Bible Cross References
Righteousness
Deuteronomy 4:6-8
6
Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, 'What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!'
7
"No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the LORD our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help.
8
No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those that I have taught you today.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14
1
"If you obey the LORD your God and faithfully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, he will make you greater than any other nation on earth.
2
Obey the LORD your God and all these blessings will be yours:
3
"The LORD will bless your towns and your fields.
4
"The LORD will bless you with many children, with abundant crops, and with many cattle and sheep.
5
"The LORD will bless your grain crops and the food you prepare from them.
6
"The LORD will bless everything you do.
7
"The LORD will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack from one direction, but they will run from you in all directions.
8
"The LORD your God will bless your work and fill your barns with grain. He will bless you in the land that he is giving you.
9
"If you obey the LORD your God and do everything he commands, he will make you his own people, as he has promised.
10
Then all the peoples on earth will see that the LORD has chosen you to be his own people, and they will be afraid of you.
11
The LORD will give you many children, many cattle, and abundant crops in the land that he promised your ancestors to give you.
12
He will send rain in season from his rich storehouse in the sky and bless all your work, so that you will lend to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any.
13
The LORD your God will make you the leader among the nations and not a follower; you will always prosper and never fail if you obey faithfully all his commands that I am giving you today.
14
But you must never disobey them in any way, or worship and serve other gods.
Judges 2:6-14
6
Joshua sent the people of Israel on their way, and each man went to take possession of his own share of the land.
7
As long as Joshua lived, the people of Israel served the LORD, and even after his death they continued to do so as long as the leaders were alive who had seen for themselves all the great things that the LORD had done for Israel.
8
The LORD's servant Joshua son of Nun died at the age of a hundred and ten.
9
He was buried in his own part of the land at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
10
That whole generation also died, and the next generation forgot the LORD and what he had done for Israel.
11
Then the people of Israel sinned against the LORD and began to serve the Baals.
12
They stopped worshiping the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God who had brought them out of Egypt, and they began to worship other gods, the gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and made the LORD angry.
13
They stopped worshiping the LORD and served the Baals and the Astartes.
14
And so the LORD became furious with Israel and let raiders attack and rob them. He let the enemies all around overpower them, and the Israelites could no longer protect themselves.
Jeremiah 2:2-25
2
to proclaim this message to everyone in Jerusalem. "I remember how faithful you were when you were young, how you loved me when we were first married; you followed me through the desert, through a land that had not been planted.
3
Israel, you belonged to me alone; you were my sacred possession. I sent suffering and disaster on everyone who hurt you. I, the LORD, have spoken."
4
Listen to the LORD's message, you descendants of Jacob, you tribes of Israel.
5
The LORD says: "What accusation did your ancestors bring against me? What made them turn away from me? They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
6
They did not care about me, even though I rescued them from Egypt and led them through the wilderness: a land of deserts and sand pits, a dry and dangerous land where no one lives and no one will even travel.
7
I brought them into a fertile land, to enjoy its harvests and its other good things. But instead they ruined my land; they defiled the country I had given them.
8
The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?' My own priests did not know me. The rulers rebelled against me; the prophets spoke in the name of Baal and worshiped useless idols.
9
"And so I, the LORD, will state my case against my people again. I will bring charges against their descendants.
10
Go west to the island of Cyprus, and send someone eastward to the land of Kedar. You will see that nothing like this has ever happened before.
11
No other nation has ever changed its gods, even though they were not real. But my people have exchanged me, the God who has brought them honor, for gods that can do nothing for them.
12
And so I command the sky to shake with horror, to be amazed and astonished,
13
for my people have committed two sins: they have turned away from me, the spring of fresh water, and they have dug cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.
14
"Israel is not a slave; he was not born into slavery. Why then do his enemies hunt him down?
15
They have roared at him like lions; they have made his land a desert, and his towns lie in ruins, completely abandoned.
16
Yes, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked his skull.
17
Israel, you brought this on yourself ! You deserted me, the LORD your God, while I was leading you along the way.
18
What do you think you will gain by going to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? What do you think you will gain by going to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?
19
Your own evil will punish you, and your turning from me will condemn you. You will learn how bitter and wrong it is to abandon me, the LORD your God, and no longer to remain faithful to me. I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, have spoken."
20
The Sovereign LORD says, "Israel, long ago you rejected my authority; you refused to obey me and worship me. On every high hill and under every green tree you worshiped fertility gods.
21
I planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. But look what you have become! You are like a rotten, worthless vine.
