Testament, Jesus
became the perfect offering.]
"This is the ritual of the cereal offering.
One of Aaron's sons shall first present it before the LORD, in
front of the altar. Then he shall take from it a handful of its
fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense that is on
it, and this he shall burn on the altar as its token offering, a
sweet-smelling oblation to the LORD. The rest of it Aaron and his
sons may eat; but it must be eaten in the form of unleavened cakes
and in a sacred place: in the court of the meeting tent they shall
eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it to them
as their portion from the oblations of the LORD; it is most
sacred, like the sin offering and the guilt offering." [LEV
6:7-10]
"Because the sin offering and the guilt
offering are alike, both having the same ritual, the guilt
offering likewise belongs to the priest who makes atonement with
it." [LEV 7:7]
[Moses said,] "Why did you not eat the sin offering in
the sacred place, since it is most sacred? It has been given to
you that you might bear the guilt of the community and make
atonement for them before the LORD." [Taken from LEV 10:17]
Thus he shall make atonement for the sanctuary
because of all the sinful defilements and faults of the
Israelites. He shall do the same for the meeting tent, which is
set up among them in the midst of their uncleanness. [LEV 16:16]
Laying both hands on [the goat's] head, he shall confess over it all the sinful faults and transgressions of the Israelites, and so put them on the goat's head. He shall then have it led into the desert by an attendant.
Since the goat is to carry off their iniquities to an isolated region, it must be sent away into the desert.
[Taken from LEV 16:21-22]
"This shall be an everlasting ordinance for
you: on the tenth day of the seventh month every one of you,
whether a native or a resident alien, shall mortify himself and
shall do no work. Since on this day atonement is made for you to
make you clean, so that you may be cleansed of all your sins
before the LORD, by everlasting ordinance it shall be a most
solemn sabbath for you, on which you must mortify yourselves. This
atonement is to be made by the priest who has been anointed and
ordained to the priesthood in succession to his father. He shall
wear the linen garments, the sacred vestments, and make atonement
for the sacred sanctuary, the meeting tent and the altar, as well
as for the priests and all the people of the community. This,
then, shall be an everlasting ordinance for you: once a year
atonement shall be made for all the sins of the Israelites."
Thus was it done, as the LORD had commanded Moses. [LEV 16:29-34]
"You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."
[LEV 19:17-18]
Tell the Israelites: Anyone who curses his God shall bear the penalty of his sin; whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall
[receive the prescribed punishment] [Taken from LEV 24:15-16] [Note:
Under the Old Law, capital punishment was the prescribed penalty
for this sin.]
"But if you do not heed me and do not keep
all these commandments, if you reject my precepts and spurn my
decrees, refusing to obey all my commandments and breaking my
covenant, then I, in turn, will give you your deserts. I will
punish you with terrible woes - with wasting and fever to dim the
eyes and sap the life. You will sow your seed in vain, for your
enemies will consume the crop. I will turn against you, till you
are beaten down before your enemies and lorded over by your foes.
You will take to flight though no one pursues you. If even after
this you do not obey me, I will increase the chastisement for your
sins sevenfold, to break your haughty confidence. I will make the
sky above you as hard as iron, and your soil as hard as bronze, so
that your strength will be spent in vain; your land will bear no
crops, and its trees no fruit. If then you become defiant in your
unwillingness to obey me, I will multiply my blows another
sevenfold, as your sins deserve... If, with all this, you still
refuse to be chastened by me and continue to defy me, I, too, will
defy you and will smite you for your sins seven times harder than
before. I will make the sword, the avenger of my covenant, sweep
over you. Though you then huddle together in your walled cities, I
will send in pestilence among you, till you are forced to
surrender to the enemy. And as I cut off your supply of bread, ten
women will need but one oven for baking all the bread they dole
out to you in rations - not enough food to still your hunger. If,
despite all this, you still persist in disobeying and defying me,
I, also, will meet you with fiery defiance and will chastise you
with sevenfold fiercer punishment for your sins, till you begin to
eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. I will demolish your
high places, overthrow your incense stands, and cast your corpses
on those of your idols. In my abhorrence of you, I will lay waste
your cities and devastate your sanctuaries, refusing to accept
your sweet-smelling offerings. So devastated will I leave the land
that your very enemies who come to live there will stand aghast at
the sight of it. You yourselves I will scatter among the nations
at the point of my drawn sword, leaving your countryside desolate
and your cities deserted." [Taken from LEV 26:14-21,23-33]
When the Levites had cleansed themselves of sin and washed their clothes, Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the LORD, and made atonement for them to purify them. Only then did they enter upon their service in the meeting tent under the supervision of Aaron and his sons. The command which the LORD had given Moses concerning the Levites was carried out.
[NUM 8:21-22]
However, anyone who is clean and not away on a
journey, who yet fails to keep the Passover, shall be cut off from
his people, because he did not present the LORD'S offering at the
prescribed time. That man shall bear the consequences of his sin.
[NUM 9:13]
"Ah, my lord!" he said to Moses,
"please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly
committed!" [Taken from NUM 12:11]
"However, if it is an individual who sins
inadvertently, he shall bring [the required] sin offering, and the
priest shall make atonement before the LORD for him who sinned
inadvertently; when atonement has been made for him, he will be
forgiven. You shall have but one law for him who sins
inadvertently, whether he be a native Israelite or an alien
residing with you. But anyone who sins defiantly, whether he be a
native or an alien, insults the LORD, and shall be cut off from
among his people. Since he has despised the word of the LORD and
has broken his commandment, he must be cut off. He has only
himself to blame." [Taken from NUM 15:27-31] [Note: Under
the Old Covenant, an offering was made to atone for sins. In the
New Testament, Jesus became the perfect offering.]
