'My People' in the Bible

"No, my lord! Hear me out. I sell you both the field and the cave that is in it. In the presence of my people I sell it to you. Bury your dead."

You will oversee my household, and all my people will submit to your commands. Only I, the king, will be greater than you.

Then he instructed them, "I am about to go to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Release my people so that they may hold a pilgrim feast to me in the desert.'"

Pharaoh will not listen to you. I will reach into Egypt and bring out my regiments, my people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with great acts of judgment.

Tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Release my people, that they may serve me in the desert!" But until now you have not listened.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Release my people in order that they may serve me!

Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to the Lord that he may take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will release the people that they may sacrifice to the Lord."

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and position yourself before Pharaoh as he goes out to the water, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, "Release my people that they may serve me!

If you do not release my people, then I am going to send swarms of flies on you and on your servants and on your people and in your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies, and even the ground they stand on.

But on that day I will mark off the land of Goshen, where my people are staying, so that no swarms of flies will be there, that you may know that I am the Lord in the midst of this land.

I will put a division between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow."'"

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, "Release my people that they may serve me!

The Lord said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: "Release my people so that they may serve me!

You are still exalting yourself against my people by not releasing them.

So Pharaoh sent and summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I have sinned this time! The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty.

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: 'How long do you refuse to humble yourself before me? Release my people so that they may serve me!

But if you refuse to release my people, I am going to bring locusts into your territory tomorrow.

Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested!

"If you lend money to any of my people who are needy among you, do not be like a moneylender to him; do not charge him interest.

I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people.

Jephthah said to them, "My people and I were entangled in controversy with the Ammonites. I asked for your help, but you did not deliver me from their power.

But Ruth replied, "Stop urging me to abandon you! For wherever you go, I will go. Wherever you live, I will live. Your people will become my people, and your God will become my God.

So I am legally informing you: Acquire it before those sitting here and before the leaders of my people! If you want to exercise your right to redeem it, then do so. But if not, then tell me so I will know. For you possess the first option to redeem it; I am next in line after you." He replied, "I will redeem it."

Why are you scorning my sacrifice and my offering that I commanded for my dwelling place? You have honored your sons more than you have me by having made yourselves fat from the best parts of all the offerings of my people Israel.'

"At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!"

When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said, "Here is the man that I told you about! He will rule over my people."

Saul again replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Go back with me so I may worship the Lord your God."

Act now! For the Lord has said to David, 'By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the Philistines and from all their enemies.'"

In the past, when Saul was our king, you were the real leader in Israel. The Lord said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over Israel.'"

Wherever I moved among all the Israelites, I did not say to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, "Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?"'

"So now, say this to my servant David: 'This is what the Lord of hosts says: I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you leader of my people Israel.

I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed any more. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a dynastic house for you.

I will live among the Israelites and will not abandon my people Israel."

He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. But I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.'

Go, tell Jeroboam, 'This is what the Lord God of Israel says: "I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

"I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. Yet you followed in Jeroboam's footsteps and encouraged my people Israel to sin; their sins have made me angry.

"Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people: 'This is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: "I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. The day after tomorrow you will go up to the Lord's temple.

I will abandon this last remaining tribe among my people and hand them over to their enemies; they will be plundered and robbed by all their enemies,

In the past, even when Saul was king, you were Israel's commanding general. The Lord your God said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel; you will rule over my people Israel.'"

Wherever I moved throughout Israel, I did not say to any of the leaders whom I appointed to care for my people Israel, 'Why have you not built me a house made from cedar?'"'

"So now, say this to my servant David: 'This is what the Lord who commands armies says: "I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you a leader of my people Israel.

I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed anymore. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. "'"I declare to you that the Lord will build a dynastic house for you!

King David rose to his feet and said: "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I wanted to build a temple where the ark of the Lord's covenant could be placed as a footstool for our God. I have made the preparations for building it.

"But who am I and who are my people, that we should be in a position to contribute this much? Indeed, everything comes from you, and we have simply given back to you what is yours.

God said to Solomon, "Because you desire this, and did not ask for riches, wealth, and honor, or for vengeance on your enemies, and because you did not ask for long life, but requested wisdom and discernment so you can make judicial decisions for my people over whom I have made you king,

He told David, 'Since the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a temple in which to live. Nor did I choose a man as leader of my people Israel.