22
Even if you washed with the strongest soap, I would still see the stain of your guilt.
23
How can you say you have not defiled yourself, that you have never worshiped Baal? Look how you sinned in the valley; see what you have done. You are like a wild camel in heat, running around loose,
24
rushing into the desert. When she is in heat, who can control her? No male that wants her has to trouble himself; she is always available in mating season.
25
Israel, don't wear your feet out, or let your throat become dry from chasing after other gods. But you say, 'No! I can't turn back. I have loved foreign gods and will go after them.' "
Hosea 13:1
In the past, when the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the other tribes of Israel were afraid; they looked up to Ephraim. But the people sinned by worshiping Baal, and for this they will die.
but
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
15
"But if you disobey the LORD your God and do not faithfully keep all his commands and laws that I am giving you today, all these evil things will happen to you:
16
"The LORD will curse your towns and your fields.
17
"The LORD will curse your grain crops and the food you prepare from them.
18
"The LORD will curse you by giving you only a few children, poor crops, and few cattle and sheep.
19
"The LORD will curse everything you do.
20
"If you do evil and reject the LORD, he will bring on you disaster, confusion, and trouble in everything you do, until you are quickly and completely destroyed.
21
He will send disease after disease on you until there is not one of you left in the land that you are about to occupy.
22
The LORD will strike you with infectious diseases, with swelling and fever; he will send drought and scorching winds to destroy your crops. These disasters will be with you until you die.
23
No rain will fall, and your ground will become as hard as iron.
24
Instead of rain, the LORD will send down duststorms and sandstorms until you are destroyed.
25
"The LORD will give your enemies victory over you. You will attack them from one direction, but you will run from them in all directions, and all the people on earth will be terrified when they see what happens to you.
26
When you die, birds and wild animals will come and eat your bodies, and there will be no one to scare them off.
27
The LORD will send boils on you, as he did on the Egyptians. He will make your bodies break out with sores. You will be covered with scabs, and you will itch, but there will be no cure.
28
The LORD will make you lose your mind; he will strike you with blindness and confusion.
29
You will grope about in broad daylight like someone blind, and you will not be able to find your way. You will not prosper in anything you do. You will be constantly oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to help you.
30
"You will be engaged to a young woman---but someone else will marry her. You will build a house---but never live in it. You will plant a vineyard---but never eat its grapes.
31
Your cattle will be butchered before your very eyes, but you will not eat any of the meat. Your donkeys will be dragged away while you look on, and they will not be given back to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and there will be no one to help you.
32
Your sons and daughters will be given as slaves to foreigners while you look on. Every day you will strain your eyes, looking in vain for your children to return.
33
A foreign nation will take all the crops that you have worked so hard to grow, while you receive nothing but constant oppression and harsh treatment.
34
Your sufferings will make you lose your mind.
35
The LORD will cover your legs with incurable, painful sores; boils will cover you from head to foot.
36
"The LORD will take you and your king away to a foreign land, where neither you nor your ancestors ever lived before; there you will serve gods made of wood and stone.
37
In the countries to which the LORD will scatter you, the people will be shocked at what has happened to you; they will make fun of you and ridicule you.
38
"You will plant plenty of seed, but reap only a small harvest, because the locusts will eat your crops.
39
You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you will not gather their grapes or drink wine from them, because worms will eat the vines.
40
Olive trees will grow everywhere in your land, but you will not have any olive oil, because the olives will drop off.
41
You will have sons and daughters, but you will lose them, because they will be taken away as prisoners of war.
42
All your trees and crops will be devoured by insects.
43
"Foreigners who live in your land will gain more and more power, while you gradually lose yours.
44
They will have money to lend you, but you will have none to lend them. In the end they will be your rulers.
45
"All these disasters will come on you, and they will be with you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the LORD your God and keep all the laws that he gave you.
46
They will be the evidence of God's judgment on you and your descendants forever.
47
The LORD blessed you in every way, but you would not serve him with glad and joyful hearts.
48
So then, you will serve the enemies that the LORD is going to send against you. You will be hungry, thirsty, and naked---in need of everything. The LORD will oppress you harshly until you are destroyed.
49
The LORD will bring against you a nation from the ends of the earth, a nation whose language you do not know. They will swoop down on you like an eagle.
50
They will be ruthless and show no mercy to anyone, young or old.
51
They will eat your livestock and your crops, and you will starve to death. They will not leave you any grain, wine, olive oil, cattle, or sheep; and you will die.