But they fell prostrate and cried out, "O
God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will one man's sin make
you angry with the whole community?" [NUM 16:22]
Moses, followed by the elders of Israel, arose and went to Dathan and Abiram. Then he warned the community, "Keep away from the tents of these wicked men and do not touch anything that is theirs: otherwise you too will be swept away because of all their sins." [NUM 16:25-26]
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Eleazar, son
of Aaron the priest, to remove the censers from the embers; and
scatter the fire some distance away, for these sinners have
consecrated the censers at the cost of their lives. Have them
hammered into plates to cover the altar, because in being
presented before the LORD they have become sacred. In this way
they shall serve as a sign to the Israelites." [NUM 17:1-3]
The LORD said to Aaron, "I myself have
given you charge of the contributions made to me in the various
sacred offerings of the Israelites; by perpetual ordinance I have
assigned them to you and to your sons as your priestly share. You
shall have the right to share in the oblations that are most
sacred, in whatever they offer me as cereal offerings or sin
offerings or guilt offerings; these shares shall accrue to you and
to your sons. In eating them you shall treat them as most sacred;
every male among you may partake of them. As sacred, they belong
to you." [Taken from NUM 18:8-10]
For anyone who is thus unclean, ashes from the
sin offering shall be put in a vessel, and spring water shall be
poured on them. Then a man who is clean shall take some hyssop,
dip it in this water, and sprinkle it on the tent and on all the
vessels and persons that were in it, or on him who touched a bone,
a slain person or other dead body, or a grave. The clean man shall
sprinkle the unclean on the third and on the seventh day; thus
purified on the seventh day, he shall wash his garments and bathe
his body in water, and in the evening he will be clean again. Any
unclean man who fails to have himself purified shall be cut off
from the community, because he defiles the sanctuary of the LORD.
As long as the lustral water has not been splashed over him, he
remains unclean. This shall be a perpetual ordinance for you.
"One who sprinkles the lustral water shall wash his garments,
and anyone who comes in contact with this water shall be unclean
until evening. Moreover, whatever the unclean person touches
becomes unclean itself, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean
until evening." [NUM 19:17-22]
From Mount Hor they set out on the Red Sea road,
to by-pass the land of Edom. But with their patience worn out by
the journey, the people complained against God and Moses,
"Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this
wretched food!" In punishment the LORD sent among the people
saraph serpents, which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned in
complaining against the LORD and you. Pray the LORD to take the
serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people, and the
LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will
recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted
it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered. [NUM 21:4-9]
Then Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned. Yet I did not know that you stood against me to oppose my journey. Since it has displeased you, I will go back home." But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, "Go with the men; but you may say only what I tell you." So Balaam went on with the princes of Balak. [NUM 22:34-35]
"Our father died in the desert. Although he
did not join those who banded together against the LORD (in
Korah's band), he died for his own sin without leaving any sons."
[NUM 27:3]
"So in his anger with the Israelites the
LORD made them wander in the desert forty years, until the whole
generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD had died
out. And now here you are, a brood of sinners, rising up in your
fathers' place to add still more to the LORD'S blazing wrath
against the Israelites. If you turn away from following him, he
will make them stay still longer in the desert, and so you will
bring about the ruin of this whole nation." [Taken from NUM
32:13-15]
Moses said to them in reply: "If you keep
your word to march as troops in the LORD'S vanguard and to cross
the Jordan in full force before the LORD until he has driven his
enemies out of his way and the land is subdued before him, then
you may return here, quit of every obligation to the LORD and to
Israel, and this region shall be your possession before the LORD.
But if you do not do this, you will sin against the LORD, and you
can be sure that you will not escape the consequences of your sin.
Build the towns, then, for your families, and the folds for your
flocks, but also fulfill your express promise." [NUM 32:20-24]
"In reply you said to me, 'We have sinned
against the LORD. We will go up ourselves and fight, just as the
LORD, our God, commanded us.' And each of you girded on his
weapons, making light of going up into the hill country. But the
LORD said to me, 'Warn them: Do not go up and fight, lest you be
beaten down before your enemies, for I will not be in your midst.'
I gave you this warning but you would not listen. In defiance of
the LORD'S command you arrogantly marched off into the hill
country. Then the Amorites living there came out against you and,
like bees, chased you, cutting you down in Seir as far as Hormah.
On your return you wept before the LORD, but he did not listen to
your cry or give ear to you. That is why you had to stay as long
as you did at Kadesh." [DEUT 1:41-46]
"When I had come down again from the
blazing, fiery mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in
both my hands, I saw how you had sinned against the LORD, your
God: you had already turned aside from the way which the LORD had
pointed out to you by making for yourselves a molten calf! Raising
the two tablets with both hands I threw them from me and broke
them before your eyes. Then, as before, I lay prostrate before the
LORD for forty days and forty nights without eating or drinking,
because of all the sin you had committed in the sight of the LORD
and the evil you had done to provoke him. For I dreaded the fierce
anger of the LORD against you: his wrath would destroy you. Yet
once again the LORD listened to me. With Aaron, too, the LORD was
deeply angry, and would have killed him had I not prayed for him
also at that time. Then, taking the calf, the sinful object you
had made, and fusing it with fire, I ground it down to powder as
fine as dust, which I threw into the wadi that went down the
mountainside." [DEUT 9:15-21]
"Those forty days, then, and forty nights,
I lay prostrate before the LORD, because he had threatened to
destroy you. This was my prayer to him: O Lord GOD, destroy not
your people, the heritage which your majesty has ransomed and
brought out of Egypt with your strong hand. Remember your
servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Look not upon the stubbornness
of this people nor upon their wickedness and sin, lest the people
from whose land you have brought us say, 'The LORD was not able to
bring them into the land he promised them'; or 'Out of hatred for
them, he brought them out to slay them in the desert.' They are,
after all, your people and your heritage, whom you have brought
out by your great power and with your outstretched arm." [DEUT
9:25-29]
You must doom them all...as the LORD, your God, has commanded you,
lest they teach you to make any such abominable offerings as they make to their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD, your God.
[Taken from DEUT 20:17-18]
Israel has sinned: they have violated the
covenant which I enjoined on them. They have stealthily taken
goods subject to the ban, and have deceitfully put them in their
baggage. [Taken from JOSH 7:11]
Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give to the
LORD, the God of Israel, glory and honor by telling me what you
have done; do not hide it from me." Achan answered Joshua,
"I have indeed sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel.
