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68 Bible verses about Israel
I want to share something powerful with you. God has offered divine forgiveness to Israel. He's redeemed them, forgiven them. Think about that – innocent blood, forgiven. It’s a reminder of the incredible grace available to all of us.
God has exalted Jesus as Prince and Savior, offering repentance and forgiveness of sins. This is a gift, not just for Israel, but for everyone who believes. I encourage you to pray for Israel's salvation. Blessing this holy nation brings blessings in return. God’s grace and favor will become evident in your life when you hold His chosen people close to your heart. They are precious in His sight.
Remember this: never curse Israel. Speaking against them invites judgment and can bring real hardship into your life. Instead, let's lift them up in prayer and show the same love and forgiveness that God has shown us.
The Lord has chosen Jacob's family for himself. Yes, he has chosen Israel's people to belong to him.
‘But you, Israel, are my servant. Yes, I have chosen you, descendants of Jacob. You are descendants of my friend, Abraham.I led you back from the ends of the earth. I called you to come from places far away. I have said to you, “You are my servant. I have chosen you. I have not thrown you away.
Listen, Israelites! The Lord alone is our God. There is no other true God.Love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your strength. Love him with all that you are.
Joshua said, ‘So now you must throw away the foreign gods that you still keep. Trust the Lord, Israel's God, and obey him.’
Please Lord, accept this animal from your people, Israel, that you have rescued. Do not say that we are guilty of this murder. This person did not deserve to die like this.’ When they do that, the Lord will accept their gift and he will forgive you.
Go now. Shout this message to my people in the north: “You people of Israel have not been faithful to me. But now return to me.” The Lord says this. “I will not always turn away from you. I am kind and I forgive people. I will not be angry with you for ever.” The Lord says this.
Then the man said, ‘Your name will not be Jacob any longer. Your name will now be Israel, because you have fought with God and you have fought with men. And you have won!’
The Lord says to his people, ‘You are the people who must say that I am right. I have chosen you as my servant. I chose you so that you may know me, and also believe in me. Then you would understand that I am the true God. There has never been any other god except me, and there never will be.
‘Israelites, Jacob's descendants, listen to me! I have chosen you to be my servant.’Only a fool makes an idol and thinks that it is his god. An image cannot help him.Those who work with him will all be ashamed. Those workers with special skills are only human. They should come together, and they should stand in front of me. That will make them very frightened. They will realize how foolish they are!This is how they make their idols: A man who works with iron takes his tool. He makes the metal hot in the fire. Then he uses hammers to hit it with his strong arms. He hits it so that it has the right shape. But then he becomes hungry. He is too weak to work any more. He does not drink any water and so he feels tired.A carpenter measures a piece of wood. Then he draws a shape for the image. He uses his tools to cut the wood. He carefully makes it have the right shape. He makes the image have the shape of a human. It looks like a beautiful person. Now it is ready to go in its special room.He may cut down cedar trees to make something. He may cut down a cypress tree, or an oak tree. He takes these trees from the forest. Or he may plant his own pine tree, so that the rain helps it to grow well.He uses some of the wood to burn. He makes himself warm beside the fire. He may light a fire and then he may bake bread on it. Then he uses some of the wood to make a god that he will worship! Yes, he makes an idol, and he bends down in front of it.Half of the wood he burns in the fire. He uses it to cook his meat, and he eats plenty of food. He makes himself warm and he says, ‘Good! Now I am warm as I look at the fire.’He uses the rest of the wood to make an idol to be his god. He bends down in front of it and he worships it. He prays to it and he says, ‘Save me, because you are my god!’People like that are stupid. They do not understand anything. They cannot see the truth, as if they are blind. Their minds cannot think properly.None of them think carefully about what they are doing. They do not say to themselves, ‘I burned half of the wood in the fire. I even baked bread and I cooked meat on it. It gave me food to eat. Then I used the rest of the wood to make a useless idol! I took a piece of wood and I worshipped it! Why did I do that?’The Lord created you. Before you were born, he was already taking care of you. He will continue to help you. He says to you, ‘Do not be afraid, my servant, Jacob. I call you “Jeshurun”, and I have chosen you to belong to me.