52
They will attack every town in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and the high, fortified walls in which you trust will fall.
53
"When your enemies are besieging your towns, you will become so desperate for food that you will even eat the children that the LORD your God has given you.
54
Even the most refined man of noble birth will become so desperate during the siege that he will eat some of his own children because he has no other food. He will not even give any to his brother or to the wife he loves or to any of his children who are left.
56
Even the most refined woman of noble birth, so rich that she has never had to walk anywhere, will behave in the same way. When the enemy besieges her town, she will become so desperate for food that she will secretly eat her newborn child and the afterbirth as well. She will not share them with the husband she loves or with any of her children.
58
"If you do not obey faithfully all of God's teachings that are written in this book and if you do not honor the wonderful and awesome name of the LORD your God,
59
he will send on you and on your descendants incurable diseases and horrible epidemics that can never be stopped.
60
He will bring on you once again all the dreadful diseases you experienced in Egypt, and you will never recover.
61
He will also send all kinds of diseases and epidemics that are not mentioned in this book of God's laws and teachings, and you will be destroyed.
62
Although you become as numerous as the stars in the sky, only a few of you will survive, because you did not obey the LORD your God.
63
Just as the LORD took delight in making you prosper and in making you increase in number, so he will take delight in destroying you and in bringing ruin on you. You will be uprooted from the land that you are about to occupy.
64
"The LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will serve gods made of wood and stone, gods that neither you nor your ancestors have ever worshiped before.
65
You will find no peace anywhere, no place to call your own; the LORD will overwhelm you with anxiety, hopelessness, and despair.
66
Your life will always be in danger. Day and night you will be filled with terror, and you will live in constant fear of death.
67
Your hearts will pound with fear at everything you see. Every morning you will wish for evening; every evening you will wish for morning.
68
The LORD will send you back to Egypt in ships, even though he said that you would never have to go there again. There you will try to sell yourselves to your enemies as slaves, but no one will want to buy you."
Deuteronomy 29:18-28
18
Make sure that no man, woman, family, or tribe standing here today turns from the LORD our God to worship the gods of other nations. This would be like a root that grows to be a bitter and poisonous plant.
19
Make sure that there is no one here today who hears these solemn demands and yet convinces himself that all will be well with him, even if he stubbornly goes his own way. That would destroy all of you, good and evil alike.
20
The LORD will not forgive such a man. Instead, the LORD's burning anger will flame up against him, and all the disasters written in this book will fall on him until the LORD has destroyed him completely.
21
The LORD will make an example of him before all the tribes of Israel and will bring disaster on him in accordance with all the curses listed in the covenant that is written in this book of the LORD's teachings.
22
"In future generations your descendants and foreigners from distant lands will see the disasters and sufferings that the LORD has brought on your land.
23
The fields will be a barren waste, covered with sulfur and salt; nothing will be planted, and not even weeds will grow there. Your land will be like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed when he was furiously angry.
24
Then the whole world will ask, 'Why did the LORD do this to their land? What was the reason for his fierce anger?'
25
And the answer will be, 'It is because the LORD's people broke the covenant they had made with him, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of Egypt.
26
They served other gods that they had never worshiped before, gods that the LORD had forbidden them to worship.
27
And so the LORD became angry with his people and brought on their land all the disasters written in this book.
28
The LORD became furiously angry, and in his great anger he uprooted them from their land and threw them into a foreign land, and there they are today.'
Psalm 107:34
He made rich soil become a salty wasteland because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
Ezekiel 16:1-63
1
The LORD spoke to me again.
2
"Mortal man," he said, "point out to Jerusalem what disgusting things she has done.
3
Tell Jerusalem what the Sovereign LORD is saying to her: "You were born in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
4
When you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord or washed you or rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths.
5
No one took enough pity on you to do any of these things for you. When you were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out in an open field.
6
"Then I passed by and saw you squirming in your own blood. You were covered with blood, but I wouldn't let you die.
7
I made you grow like a healthy plant. You grew strong and tall and became a young woman. Your breasts were well-formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked.
8
"As I passed by again, I saw that the time had come for you to fall in love. I covered your naked body with my coat and promised to love you. Yes, I made a marriage covenant with you, and you became mine." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.
9
"Then I took water and washed the blood off you. I rubbed olive oil on your skin.
10
I dressed you in embroidered gowns and gave you shoes of the best leather, a linen headband, and a silk cloak.
11
I put jewels on you---bracelets and necklaces.
