What Does The Bible Say About A Nation?
Verses from BibleGateway.com
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
And also the nation whom they
serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
And as for Ishmael, I have heard
you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply
him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
since Abraham shall surely become a
great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed in him?
But Abimelech had not come near her;
and he said, “Lord, will You slay a righteous nation also?
Yet I will also make a nation
of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
Arise, lift up the lad and hold him
with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
Also God said to him: “I am
God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations
shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
So He said, “I am God, the
God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a
great nation there.
So there was hail, and fire mingled
with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of
Egypt since it became a nation.
And you shall be to Me a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall
speak to the children of Israel.”
Now therefore, let Me alone, that My
wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you
a great nation.”
Now therefore, I pray, if I have found
grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may
find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your
people.”
[ The Covenant Renewed ] And
He said: “Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels
such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all
the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is
an awesome thing that I will do with you.
You shall therefore keep My statutes
and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either
any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you
And you shall not walk in the
statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they
commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
I will strike them with the
pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater
and mightier than they.”
Therefore be careful to observe them;
for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the
peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation
is a wise and understanding people.’
“For what great nation is
there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to
us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?
And what great nation is
there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all
this law which I set before you this day?
Or did God ever try to go and
take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation,
by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched
arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you
in Egypt before your eyes?
Let Me alone, that I may destroy
them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation
mightier and greater than they.’
And you shall answer and say before
the Lord your God: ‘My father was a Syrian, about to perish, and he went
down to Egypt and dwelt there, few in number; and there he became a nation,
great, mighty, and populous.
A nation whom you have not
known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you
shall be only oppressed and crushed continually.
“The Lord will bring you and the
king whom you set over you to a nation which neither you nor your
fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods—wood and stone.
The Lord will bring a nation
against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle
flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,
a nation of fierce
countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young.
They have provoked Me to jealousy by
what is not God; They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But
I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I
will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
“For they are a nation
void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them.
Then the anger of the Lord was hot
against Israel; and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed My
covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not heeded My voice,
And who is like Your people,
like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for
Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name—and to do for Yourself great
and awesome deeds for Your land—before Your people whom You redeemed for
Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods?
As
the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master
has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’
he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you.
However every nation
continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the
high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the
cities where they dwelt.
When they went from one nation
to another, And from one kingdom to another people,
And who is like Your people
Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as
a people—to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out
nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt?
So nation was destroyed by nation,
and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah
deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of
any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the
hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’”
When He gives quietness, who then
can make trouble? And when He hides His face, who then can see Him,
Whether it is against a nation or a man alone?—
Blessed is the nation
whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance.
[ Prayer to God in Time of
Trouble ] Vindicate me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation;
Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!
They have said, “Come, and let us
cut them off from being a nation, That the name of Israel may be
remembered no more.”
When they went from one nation
to another, From one kingdom to another people,
That I may see the benefit of Your
chosen ones, That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, That I
may glory with Your inheritance.
He has not dealt thus with any nation;
And as for His judgments, they have not known them. Praise the Lord!
Righteousness exalts a nation,
But sin is a reproach to any people.
Alas, sinful nation, A people
laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They
have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their
spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy; They rejoice before You According to the joy of
harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
I will send him against an ungodly nation,
And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil,
to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
What will they answer the messengers
of the nation? That the Lord has founded Zion, And the poor of His
people shall take refuge in it.
Which sends ambassadors by sea, Even
in vessels of reed on the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation
tall and smooth of skin, To a people terrible from their beginning
onward, A nation powerful and treading down, Whose land the rivers
divide.”
In that time a present will be
brought to the Lord of hosts From a people tall and smooth of skin, And
from a people terrible from their beginning onward, A nation powerful
and treading down, Whose land the rivers divide— To the place of the name of
the Lord of hosts, To Mount Zion.
Open the gates, That the righteous nation
which keeps the truth may enter in.
You have increased the nation,
O Lord, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have
expanded all the borders of the land.
Thus says the Lord, The Redeemer of
Israel, their Holy One, To Him whom man despises, To Him whom the nation
abhors, To the Servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise, Princes also
shall worship, Because of the Lord who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel; And
He has chosen You.”
“Listen to Me, My people; And give
ear to Me, O My nation: For law will proceed from Me, And I will make My
justice rest As a light of the peoples.
Surely you shall call a nation
you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to
you, Because of the Lord your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has
glorified you.”
Yet they seek Me daily, And delight
to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, And did not forsake
the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take
delight in approaching God.
For the nation and kingdom
which will not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be
utterly ruined.
A little one shall become a
thousand, And a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it
in its time.”
[ The Righteousness of God’s
Judgment ] “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I
was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.
Who has heard such a thing? Who has
seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or
shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, She
gave birth to her children.
Has a nation changed its
gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what
does not profit.
[ Sorrow for the Doomed Nation
] O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in
me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the
trumpet, The alarm of war.
Shall I not punish them for
these things?” says the Lord. “And shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation
as this?
Behold, I will bring a nation
against you from afar, O house of Israel,” says the Lord. “It is a
mighty nation, It is an ancient nation, A nation whose
language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say.