I have called you on behalf of my people, to help my servant Jacob's descendants. They are Israel's people, that I have chosen for myself. You do not know me as your God, but I have given to you an important name.
Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations.You will be my priests who serve in my kingdom. You will be a nation that is special to me.” These are the words that you must speak to the Israelites.’
So, people of Israel, this is what the Lord your God wants you to do: You should respect him with fear. You should live in a way that pleases him. Love him and serve him in everything that you think and in everything that you do.Obey the Lord's commands and rules that I am giving to you today. If you do these things, you will have a happy life.
Remember that you are a special people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you for himself out of all the other people who live on the earth. He loves you as his special people.
“You yourselves have seen what I did against the Egyptians. You know how I took care of you. I carried you carefully, like an eagle carries her babies on her wings. I brought you here to come to me.Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations.You will be my priests who serve in my kingdom. You will be a nation that is special to me.” These are the words that you must speak to the Israelites.’
‘I speak to you, Bethlehem Ephrathah. You are only a very small town among all the towns of Judah. But I will cause someone to be born in you who will rule Israel on my behalf. He will be someone whose family started a very long time ago.’
Israel's people, trust the Lord to help you. The Lord has faithful love for his people. He is always ready to save them.
I will cause you to be my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord. I am your God who saved you from the power of the Egyptians.
God raised Jesus and he put him in the most important place at his right side. Jesus is now the one who leads us and the one who saves us. He has made a way for the people of Israel to turn back to God. He wants us to stop doing wrong things. Then God will forgive us for our sins.
The Lord says, ‘A time will soon come when I make a new covenant with Israel's people and with Judah's people.It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors. At that time, I brought them safely out of Egypt. I took care of them, like a faithful husband who takes care of his wife. But they did not obey my covenant.’ That is what the Lord says.‘Yes, I will make a new covenant with Israel's people at that time. It will be like this: I will put my Law deep inside them, in their hearts and minds. I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ That is what the Lord says.‘Then people will not have to teach their friends or their family about me. They will all know me already. The important people and the ordinary people will all know me. I will forgive the wicked things that they have done. I will no longer think about their sins.’ That is what the Lord says.
They have done bad things and they have turned against me. But I will forgive all their sins that they have done against me.
But God was kind to them, and he forgave them for their sins. He did not destroy them. Many times he was patient, and he did not become angry with them.
He says, ‘There are many nations of people on the earth. But I chose you alone to belong to me. So I will punish you when you do wrong things.’
‘Then people will not have to teach their friends or their family about me. They will all know me already. The important people and the ordinary people will all know me. I will forgive the wicked things that they have done. I will no longer think about their sins.’ That is what the Lord says.
No other nation has a god who is near to them like the Lord our God. Even great nations have no god like that. But when we pray to the Lord our God, he listens!
Pray that there will be peace in Jerusalem. Pray that people who love Jerusalem will be safe.
Israelites, descendants of Jacob, the Lord created you, and he made you who you are. Now he says this to you: ‘Do not be afraid, I have rescued you so that you belong to me. I have called you by your name, so now you are mine.
Return home, because the Lord Almighty has sent me, Zechariah, with a message. He has sent me to warn the nations who have robbed you. He will use me to bring glory to himself. You are his special people. If anyone hurts you, it is the same as if they hurt God's own eye.
If that happens, my people who belong to me should be humble and they should pray to me. They should turn away from their sins and try to please me. Then I will hear them from heaven. I will forgive their sins and I will make their land successful again.