This is what I have done: Among the spoils, I saw a beautiful
Babylonian mantle, two hundred shekels of silver, and a bar of
gold fifty shekels in weight; in my greed I took them. They are
now hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver
underneath." The messengers whom Joshua sent hastened to the
tent and found them hidden there, with the silver underneath. They
took them from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the
Israelites, and spread them out before the LORD. Then Joshua and
all Israel took Achan, son of Zerah, with the silver, the mantle,
and the bar of gold, and with his sons and daughters, his ox, his
ass and his sheep, his tent, and all his possessions, and led them
off to the Valley of Achor. Joshua said, "The LORD bring upon
you today the misery with which you have afflicted us!" And
all Israel stoned him to death and piled a great heap of stones
over him, which remains to the present day. Then the anger of the
LORD relented. That is why the place is called the Valley of Achor
to this day. [JOSH 7:19-26]
For the sin of Peor, a plague came upon the
community of the LORD. [JOSH 22:17]
Joshua in turn said to the people, "You may
not be able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God; he is a
jealous God who will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.
If, after the good he has done for you, you forsake the LORD and
serve strange gods, he will do evil to you and destroy you."
But the people answered Joshua, "We will still serve the
LORD." [JOSH 24:19-21]
The Israelites again offended the LORD, serving
the Baals and Ashtaroths, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the
gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the
Philistines. Since they had abandoned the LORD and would not serve
him, the LORD became angry with Israel and allowed them to fall
into the power of (the Philistines and) the Ammonites. For
eighteen years they afflicted and oppressed the Israelites in
Bashan, and all the Israelites in the Amorite land beyond the
Jordan in Gilead. The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight
against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, so that Israel
was in great distress. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD,
"We have sinned against you; we have forsaken our God and
have served the Baals." The LORD answered the Israelites:
"Did not the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the
Philistines, the Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Midianites
oppress you? Yet when you cried out to me, and I saved you from
their grasp, you still forsook me and worshiped other gods.
Therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods you
have chosen; let them save you now that you are in distress."
But the Israelites said to the LORD, "We have sinned. Do to
us whatever you please. Only save us this day." And they cast
out the foreign gods from their midst and served the LORD, so that
he grieved over the misery of Israel. [JUDG 10:6-16]
"I have not sinned against you, but you wrong me
by warring against me. Let the LORD, who is judge, decide this day
between the Israelites and the Ammonites!" [Taken from JUDG 11:27]
Thus the young men sinned grievously in the
presence of the LORD; they treated the offerings to the LORD with
disdain. [1SAM 2:17]
When Eli was very old, he heard repeatedly how
his sons were treating all Israel (and that they were having
relations with the women serving at the entry of the meeting
tent). So he said to them: "Why are you doing such things?
No, my sons, you must not do these things! It is not a good report
that I hear the people of the LORD spreading about you. If a man
sins against another man, one can intercede for him with the LORD;
but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for
him?" But they disregarded their father's warning, since the
LORD had decided on their death. Meanwhile, young Samuel was
growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the LORD and
of men. [1SAM 2:22-26]
From the day the ark came to rest in
Kiriath-jearim a long time - twenty years - elapsed, and the whole
Israelite population turned to the LORD. Samuel said to them:
"If you wish with your whole heart to return to the LORD, put
away your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth, devote yourselves to
the LORD, and worship him alone. Then he will deliver you from the
power of the Philistines." So the Israelites put away their
Baals and Ashtaroth, and worshiped the LORD alone. Samuel then
gave orders, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, that I may pray to
the LORD for you." When they were gathered at Mizpah, they
drew water and poured it out on the ground before the LORD, and
they fasted that day, confessing, "We have sinned against the
LORD." It was at Mizpah that Samuel began to judge the
Israelites. [1SAM 7:2-6]
Each time they appealed to the LORD and said,
'We have sinned in forsaking the LORD and worshiping Baals and
Ashtaroth; but deliver us now from the power of our enemies, and
we will worship you.' [1SAM 12:10]
"Now you have the king you want, a king the
LORD has given you. If you fear the LORD and worship him, if you
are obedient to him and do not rebel against the LORD'S command,
if both you and the king who rules you follow the LORD your God -
well and good. But if you do not obey the LORD and if you rebel
against his command, the LORD will deal severely with you and your
king, and destroy you. Now then, stand ready to witness the great
marvel the LORD is about to accomplish before your eyes. Are we
not in the harvest time for wheat? Yet I shall call to the LORD,
and he will send thunder and rain. Thus you will see and
understand how greatly the LORD is displeased that you have asked
for a king." Samuel then called to the LORD, and the LORD
sent thunder and rain that day. As a result, all the people
dreaded the LORD and Samuel. They said to Samuel, "Pray to
the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for
having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a
king." "Do not fear," Samuel answered them.
"It is true you have committed all this evil; still, you must
not turn from the LORD, but must worship him with your whole
heart. Do not turn to meaningless idols which can neither profit
nor save; they are nothing. For the sake of his own great name the
LORD will not abandon his people, since the LORD himself chose to
make you his people. As for me, far be it from me to sin against
the LORD by ceasing to pray for you and to teach you the good and
right way. But you must fear the LORD and worship him faithfully
with your whole heart; keep in mind the great things he has done
among you. If instead you continue to do evil, both you and your
king shall perish." [1SAM 12:13-25]
Saul then said, "Come here, all officers of the army. We must investigate and find out how this sin was committed today. As the LORD lives who has given victory to Israel, even if my son Jonathan has committed it, he shall surely die!" But none of the people answered him. [1SAM 14:38-39]
Saul replied to Samuel: "I have sinned, for
I have disobeyed the command of the LORD and your instructions. In
my fear of the people, I did what they said. Now forgive my sin,
and return with me, that I may worship the LORD." But Samuel
said to Saul, "I will not return with you, because you
rejected the command of the LORD and the LORD rejects you as king
of Israel." As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized a loose end
of his mantle, and it tore off. So Samuel said to him: "The
LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has
given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. The Glory
of Israel neither retracts nor repents, for he is not man that he
should repent." But he answered: "I have sinned, yet
honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel.
Return with me that I may worship the LORD your God." And so
Samuel returned with him, and Saul worshiped the LORD. [1SAM 15:24-31]
Jonathan then spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him: "Let not your majesty sin against his servant David, for he has committed no offense against you, but has helped you very much by his deeds. When he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great victory for all Israel through him, you were glad to see it. Why, then, should you become guilty of shedding innocent blood by killing David without cause?"