12
I gave you a nose ring and earrings and a beautiful crown to wear.
13
You had ornaments of gold and silver, and you always wore clothes of embroidered linen and silk. You ate bread made from the best flour, and had honey and olive oil to eat. Your beauty was dazzling, and you became a queen.
14
You became famous in every nation for your perfect beauty, because I was the one who made you so lovely." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.
15
"But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.
16
You used some of your clothes to decorate your places of worship, and just like a prostitute, you gave yourself to everyone.
17
You took the silver and gold jewelry that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them.
18
You took the embroidered clothes I gave you and put them on the images, and you offered to the images the olive oil and incense I had given you.
19
I gave you food---the best flour, olive oil, and honey---but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favor of idols." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.
20
"Then you took the sons and the daughters you had borne me and offered them as sacrifices to idols. Wasn't it bad enough to be unfaithful to me,
21
without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols?
22
During your disgusting life as a prostitute you never once remembered your childhood---when you were naked, squirming in your own blood."
23
The Sovereign LORD said, "You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then
24
by the side of every road you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution.
25
You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day.
26
You let your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.
27
"Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.
28
"Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn't satisfy you either.
29
You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either."
30
This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "You have done all this like a shameless prostitute.
31
On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute.
32
You are like a woman who commits adultery with strangers instead of loving her husband.
33
A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you.
34
You are a special kind of prostitute. No one forced you to become one. You didn't get paid; you paid them! Yes, you are different."
35
Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the LORD is saying.
36
This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "You stripped off your clothes, and like a prostitute, you gave yourself to your lovers and to all your disgusting idols, and you killed your children as sacrifices to idols.
37
Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together---the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked.
38
I will condemn you for adultery and murder, and in my anger and fury I will punish you with death.
39
I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.
40
"They will stir up a crowd to stone you, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords.
41
They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers.
42
Then my anger will be over, and I will be calm. I will not be angry or jealous any more.
43
You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?" The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
44
The LORD said, "People will use this proverb about you, Jerusalem: 'Like mother, like daughter.'
45
You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite father.
46
"Your older sister, with her villages, is Samaria, in the north. Your younger sister, with her villages, is Sodom, in the south.
47
Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.
48
"As surely as I am the living God," the Sovereign LORD says, "your sister Sodom and her villages never did the evil that you and your villages have done.
49
She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged.
50
They were proud and stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.
51
"Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison.
52
And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure."
53
The LORD said to Jerusalem, "I will make them prosperous again---Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too.
54
You will be ashamed of yourself, and your disgrace will show your sisters how well-off they are.
55
They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored.
56
Didn't you joke about Sodom in those days when you were proud
57
and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her---a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you.
58
You must suffer for the obscene, disgusting things you have done." The LORD has spoken.
59
The Sovereign LORD says, "I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant.
60
But I will honor the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will make a covenant with you that will last forever.
61
You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you.
62
I will renew my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
63
I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
Ezekiel 22:1-23
2
"Mortal man," he said, "are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done.
3
Tell the city what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: Because you have murdered so many of your own people and have defiled yourself by worshiping idols, your time is coming.
4
You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you.
5
Countries nearby and countries far away sneer at you because of your lawlessness.
6
All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder.
7
None of you in the city honor your parents. You cheat foreigners and take advantage of widows and orphans.
8
You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath.
9
Some of your people tell lies about others in order to have them put to death. Some of them eat sacrifices offered to idols. Some are always satisfying their lusts.
10
Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period.
11
Some commit adultery, and others seduce their daughters-in-law or their half sisters.
12
Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.
13
"I will bring my fist down on your robberies and murders.
14
Do you think you will have any courage left or have strength enough to lift your hand when I am finished with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I keep my word.
15
I will scatter your people to every country and nation and will put an end to your evil actions.
16
And so the other nations will dishonor you, but you will know that I am the LORD."
18
"Mortal man, the Israelites are of no use to me. They are like waste metal---copper, tin, iron, and lead---left over after silver has been refined in a furnace.
19
So now I, the Sovereign LORD, am telling them that they are just as useless as that. I will bring them all together in Jerusalem
20
in the same way that the ore of silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin is put in a refining furnace. My anger and rage will melt them the way fire melts ore.
21
Yes, I will gather them in Jerusalem, build a fire under them, and melt them with my anger.
22
They will be melted in Jerusalem the way silver is melted in a furnace, and then they will know that they are feeling the anger of the LORD."
23
The LORD spoke to me again.