Stand up! Shine brightly! Now your light has come! The Lord's glory has risen to shine on you.Foreign people will build your walls again. Their kings will be your servants. I punished you when I was angry with you. But now I will be kind to you, and I will forgive you.The gates of your city will always be open. People will never close them, during the day or during the night. Then other nations will bring their riches to you, and their kings will lead them.Any nation or kingdom that refuses to serve you will come to an end. Enemies will completely destroy those nations.The beautiful things of Lebanon will come to you. They will bring you its pine trees, its fir trees and its cypress trees. The wood will make my temple beautiful. I will cause my home on earth to be great!The descendants of your cruel enemies will come to you. They will bend down low in front of you. Everybody who insulted you before will now give you honour. They will call you, ‘The City of the Lord, Zion that is home for Israel's Holy God.’At one time, people kept away from you, and they hated you. Nobody travelled through you. But now I will make you a great city, so that people will be proud of you for ever. Your people and their descendants will be very happy.Other nations and their kings will give you everything that you need. They will be like mothers who feed their babies with their milk. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have made you safe. You will know that I am your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.I will bring you gold instead of bronze. I will bring you silver instead of iron. I will give you bronze to use, instead of wood. I will give you iron instead of stones. I will cause peace to be your city's leader. Righteousness will rule over you.You will not hear the noise of violence in your land any more. Inside its borders, nobody will fight wars or destroy things. You will call your city's walls ‘Salvation’, and you will call your city's gates ‘Praise’.You will no longer need the sun to give you light in the day again. You will not need the moon to shine at night. Instead, the Lord will be the light that shines on you for ever. Yes, your God will be the light that brings you honour.Look! Darkness covers all the earth and its people. But the Lord shines his light on you, so that his glory appears over you.Your sun will never go down again and your moon will never disappear. That is because the Lord will be the light that shines on you for ever. Then your sad days will come to an end.All your people will be righteous. The land will belong to them for ever. I myself will plant them in the ground like a young plant. As they grow, they will show how great I am.The least important person among you will become a great family. The smallest person will become a large nation. I am the Lord. When the right time comes, I will cause it to happen quickly!People of other nations will come to your light. Kings will come to see the light of a new day that shines on you.
I, the Lord, tell you this: “The time will come when I will bring back my people from foreign lands. I will bring the people of Israel and Judah back to the land that I gave to their ancestors. It will belong to them.” That is what the Lord says.’
I will take you out from the nations and all the foreign countries where you have been living. I will bring you back to your own land.You will become pure, as if I splash you with clean water. I will remove all the things that make you unclean. I will take away the idols that you worship.I will give you new thoughts. I will put a new spirit in you. You will no longer refuse to obey me. Instead, you will want to please me.I will put my Spirit in you, so that you obey my commands. You will be careful to obey my laws.At that time, you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors. You will be my people and I will be your God.
Be strong and be brave! Do not be afraid of those people, because the Lord your God goes with you. He will always be there to help you. He will never leave you.’
‘I have a greater job for you to do as my servant. It will not only be to make Jacob's tribes strong again. It will not only be to bring back Israel's people that I have kept safe. It will also be your job to bring light to the other nations. You will show people all over the world that I have the power to save them.’