Shall I not punish them for
these things?’ says the Lord. ‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation
as this?’
Thus says the Lord: “Behold, a
people comes from the north country, And a great nation will be raised
from the farthest parts of the earth.
[ Judgment on Obscene Religion
] “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey
the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and
has been cut off from their mouth.
Shall I not punish them for these things?”
says the Lord. “Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?”
But if they do not obey, I will
utterly pluck up and destroy that nation,” says the Lord.
The instant I speak concerning a nation
and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
if that nation against whom I
have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought
to bring upon it.
And the instant I speak concerning a
nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
‘Then it will come to pass, when
seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and
that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the
Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, disaster shall go forth From nation to nation, And a
great whirlwind shall be raised up From the farthest parts of the earth.
And it shall be, that the nation
and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which
will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation
I will punish,’ says the Lord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
until I have consumed them by his hand.
Why will you die, you and your
people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord has
spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
“If those ordinances depart From
before Me, says the Lord, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From
being a nation before Me forever.”
[ Excellence of the Restored Nation
] Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was
still shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
“Have you not considered what these
people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has
also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no
more be a nation before them.
No more praise of Moab. In Heshbon
they have devised evil against her: ‘Come, and let us cut her off as a nation.’
You also shall be cut down, O Madmen! The sword shall pursue you;
“Arise, go up to the wealthy nation
that dwells securely,” says the Lord, “Which has neither gates nor bars,
Dwelling alone.
For out of the north a nation
comes up against her, Which shall make her land desolate, And no one shall
dwell therein. They shall move, they shall depart, Both man and beast.
“Behold, a people shall come from
the north, And a great nation and many kings Shall be raised up from the
ends of the earth.
“You are My battle-ax and
weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you
I will destroy kingdoms;
Still our eyes failed us, Watching
vainly for our help; In our watching we watched For a nation that
could not save us.
And He said to me: “Son of man, I am
sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has
rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to
this very day.
‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because
they say to you, ‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’
therefore you shall devour men no
more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord God.
“Nor will I let you hear the taunts
of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore,
nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord
God.’”
and I will make them one nation
in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them
all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided
into two kingdoms again.
Therefore I make a decree that any
people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses
shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like
this.”
As for the broken horn and
the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation,
but not with its power.
[ Prophecy of the End Time ]
“At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who stands watch
over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as
never was since there was a nation, Even to that time. And at
that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the
book.
For a nation has come up
against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of
a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
[ Warnings to Zion and Samaria
] Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, And trust in Mount Samaria,
Notable persons in the chief nation, To whom the house of Israel comes!
“But, behold, I will raise up a nation
against you, O house of Israel,” Says the Lord God of hosts; “And they will
afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the Valley of the Arabah.”
He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off; They shall beat their swords into
plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift
up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.
I will make the lame a remnant, And
the outcast a strong nation; So the Lord will reign over them in Mount
Zion From now on, even forever.
For indeed I am raising up the
Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty nation Which marches through the breadth
of the earth, To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
[ A Call to Repentance ]
Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation,
Woe to the inhabitants of the
seacoast, The nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is
against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you; So there
shall be no inhabitant.”
The herds shall lie down in her
midst, Every beast of the nation. Both the pelican and the bittern Shall
lodge on the capitals of her pillars; Their voice shall sing in
the windows; Desolation shall be at the threshold; For He will lay bare
the cedar work.
Then Haggai answered and said, “‘So
is this people, and so is this nation before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘and so
is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.
You are cursed with a curse, For you
have robbed Me, Even this whole nation.
“Therefore I say to you, the kingdom
of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits
of it.
For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and
earthquakes in various places.
For nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places,
and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of
sorrows.
“for he loves our nation, and
has built us a synagogue.”
Then He said to them, “Nation
will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
And they began to accuse Him,
saying, “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and
forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.”
If we let Him alone like this,
everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our
place and nation.”
nor do you consider that it is
expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole
nation should perish.”
Now this he did not say on his own authority;
but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
and not for that nation only,
but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were
scattered abroad.
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your
own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You
done?”
[ The Crowd’s Response ] And
there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation
under heaven.
‘And the nation to whom they
will be in bondage I will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out
and serve Me in this place.’
And they said, “Cornelius the
centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all
the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to
summon you to his house, and to hear words from you.”
Then he said to them, “You know how
unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation.
But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.
But in every nation whoever
fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.
And He has made from one blood every
nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined
their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings,
And when he was called upon,
Tertullus began his accusation, saying: “Seeing that through you we enjoy great
peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight,
[ The Defense Before Felix ]
Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered: “Inasmuch
as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do
the more cheerfully answer for myself,
“Now after many years I came to
bring alms and offerings to my nation,
“My manner of life from my youth,
which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all
the Jews know.
But when the Jews spoke against it,
I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, not that I had anything of which to accuse
my nation.
But I say, did Israel not know?
First Moses says: “I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a
nation, I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
And I advanced in Judaism beyond
many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly
zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light;
And they sang a new song, saying:
“You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and
people and nation,
It was granted to him to make war
with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every
tribe, tongue, and nation.
[ The Proclamations of Three
Angels ] Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation,
tribe, tongue, and people—
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