Saul heeded Jonathan's plea and swore, "As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed."
[1SAM 19:4-6]
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan answered David: "The LORD on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not die. But since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you must surely die." Then Nathan returned to his house. The LORD struck the child that the wife of Uriah had borne to David, and it became desperately ill.
[2SAM 12:13-15]
Afterward, however, David regretted having
numbered the people, and said to the LORD: "I have sinned
grievously in what I have done. But now, LORD, forgive the guilt
of your servant, for I have been very foolish." When David
rose in the morning, the LORD had spoken to the prophet Gad,
David's seer, saying: "Go and say to David, 'This is what the
LORD says: I offer you three alternatives; choose one of them, and
I will inflict it on you.'" Gad then went to David to inform
him. He asked: "Do you want a three years' famine to come
upon your land, or to flee from your enemy three months while he
pursues you, or to have a three days' pestilence in your land? Now
consider and decide what I must reply to him who sent me."
David answered Gad: "I am in very serious difficulty. Let us
fall by the hand of God, for he is most merciful; but let me not
fall by the hand of man." Thus David chose the pestilence.
Now it was the time of the wheat harvest when the plague broke out
among the people. (The LORD then sent a pestilence over Israel
from morning until the time appointed, and seventy thousand of the
people from Dan to Beer-sheba died.) But when the angel stretched
forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD regretted
the calamity and said to the angel causing the destruction among
the people, "Enough now! Stay your hand." The angel of
the LORD was then standing at the threshing floor of Araunah the
Jebusite. When David saw the angel who was striking the people, he
said to the LORD: "It is I who have sinned; it is I, the
shepherd, who have done wrong. But these are sheep; what have they
done? Punish me and my kindred." [2SAM 24:10-17]
"Listen to the petitions of your servant
and of your people Israel which they offer in this place. Listen
from your heavenly dwelling and grant pardon. If a man sins
against his neighbor and is required to take an oath sanctioned by
a curse, when he comes and takes the oath before your altar in
this temple, listen in heaven; take action and pass judgment on
your servants. Condemn the wicked and punish him for his conduct,
but acquit the just and establish his innocence. If your people
Israel sin against you and are defeated by an enemy, and if then
they return to you, praise your name, pray to you, and entreat you
in this temple, listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your
people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their
fathers. If the sky is closed, so that there is no rain, because
they have sinned against you and you afflict them, and if then
they repent of their sin, and pray, and praise your name in this
place, listen in heaven and forgive the sin of your servant and of
your people Israel, teaching them the right way to live and
sending rain upon this land of yours which you have given to your
people as their heritage. If there is famine in the land or
pestilence; or if blight comes, or mildew, or a locust swarm, or
devouring insects; if an enemy of your people besieges them in one
of their cities; whatever plague or sickness there may be, if then
any one (of your entire people Israel) has remorse of conscience
and offers some prayer or petition, stretching out his hands
toward this temple, listen from your heavenly dwelling place and
forgive. You who alone know the hearts of all men, render to each
one of them according to his conduct; knowing their hearts, so
treat them that they may fear you as long as they live on the land
you gave our fathers... When they sin against you (for there is no
man who does not sin), and in your anger against them you deliver
them to the enemy, so that their captors deport them to a hostile
land, far or near, may they repent in the land of their captivity
and be converted. If then they entreat you in the land of their
captors and say, 'We have sinned and done wrong; we have been
wicked'; if with their whole heart and soul they turn back to you
in the land of the enemies who took them captive, pray to you
toward the land you gave their fathers, the city you have chosen,
and the temple I have built in your honor, listen from your
heavenly dwelling. Forgive your people their sins and all the
offenses they have committed against you, and grant them mercy
before their captors, so that these will be merciful to them. For
they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of
Egypt, from the midst of an iron furnace." [Taken from 1KGS
8:30-40,46-51]
After taking counsel, the king made two calves
of gold and said to the people: "You have been going up to
Jerusalem long enough. Here is your God, O Israel, who brought you
up from the land of Egypt." And he put one in Bethel, the
other in Dan. This led to sin, because the people frequented these
calves in Bethel and in Dan. He also built temples on the high
places and made priests from among the people who were not Levites.
[Taken from 1KGS 12:28-31]
Jeroboam did not give up his evil ways after this event, but again made priests for the high places from among the common people. Whoever desired it was consecrated and became a priest of the high places. This was a sin on the part of the house of Jeroboam for which it was to be cut off and destroyed from the earth.
[1KGS 13:33-34]
"The LORD will strike Israel like a reed tossed about in the water and will pluck out Israel from this good land which he gave their fathers, scattering them beyond the River, because they made sacred poles for themselves and thus provoked the LORD. He will give up Israel because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and caused Israel to commit."
[Taken from 1KGS 14:15-16]
Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD, and by
their sins angered him even more than their fathers had done.
[1KGS 14:22]
In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, son of
Nebat, Abijam became king of Judah; he reigned three years in
Jerusalem. His mother's name was Maacah, daughter of Abishalom. He
imitated all the sins his father had committed before him, and his
heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God, like the heart of
his grandfather David. Yet for David's sake the LORD, his God,
gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and
permitting Jerusalem to endure; because David had pleased the LORD
and did not disobey any of his commands as long as he lived,
except in the case of Uriah the Hittite. [1KGS 15:1-5]
In the second year of Asa, king of Judah, Nadab,
son of Jeroboam, became king of Israel; he reigned over Israel two
years. He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating his father's
conduct and the sin which he had caused Israel to commit. Baasha,
son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, plotted against him and
struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines, which Nadab and
all Israel were besieging. Baasha killed him in the third year of
Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. Once he was king, he
killed off the entire house of Jeroboam, not leaving a single soul
to Jeroboam but destroying him utterly, according to the warning
which the LORD had pronounced through his servant, Ahijah the
Shilonite, because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused
Israel to commit, by which he provoked the LORD, the God of
Israel, to anger. [1KGS 15:25-30]
In the third year of Asa, king of Judah, Baasha,
son of Ahijah, began his twenty-four-year reign over Israel in
Tirzah. He did evil in the LORD'S sight, imitating the conduct of
Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. [1KGS 15:33-34]
The LORD spoke against Baasha to Jehu, son of
Hanani, and said: "Inasmuch as I lifted you up from the dust
and made you ruler of my people Israel, but you have imitated the
conduct of Jeroboam and have caused my people Israel to sin,
provoking me to anger by their sins, I will destroy you, Baasha,
and your house; I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son
of Nebat. If anyone of Baasha's line dies in the city, dogs shall
devour him; if he dies in the field, he shall be devoured by the
birds of the sky." [1KGS 16:1-4]
Zimri destroyed the entire house of Baasha, as the LORD had prophesied to Baasha through the prophet Jehu, because of all the sins which Baasha and his son Elah committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.