But now I have chosen Jerusalem as a place to live, and I have chosen David to lead my people Israel.'

When I close up the sky so that it doesn't rain, or command locusts to devour the land's vegetation, or send a plague among my people,

if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Queen Esther replied, "If I have met with your approval, O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

For we have been sold -- both I and my people -- to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king."

For how can I watch the calamity that will befall my people, and how can I watch the destruction of my relatives?"

All those who behave wickedly do not understand -- those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to the Lord.

He says: "Listen my people! I am speaking! Listen Israel! I am accusing you! I am God, your God!

All those who behave wickedly do not understand -- those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to God.

Do not strike them dead suddenly, because then my people might forget the lesson. Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down, O Lord who shields us!

A well-written song by Asaph. Pay attention, my people, to my instruction! Listen to the words I speak!

I said, 'Listen, my people! I will warn you! O Israel, if only you would obey me!

But my people did not obey me; Israel did not submit to me.

If only my people would obey me! If only Israel would keep my commands!

An ox recognizes its owner, a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; but Israel does not recognize me, my people do not understand."

Oppressors treat my people cruelly; creditors rule over them. My people's leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions.

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?" The sovereign Lord who commands armies has spoken.

Therefore my people will be deported because of their lack of understanding. Their leaders will have nothing to eat, their masses will have nothing to drink.

to keep the poor from getting fair treatment, and to deprive the oppressed among my people of justice, so they can steal what widows own, and loot what belongs to orphans.

So here is what the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, says: "My people who live in Zion, do not be afraid of Assyria, even though they beat you with a club and lift their cudgel against you as Egypt did.

I will break Assyria in my land, I will trample them underfoot on my hills. Their yoke will be removed from my people, the burden will be lifted from their shoulders.

The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, "Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, Israel!"

Go, my people! Enter your inner rooms! Close your doors behind you! Hide for a little while, until his angry judgment is over!

Mourn over the land of my people, which is overgrown with thorns and briers, and over all the once-happy houses in the city filled with revelry.

My people will live in peaceful settlements, in secure homes, and in safe, quiet places.

"Comfort, comfort my people," says your God.

I was angry at my people; I defiled my special possession and handed them over to you. You showed them no mercy; you even placed a very heavy burden on old people.

Pay attention to me, my people! Listen to me, my people! For I will issue a decree, I will make my justice a light to the nations.

I commission you as my spokesman; I cover you with the palm of my hand, to establish the sky and to found the earth, to say to Zion, 'You are my people.'"

For this is what the sovereign Lord says: "In the beginning my people went to live temporarily in Egypt; Assyria oppressed them for no good reason.

And now, what do we have here?" says the Lord. "Indeed my people have been carried away for nothing, those who rule over them taunt," says the Lord, "and my name is constantly slandered all day long.

For this reason my people will know my name, for this reason they will know at that time that I am the one who says, 'Here I am.'"

He says, "Build it! Build it! Clear a way! Remove all the obstacles out of the way of my people!"

"Shout loudly! Don't be quiet! Yell as loud as a trumpet! Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; confront Jacob's family with their sin!

He said, "Certainly they will be my people, children who are not disloyal." He became their deliverer.

Sharon will become a pasture for sheep, and the Valley of Achor a place where cattle graze; they will belong to my people, who seek me.

Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.

No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced.

Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God, for a god that cannot help them at all!

"Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water."

Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted.

"Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them, 'Come back to me, wayward Israel,' says the Lord. 'I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,' says the Lord. 'I will not be angry with you forever.

The Lord answered, "This will happen because my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are like children who have no sense. They have no understanding. They are skilled at doing evil. They do not know how to do good."

"Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people.

The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, 'Everything will be all right!' But everything is not all right!

The Lord said to me, "I have made you like a metal assayer to test my people like ore. You are to observe them and evaluate how they behave."

So, go to the place in Shiloh where I allowed myself to be worshiped in the early days. See what I did to it because of the wicked things my people Israel did.

I also explicitly commanded them: "Obey me. If you do, I will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you and things will go well with you."