So I ask this: ‘Has God turned away from his people?’ No, certainly, he has not done that! I myself belong to Israel's people. I am a descendant of Abraham and I belong to Benjamin's tribe.Let their eyes become dark so that they cannot see. Let their bodies always be in pain, like slaves.’ So now I ask this: ‘When Israel's people failed to accept God's Messiah, did they make themselves separate from God for ever?’ No, certainly that is not true! Because of their mistake, God is now saving Gentiles. He is doing that to make Israel's people become jealous.Because of their mistake, God has blessed everyone in the world. Israel's people failed to receive what God wanted to give them. As a result, God has blessed the Gentiles with many good things. So, when the complete number of Israel's people do turn to God, the result will be even better!Now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. God has sent me to be his apostle to the Gentiles. I thank him that he has given this important work to me.I hope that my work among you Gentiles will cause my own people to be jealous. As a result, some of them may turn to God, so that he saves them.When God turned away from Israel's people, he then accepted other people in the world as his friends. So, when God does accept Israel's people, the result will be even better! It will seem that dead people have become alive again!If you offer the first piece of bread to God, then all the bread will belong to God. If the roots of a tree belong to God, then the branches will also be his.Israel's people are like an olive tree that a farmer has planted. But God has broken off some of that tree's branches. Then he has taken a branch from a wild olive tree. He has put that wild branch into the farmer's tree, to become part of that tree. You Gentiles are like the wild branch. Now you receive food from the root of the farmer's tree, to make you strong.Israel's people are like the branches that God broke off. But you Gentiles must not think that you are better than those branches. Remember that you are still only a branch. You do not make the root strong. No, it is the root that holds you up and makes you strong.You might say, ‘God broke off the branches so that I could become part of the tree.’God chose who would be his people from the beginning. He has not turned against them now. Remember what the Bible tells us about Elijah. He wanted God to punish Israel's people. Elijah said,
The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Leave your country and the people of your father's family. Go to the land that I will show you. There was a famine in the land of Canaan. So Abram went to live in Egypt for some time, because the famine was very bad.When Abram came near to Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Listen to me. I know that you are a very beautiful woman.When the Egyptians see you they will say, “This is Abram's wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live.So tell them that you are my sister. Then they will do good things to me, because they want to please you. They will not kill me because they will think that you are my sister.’When Abram arrived in Egypt, the people saw that Sarai was a very beautiful woman.The king's officers saw her. They told Pharaoh that she was very beautiful. They took her to the king's palace. Pharaoh did good things to help Abram because of Sarai. He gave Abram sheep, cows, donkeys and camels. He also gave Abram male servants and female servants.But the Lord made Pharaoh and the people in his palace very ill. The Lord did this because the king had taken Abram's wife Sarai.So Pharaoh called Abram to come to him. Pharaoh said, ‘You have done this bad thing to me! You did not tell me that Sarai is your wife! Why not?You told me, “She is my sister.” As a result, I took her to be my wife. Now, here is your wife. Take her and go away!’I will cause your descendants to become a great nation. I will bless you. Everyone will know your name. You will bring my blessing to other people.Pharaoh told his officers what to do with Abram. They sent Abram away, with his wife and everything that belonged to them.I will bless those people who bless you. But I will curse anyone who insults you. I will bless all the families of people on the earth because of you.’
Say to the people, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will take Israel's people out from among the nations where they have gone. I will bring them back together from all those foreign countries. I will bring them to their own land.In that land, I will make them become one nation. They will live on Israel's mountains. They will have one king to rule over them all. They will never again become two nations or two separate kingdoms.
At that time, the nations of Judah and Israel will join together as one kingdom. They will leave their exile in a country in the north. They will come back to this land that I gave to your ancestors to be their home for ever.
Because I love Zion, I will not be quiet. I cannot stay quiet, because Jerusalem is in trouble. I will continue to speak until she is safe again. I want her righteousness to shine like the sun at dawn. I want her salvation to be a bright light in the dark.
The Lord says, ‘The new heavens and the new earth that I will make will always be there. In the same way, your descendants and your family name will always continue.’
Your God says, ‘Comfort my people. Yes, comfort them.Look! The Almighty Lord is coming with power. He will use his great strength to rule the people. Look again! He is bringing his gifts with him. He brings the prize that he has won in battle.He takes care of his people, like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep. He picks up the young lambs and he carries them near to his heart. He carefully leads the mother sheep that have lambs.Nobody has done what God has done! He measured all the water of the seas in one hand. He used his hand to measure the whole sky. He carefully weighed the soil of the earth. He carefully weighed the mountains in his scales, and the hills too.Nobody understands the mind of the Lord. Nobody can be his advisor, to tell him what he should do.He does not ask anyone to be his guide. Nobody can teach him the proper way to do things. Nobody can give him knowledge. Nobody can teach him how to understand things.The Lord looks at the nations as if they are a little bit of water in a bucket. They are like dust on his scales. He weighs the islands as he would weigh dust.All the trees from Lebanon's forests are not enough to make a fire for his altar. All its animals are not enough to offer to him as burnt offerings.All the nations in the world are not important to the Lord. He sees them as empty and useless.You cannot find anyone else who is like God. There is no image that you can make to be like him.A worker may use special skill to make an idol. Another worker may cover it with gold. He may use silver chains to make it beautiful.Speak kindly to the people in Jerusalem. Tell them that their time of trouble has now finished. Their punishment has been enough. The Lord has made them pay for their sins. He has made them pay twice.’