[1KGS 16:12-13]
When Zimri saw the city was captured, he entered the citadel of the royal palace and burned down the palace over him. He died
because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD by imitating the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, thus causing Israel to sin.
[1KGS 16:18-19]
But Omri did evil in the LORD'S sight beyond any of his predecessors. He closely imitated the sinful conduct of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, causing Israel to sin and to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger by their idols.
[1KGS 16:25-26]
Ahab, son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the
LORD more than any of his predecessors. It was not enough for him
to imitate the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat. He even married
Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, and went over
to the veneration and worship of Baal. Ahab erected an altar to
Baal in the temple of Baal which he built in Samaria, and also
made a sacred pole. He did more to anger the LORD, the God of
Israel, than any of the kings of Israel before him. [1KGS 16:30-33]
As Obadiah was on his way, Elijah met him.
Recognizing him, Obadiah fell prostrate and asked, "Is it
you, my lord Elijah?" "Yes," he answered. "Go
tell your master, 'Elijah is here!'" But Obadiah said,
"What sin have I committed, that you are handing me over to
Ahab to have me killed? As the LORD, your God, lives, there is no
nation or kingdom where my master has not sent in search of you.
When they replied, 'He is not here,' he made each kingdom and
nation swear they could not find you. And now you say, 'Go tell
your master: Elijah is here!' After I leave you, the spirit of the
LORD will carry you to some place I do not know, and when I go to
inform Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. Your
servant has revered the LORD from his youth. Have you not been
told, my lord, what I did when Jezebel was murdering the prophets
of the LORD - that I hid a hundred of the prophets of the LORD,
fifty each in two caves, and supplied them with food and drink?
And now you say, 'Go tell your master: Elijah is here!' He will
kill me!" Elijah answered, "As the LORD of hosts lives,
whom I serve, I will present myself to him today." [1KGS 18:7-15]
"Have you found me out, my enemy?"
Ahab said to Elijah. "Yes," he answered. "Because
you have given yourself up to doing evil in the LORD'S sight, I am
bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every
male in Ahab's line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel. I will
make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like that
of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because of how you have provoked me by
leading Israel into sin." [1KGS 21:20-22]
Ahaziah, son of Ahab, began to reign over Israel
in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah;
he reigned two years over Israel. He did evil in the sight of the
LORD, behaving like his father, his mother, and Jeroboam, son of
Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal,
thus provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, just as his father had
done. [1KGS 22:52-54]
Joram, son of Ahab, became king of Israel in
Samaria (in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, and
he reigned for twelve years). He did evil in the LORD'S sight,
though not as much as his father and mother. He did away with the
pillar of Baal, which his father had made, but he still clung to
the sin to which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had lured Israel; this he
did not give up. [2KGS 3:1-3]
Thus Jehu rooted out the worship of Baal from
Israel. However, he did not desist from the sins which Jeroboam,
son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit, as regards the golden
calves at Bethel and at Dan. The LORD said to Jehu, "Because
you have done well what I deem right, and have treated the house
of Ahab as I desire, your sons to the fourth generation shall sit
upon the throne of Israel." But Jehu was not careful to
observe wholeheartedly the law of the LORD, the God of Israel,
since he did not desist from the sins which Jeroboam caused Israel
to commit. At that time the LORD began to dismember Israel. [Taken
from 2KGS 10:28-32]
The funds from guilt-offerings and from
sin-offerings, however, were not brought to the temple of the
LORD; they belonged to the priests. [2KGS 12:17]
In the twenty-third year of Joash, son of
Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, began his
seventeen-year reign over Israel in Samaria. He did evil in the
LORD'S sight, conducting himself like Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and
not renouncing the sin he had caused Israel to commit. The LORD
was angry with Israel and for a long time left them in the power
of Hazael, king of Aram, and of Ben-hadad, son of Hazael. Then
Jehoahaz entreated the LORD, who heard him, since he saw the
oppression to which the king of Aram had subjected Israel. So the
LORD gave Israel a savior, and the Israelites, freed from the
power of Aram, dwelt in their own homes as formerly. Nevertheless,
they did not desist from the sins which the house of Jeroboam had
caused Israel to commit, but persisted in them. The sacred pole
also remained standing in Samaria. No soldiers were left to
Jehoahaz, except fifty horsemen with ten chariots and ten thousand
foot soldiers, since the king of Aram had destroyed them and
trampled them like dust. [2KGS 13:1-7]
In the thirty-seventh year of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, began his sixteen-year reign over Israel in Samaria. He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not desist from any of the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit, but persisted in them.
[2KGS 13:10-11]
When Amaziah had the kingdom firmly in hand, he slew the officials who had murdered the king, his father. But the children of the murderers he did not put to death, obeying the LORD'S command written in the book of the law of Moses, "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; each one shall die for his own sin."
[2KGS 14:5-6]
In the fifteenth year of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, began his forty-one-year reign in Samaria. He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not desist from any of the sins which Jeroboam, son of Nebat, had caused Israel to commit.
[2KGS 14:23-24]
In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and deported the Israelites to Assyria, settling them in Halah, at the Habor, a river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. This came about because the Israelites sinned against the LORD, their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the domination of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and because they venerated other gods.
[Taken from 2KGS 17:6-7]
In his great anger against Israel, the LORD put
them away out of his sight. Only the tribe of Judah was left. Even
the people of Judah, however, did not keep the commandments of the
LORD, their God, but followed the rites practiced by Israel. So
the LORD rejected the whole race of Israel. He afflicted them and
delivered them over to plunderers, finally casting them out from
before him. When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they
made Jeroboam, son of Nebat, king; he drove the Israelites away
from the LORD, causing them to commit a great sin. The Israelites
imitated Jeroboam in all the sins he committed, nor would they
desist from them. Finally, the LORD put Israel away out of his
sight as he had foretold through all his servants, the prophets;
and Israel went into exile from their native soil to Assyria, an
exile lasting to the present. [Taken from 2KGS 17:18-23]
Then the LORD spoke through his servants the
prophets: "Because Manasseh, king of Judah, has practiced
these abominations and has done greater evil than all that was
done by the Amorites before him, and has led Judah into sin by his
idols, therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I will
bring such evil on Jerusalem and Judah that, whenever anyone hears
of it, his ears shall ring. I will measure Jerusalem with the same
cord as I did Samaria, and with the plummet I used for the house
of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem clean as one wipes a dish, wiping
it inside and out. I will cast off the survivors of my inheritance
and deliver them into enemy hands, to become a prey and a booty
for all their enemies, because they have done evil in my sight and
provoked me from the day their fathers came forth from Egypt until
today.'" In addition to the sin which he caused Judah to
commit, Manasseh did evil in the sight of the LORD, shedding so
much innocent blood as to fill the length and breadth of
Jerusalem. The rest of the acts of Manasseh, the sin he committed
and all that he did, are written in the book of the chronicles of
the kings of Judah. [2KGS 21:10-17]
During his reign Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, moved against him, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for
three years. Then Jehoiakim turned and rebelled against him. The
LORD loosed against him bands of Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites,
and Ammonites; he loosed them against Judah to destroy it, as the
LORD had threatened through his servants the prophets. This befell
Judah because the LORD had stated that he would inexorably put
them out of his sight for the sins Manasseh had committed in all
that he did; and especially because of the innocent blood he shed,
with which he filled Jerusalem, the LORD would not forgive. [2KGS
24:1-4]
Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah,
his youngest son, king in his stead, since all the older sons had
been slain by the band that had come into the fort with the Arabs.
Thus Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, reigned as the king of Judah. He was
twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year
in Jerusalem. His mother was named Athaliah, daughter of Omri. He,
too, followed the ways of the house of Ahab, because his mother
counseled him to act sinfully. To his own destruction, he did evil
in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab, since they
were his counselors after the death of his father. [2CHRON 22:1-4]
Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Jerusa, daughter of Zadok. He pleased the LORD just as his father Uzziah had done, though he did not enter the temple of the LORD; the people, however, continued to act sinfully.
[2CHRON 27:1-2]
They said to them: "Do not bring the
captives here, for what you propose will make us guilty before the
LORD and increase our sins and our guilt. Our guilt is already
great, and there is a burning anger upon Israel." [2CHRON
28:13]
The rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, can be found written in the chronicles of the kings of Israel. His prayer and how his supplication was heard, all his sins and his infidelity, the sites where he built high places and erected sacred poles and carved images before he humbled himself, all can be found written down in the history of his seers. [2CHRON 33:18-19]
"After all that has come upon us for our
evil deeds and our great guilt-though you, our God, have made less
of our sinfulness than it deserved and have allowed us to survive
as we do - shall we again violate your commandments by
intermarrying with these abominable peoples? Would you not become
so angered with us as to destroy us without remnant or survivor? O
LORD, God of Israel, you are just; yet we have been spared, the
remnant we are today. Here we are before you in our sins. Because
of all this, we can no longer stand in your presence." [Taken
from EZRA 9:13-15]
Then Ezra, the priest, stood up and said to
them: "Your unfaithfulness in taking foreign women as wives
has added to Israel's guilt. But now, give praise to the LORD, the
God of your fathers, and do his will: separate yourselves from the
peoples of the land and from these foreign women." In answer,
the whole assembly cried out with a loud voice: "Yes, it is
our duty to do as you say! But the people are numerous and it is
the rainy season, so that we cannot remain out-of-doors; besides,
this is not a task that can be performed in a single day or even
two, for those of us who have sinned in this regard are many. Let
our leaders represent the whole assembly; then let all those in
our cities who have taken foreign women for wives appear at
appointed times, accompanied by the elders and magistrates of each
city in question, till we have turned away from us our God's
burning anger over this affair." Only Jonathan, son of
Asahel, and Jahzeiah, son of Tikvah, were against this proposal,
with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them. [EZRA
10:10-15]
When I heard this report, I began to weep and
continued mourning for several days; I fasted and prayed before
the God of heaven. I prayed: "O LORD, God of heaven, great
and awesome God, you who preserve your covenant of mercy toward
those who love you and keep your commandments, may your ear be
attentive, and your eyes open, to heed the prayer which I, your
servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your
servants the Israelites, confessing the sins which we of Israel
have committed against you, I and my father's house included.
Grievously have we offended you, not keeping the commandments, the
statutes, and the ordinances which you committed to your servant
Moses. But remember, I pray, the promise which you gave through
Moses, your servant, when you said: 'Should you prove faithless, I
will scatter you among the nations; but should you return to me
and carefully keep my commandments, even though your outcasts have
been driven to the farthest corner of the world, I will gather
them from there, and bring them back to the place which I have
chosen as the dwelling place for my name.' They are your servants,
your people, whom you freed by your great might and your strong
hand. O Lord, may your ear be attentive to my prayer and that of
all your willing servants who revere your name. Grant success to
your servant this day, and let him find favor with this
man"-for I was cupbearer to the king. [NEH 1:4-11]
When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the
wall, it roused his anger and he became very much incensed. He
ridiculed the Jews, saying in the presence of his brethren and the
troops of Samaria: "What are these miserable Jews trying to
do? Will they complete their restoration in a single day? Will
they recover these stones, burnt as they are, from the heaps of
dust?" Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said:
"It is a rubble heap they are building. Any fox that attacked
it would breach their wall of stones!" Take note, O our God,
how we were mocked! Turn back their derision upon their own heads
and let them be carried away to a land of captivity! Hide not
their crime and let not their sin be blotted out in your sight,
for they insulted the builders to their face! We, however,
continued to build the wall, which was soon filled in and
completed up to half its height. The people worked with a will. [NEH
3:33-38]
My answer was: "A man like me take flight?