People who trust in the Lord are strong, like Mount Zion. Nothing can shake it. It will always be there.The Lord is always near to his people, like the mountains around Jerusalem. He keeps his people safe, now and for ever.
The Lord shouts from Zion. His voice calls loudly from Jerusalem. The sky and the earth shake. But the Lord is a place where his people are safe. He is a strong place for Israel's people.
But listen to me! I will bring health again to the people of this city. I will make my people well again. They will live safely in peace.
Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them. They will know that they are my people, the Israelites. That is what the Almighty Lord says.
As they come, people from many nations will say, ‘Come! We will go up to the mountain of the Lord, Jacob's God. We will go to worship him at his temple. He will teach us his laws. Then we can live in a way that pleases him.’ Zion will be the place where people learn about God. The Lord's message will go out from Jerusalem.
Now your Maker is your husband. His name is the Lord Almighty. Israel's Holy God is your Redeemer. He is called, ‘The God who rules the whole earth’.
The Lord your God takes care of the land there. He watches over it every day, through the whole year.
Israel's people, trust the Lord to help you. The Lord has faithful love for his people. He is always ready to save them.He will save Israel's people from all their sins.
The Lord says, ‘When Israel was a child, I loved him as my son. I called my son to come out of Egypt.
They are Israelites. God chose them to belong to him as his own children. He showed them his great glory. He made covenants with them and he gave his Law to them. He showed them how they should worship him. He promised them many good things.It was their ancestors that God chose as his people many years ago. And Christ himself, as a man, was born to an Israelite family. Christ is God, who rules over all things. We should praise him for ever! This is true! Amen.
People of all nations, listen to the Lord's message. Shout it aloud for everyone to hear, even those who live on the coasts far away. Say, ‘The Lord chased Israel's people away, but now he will bring them back. He will take care of them, like a shepherd who takes care of his sheep.’
Then say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: I will bring you from the places where you have been living. I will bring you back together from those countries. I will give the land of Israel back to you.”
The Lord Almighty says, ‘I will rescue my people from the countries in the east and in the west.I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people and I will be their God. I will rule them in a way that is faithful and right.’
The Lord will make Israel safe. Israel will be safe and free for ever. You will never be ashamed again. People will never insult you again.
He has been faithful to his promise that he made to the people of Israel. He has continued to take care of them with his faithful love. Everyone who lives anywhere on the earth can see that God has the power to save people.
There is no other nation on earth like your people, Israel. We are the only nation that you have rescued so that we would belong to you. You did that to show that your name is great. You did great miracles to rescue your people from Egypt where they were slaves. Then you chased out other nations and their gods from the land that you were giving to your people.You chose Israel to be your own people for all time. You, Lord, became our God.
Moses went up the mountain to speak with God. The Lord spoke to him from the mountain. He said, ‘This is what you must say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants:“You yourselves have seen what I did against the Egyptians. You know how I took care of you. I carried you carefully, like an eagle carries her babies on her wings. I brought you here to come to me.Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations.You will be my priests who serve in my kingdom. You will be a nation that is special to me.” These are the words that you must speak to the Israelites.’
The Lord will once again be kind to Jacob's descendants. He will choose to help Israel's people again, as his own people. He will put them back in their land. Foreign people will join them and they will become a part of Jacob's family.
People say that nobody takes care of you, people of Zion. They say that I have chased you out of your land. But I will give you back your health. I will make your wounds better.’ That is what the Lord says.
At that time long ago, the Lord showed himself to his people. He said, ‘I have always loved you and I always will love you. My faithful love for you continues for ever.