Can a man like me enter the temple to save his life? I will not
go!" For on consideration it was plain to me that God had not
sent him; rather, because Tobiah and Sanballat had bribed him, he
voiced this prophecy concerning me that I might act on it out of
fear and commit this sin. Then they would have had a shameful
story with which to discredit me. [NEH 6:11-13]
On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the
Israelites gathered together fasting and in sackcloth, their heads
covered with dust. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves
from all who were of foreign extraction, then stood forward and
confessed their sins and the guilty deeds of their fathers. When
they had taken their places, they read from the book of the law of
the LORD their God, for a fourth part of the day, and during
another fourth part they made their confession and prostrated
themselves before the LORD their God. [NEH 9:1-3]
You bore witness against them, in order to bring
them back to your law. But they were insolent and would not obey
your commandments; they sinned against your ordinances, from which
men draw life when they practice them. They turned stubborn backs,
stiffened their necks, and would not obey. [NEH 9:29]
Did not Solomon, the king of Israel, sin because
of them? Though among the many nations there was no king like him,
and though he was beloved of his God and God had made him king
over all Israel, yet even he was made to sin by foreign women. [NEH
13:26]
Grief-stricken in spirit, I groaned and wept
aloud. Then with sobs I began to pray: "You are righteous, O
Lord, and all your deeds are just; All your ways are mercy and
truth; you are the judge of the world. And now, O Lord, may you be
mindful of me, and look with favor upon me. Punish me not for my
sins, nor for my inadvertent offenses, nor for those of my
fathers. They sinned against you, and disobeyed your commandments.
So you handed us over to plundering, exile, and death, till we
were an object lesson, a byword, a reproach in all the nations
among whom you scattered us. Yes, your judgments are many and true
in dealing with me as my sins and those of my fathers deserve. For
we have not kept your commandments, nor have we trodden the paths
of truth before you. So now, deal with me as you please, and
command my life breath to be taken from me, that I may go from the
face of the earth into dust. It is better for me to die than to
live, because I have heard insulting calumnies, and I am
overwhelmed with grief. Lord, command me to be delivered from such
anguish; let me go to the everlasting abode; Lord, refuse me not.
For it is better for me to die than to endure so much misery in
life, and to hear these insults!" [TOBIT 3:1-6]
"Through all your days, my son, keep the Lord in mind, and suppress every desire to sin or to break his commandments. Perform good works all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wrongdoing. For if you are steadfast in your service, your good works will bring success, not only to you, but also to all those who live uprightly."
[TOBIT 4:5-6]
"Be lavish with your bread and wine at the burial
of the virtuous, but do not share them with sinners." [TOBIT 4:17]
"Do not be discouraged, my child, because of our
poverty. You will be a rich man if you fear God, avoid all sin,
and do what is right before the Lord your God." [TOBIT 4:21]
Raphael called the two men aside privately and
said to them: "Thank God! Give him the praise and the glory.
Before all the living, acknowledge the many good things he has
done for you, by blessing and extolling his name in song. Before
all men, honor and proclaim God's deeds, and do not be slack in
praising him. A king's secret it is prudent to keep, but the works
of God are to be declared and made known. Praise them with due
honor. Do good, and evil will not find its way to you. Prayer and
fasting are good, but better than either is almsgiving accompanied
by righteousness. A little with righteousness is better than
abundance with wickedness. It is better to give alms than to store
up gold; for almsgiving saves one from death and expiates every
sin. Those who regularly give alms shall enjoy a full life; but
those habitually guilty of sin are their own worst enemies."
[TOBIT 12:6-10]
"When you turn back to him with all your heart,
to do what is right before him, Then he will turn back to you, and
no longer hide his face from you. So now consider what he has done
for you, and praise him with full voice. Bless the Lord of
righteousness, and exalt the King of the ages. In the land of my
exile I praise him, and show his power and majesty to a sinful
nation. Turn back, you sinners! do the right before him:
perhaps he may look with favor upon you and show you mercy."
[TOBIT
13:6]
But God will again have mercy on them and bring
them back to the land of Israel. They shall rebuild the temple,
but it will not be like the first one, until the era when the
appointed times shall be completed. Afterward all of them shall
return from their exile, and they shall rebuild Jerusalem with
splendor. In her the temple of God shall also be rebuilt; yes, it
will be rebuilt for all generations to come, just as the prophets
of Israel said of her. All the nations of the world shall be
converted and shall offer God true worship; all shall abandon
their idols which have deceitfully led them into error, and shall
bless the God of the ages in righteousness. Because all the
Israelites who are to be saved in those days will truly be mindful
of God, they shall be gathered together and go to Jerusalem; in
security shall they dwell forever in the land of Abraham, which
will be given over to them. Those who sincerely love God shall
rejoice, but those who become guilty of sin shall completely
disappear from the land. "Now, children, I give you this
command: serve God faithfully and do what is right before him; you
must tell your children to do what is upright and to give alms, to
be mindful of God and at all times to bless his name sincerely and
with all their strength." [Taken from TOBIT 14:5-9]
"As long as the Israelites did not sin in
the sight of their God, they prospered, for their God, who hates
wickedness, was with them. But when they deviated from the way he
prescribed for them, they were ground down steadily, more and
more, by frequent wars, and finally taken as captives into foreign
lands. The temple of their God was razed to the ground, and their
cities were occupied by their enemies. But now that they have
returned to their God, they have come back from the Dispersion
wherein they were scattered, and have repossessed Jerusalem, where
their sanctuary is, and have settled again in the mountain region
which was unoccupied. So now, my lord and master, if these people
are at fault, and are sinning against their God, and if we verify
this offense of theirs, then we shall be able to go up and conquer
them. But if they are not a guilty nation, then your lordship
should keep his distance; otherwise their Lord and God will shield
them, and we shall become the laughing stock of the whole
world." [JDTH 5:17-21]
"We adjure you by heaven and earth, and by our
God, the Lord of our forefathers, who is punishing us for our sins
and those of our forefathers, to do as we have proposed, this very
day." [Taken from JDTH 7:28]
Then he ordered them to lead her into the room
where his silverware was kept, and bade them set a table for her
with his own delicacies to eat and his own wine to drink. But
Judith said, "I will not partake of them, lest it be an
occasion of sin; but I shall be amply supplied from the things I
brought with me." Holofernes asked her: "But if your
provisions give out, where shall we get more of the same to
provide for you? None of your people are with us." Judith
answered him, "As surely as you, my lord, live, your handmaid
will not use up her supplies till the Lord accomplishes by my hand
what he has determined." [JDTH 12:1-4]
"As the Lord lives, who has protected me in the
path I have followed, I swear that it was my face that seduced
Holofernes to his ruin, and that he did not sin with me to my
defilement or disgrace." [JDTH 13:16]
"As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forefathers that you, O Lord, chose Israel from among all peoples, and our fathers from among all their ancestors, as a lasting heritage, and that you fulfilled all your promises to them. But now we have sinned in your sight, and you have delivered us into the hands of our enemies, because we worshiped their gods. You are just, O Lord. But now they are not satisfied with our bitter servitude, but have undertaken to do away with the decree you have pronounced, and to destroy your heritage; to close the mouths of those who praise you, and to extinguish the glory of your temple and your altar; to open the mouths of the heathen to acclaim their false gods, and to extol an earthly king forever.
O Lord, do not relinquish your scepter to those that are nought. Let them not gloat over our ruin, but turn their own counsel against them and make an example of our chief enemy. Be mindful of us, O Lord. Manifest yourself in the time of our distress and give me courage, King of gods and Ruler of every power. Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion, and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy, so that he and those who are in league with him may perish. Save us by your power, and help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O
Lord." [Taken from ESTH C:16-25]
Alexander had reigned twelve years when he died.
So his officers took over his kingdom, each in his own territory,
and after his death they all put on royal crowns, and so did their
sons after them for many years, causing much distress over the
earth. There sprang from these a sinful offshoot, Antiochus
Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome. He
became king in the year one hundred and thirty-seven of the
kingdom of the Greeks. In those days there appeared in Israel men
who were breakers of the law, and they seduced many people,
saying: "Let us go and make an alliance with the Gentiles all
around us; since we separated from them, many evils have come upon
us." The proposal was agreeable; some from among the people
promptly went to the king, and he authorized them to introduce the
way of living of the Gentiles. Thereupon they built a gymnasium in
Jerusalem according to the Gentile custom. They covered over the
mark of their circumcision and abandoned the holy covenant; they
allied themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to
wrongdoing. [1MACC 1:7-15]
Then they built up the City of David with a
high, massive wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
There they installed a sinful race, perverse men, who fortified
themselves inside it, storing up weapons and provisions, and
depositing there the plunder they had collected from Jerusalem.
And they became a great threat. The citadel became an ambush
against the sanctuary, and a wicked adversary to Israel at all
times. And they shed innocent blood around the sanctuary; they
defiled the sanctuary. Because of them the inhabitants of
Jerusalem fled away, and she became the abode of strangers. She
became a stranger to her own offspring, and her children forsook
her. Her sanctuary was as desolate as a wilderness; her feasts
were turned into mourning, Her sabbaths to shame, her honor to
contempt. Her dishonor was as great as her glory had been, and her
exaltation was turned into mourning. [1MACC 1:33-40]
On that day they came to this decision:
"Let us fight against anyone who attacks us on the sabbath,
so that we may not all die as our kinsmen died in the hiding
places." Then they were joined by a group of Hasideans,
valiant Israelites, all of them devout followers of the law. And
all those who were fleeing from the disaster joined them and
supported them. They gathered an army and struck down sinners in
their anger and lawbreakers in their wrath, and the survivors fled
to the Gentiles for safety. Mattathias and his friends went about
and tore down the pagan altars; they also enforced circumcision
for any uncircumcised boys whom they found in the territory of
Israel. They put to flight the arrogant, and the work prospered in
their hands. They saved the law from the hands of the Gentiles and
of the kings and did not let the sinner triumph. [1MACC 2:41-48]
Do not fear the words of a sinful man, for his
glory ends in corruption and worms. [1MACC 2:62]
Not satisfied with this, the king dared to enter
the holiest temple in the world; Menelaus, that traitor both to
the laws and to his country, served as guide. He laid his impure
hands on the sacred vessels and gathered up with profane hands the
votive offerings made by other kings for the advancement, the
glory, and the honor of the Place. Puffed up in spirit, Antiochus
did not realize that it was because of the sins of the city's
inhabitants that the Lord was angry for a little while and hence
disregarded the holy Place. If they had not become entangled in so
many sins, this man, like Heliodorus, who was sent by King
Seleucus to inspect the treasury, would have been flogged and
turned back from his presumptuous action as soon as he approached.
[2MACC 5:15-18]
Now I beg those who read this book not to be
disheartened by these misfortunes, but to consider that these
chastisements were meant not for the ruin but for the correction
of our nation. It is, in fact, a sign of great kindness to punish
sinners promptly instead of letting them go for long. Thus, in
dealing with other nations, the Lord patiently waits until they
reach the full measure of their sins before he punishes them; but
with us he has decided to deal differently, in order that he may
not have to punish us more severely later, when our sins have
reached their fullness. He never withdraws his mercy from us.
Although he disciplines us with misfortunes, he does not abandon
his own people. [2MACC 6:12-16]
After him they brought the sixth brother. When
he was about to die, he said: "Have no vain illusions. We
suffer these things on our own account, because we have sinned
against our God; that is why such astonishing things have happened
to us. Do not think, then, that you will go unpunished for having
dared to fight against God." Most admirable and worthy of
everlasting remembrance was the mother, who saw her seven sons
perish in a single day, yet bore it courageously because of her
hope in the Lord. [2MACC 7:18-20]
When they had done this, they prostrated
themselves and begged the Lord that they might never again fall
into such misfortunes, and that if they should sin at any time, he
might chastise them with moderation and not hand them over to
blasphemous and barbarous Gentiles. [2MACC 10:4]
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