'Former' in the Bible

The Lord says, "I will restore the ruined houses of the descendants of Jacob. I will show compassion on their ruined homes. Every city will be rebuilt on its former ruins. Every fortified dwelling will occupy its traditional site.

The descendants of Jacob will enjoy their former privileges. Their community will be reestablished in my favor and I will punish all who try to oppress them.

Thus said Jehovah its maker, Jehovah its former, at establishing it, Jehovah is His name:

I will restore the fortunes of Judah and of Israel and will rebuild them as in former times.

a sound of joy and gladness, the voice of the groom and the bride, and the voice of those saying,Praise the Lord of Hosts,for the Lord is good;His faithful love endures foreveras they bring thank offerings to the temple of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as in former times, says the Lord.

But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

But afterward they backed out [of the covenant] and made the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free return [to them], and brought the male servants and the female servants again into servitude.

Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.

Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews [my former subjects] who have deserted to join the Chaldeans, for the enemy may put me into their hand and they will mock me and abuse me.”

I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops, who want to kill them. But later on, people will live in Egypt again as they did in former times. I, the Lord, affirm it!"

In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people.

The portion of Jacob is not like them; for he is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of his inheritance: the LORD of hosts is his name.

Lord, restore us to Yourself, so we may return;renew our days as in former times,

When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

And I have multiplied on you man and beast, And they have multiplied and been fruitful, And I have caused you to dwell according to your former states, And I have done better than at your beginnings, And ye have known that I am Jehovah.

The desolate fields will be cultivated, replacing the former wasteland that everyone who passed by in times past had noticed.

“This is what the Lord God says: Are you the one I spoke about in former times through My servants, the prophets of Israel, who for years prophesied in those times that I would bring you against them?

"As I was contemplating the horns, another horn -- a small one -- came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things.

And the ten horns out of the kingdom are ten kings, they rise, and another doth rise after them, and it is diverse from the former, and three kings it humbleth;

while I was still speaking in prayer and extremely exhausted, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me about the time of the evening sacrifice.

The king of the South will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North. Then the latter will raise a great multitude, but that multitude will be given into the hand of the former.

For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches.

At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;she will seek them but not find them.Then she will think,“I will go back to my former husband,for then it was better for me than now.”

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.

For, lo, the former of mountains, and creator of wind, And the declarer to man what is His thought, He is making dawn obscurity, And is treading on high places of earth, Jehovah, God of Hosts, is His name!

“But on Mount Zion [in Jerusalem] there shall be [deliverance for] those who escape,And it shall be holy [no pagan will defile it];And the house of Jacob shall possess their [former] possessions.

And you, watchtower for the flock,fortified hill of Daughter Zion,the former rule will come to you,sovereignty will come to Daughter Jerusalem.

What profit hath a graven image given That its former hath graven it? A molten image and teacher of falsehood, That trusted hath the former on his own formation -- to make dumb idols?

Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem like nothing to you?

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

And look, I will shake my fist over them, and they will become plunder for their former slaves. And you will know that the LORD of the Heavenly Armies sent me."'"

Should ye not hear the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, when men inhabited the south and the plain?

Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the LORD of hosts.

Return to the stronghold [of security and prosperity], O prisoners who have the hope;Even today I am declaring that I will restore double [your former prosperity] to you [as firstborn among nations].

And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

All the land will be transformed into a desert plateau from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But it will rise up high and it will stay in its place from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of [the] former gate, up to the Corner Gate and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

When Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was gripped with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

and there having been much disputing, Peter having risen up said unto them, 'Men, brethren, ye know that from former days, God among us did make choice, through my mouth, for the nations to hear the word of the good news, and to believe;

for Moses from former generations in every city hath those preaching him -- in the synagogues every sabbath being read.'

Therefore God overlooked and disregarded the former ages of ignorance; but now He commands all people everywhere to repent [that is, to change their old way of thinking, to regret their past sins, and to seek God’s purpose for their lives],

Many of those who had become believers were coming, confessing and disclosing their [former sinful] practices.

whom God displayed publicly [before the eyes of the world] as a [life-giving] sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation (propitiation) by His blood [to be received] through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness [which demands punishment for sin], because in His forbearance [His deliberate restraint] He passed over the sins previously committed [before Jesus’ crucifixion].

Yet death ruled [over mankind] from Adam to Moses [the Lawgiver], even over those who had not sinned as Adam did. Adam is a type of Him (Christ) who was to come [but in reverse—Adam brought destruction, Christ brought salvation].

For everything that was written in former times was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and through encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope.

But this knowledge is not shared by all. And some, by being accustomed to idols in former times, eat this food as an idol sacrifice, and their conscience, because it is weak, is defiled.

to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?

For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I persecuted God’s church to an extreme degree and tried to destroy it.

Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit,

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

The former insincerely preach Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains;

The former proclaim the Messiah because they are selfishly ambitious and insincere, thinking that they will stir up trouble for me during my imprisonment.

But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life].

and so incur judgment for breaking their former pledge.

God, having spoken in former times in fragmentary and varied fashion to our forefathers by the prophets,

Indeed, because it was weak and ineffective, the former commandment has been annulled,

The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,

who does not {need every day} like the former high priests to offer up sacrifices for his own sins [and] then for the [sins] of the people, because he did this once for all [when he] offered up himself.

In calling [it] new, he has declared the former [to be old]. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old [is] near to disappearing.

By this the Holy Spirit signifies that the way into the Holy Place [the true Holy of Holies and the presence of God] has not yet been disclosed as long as the first or outer tabernacle is still standing [that is, as long as the Levitical system of worship remains a recognized institution],

then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” [And so] He does away with the first [covenant as a means of atoning for sin based on animal sacrifices] so that He may inaugurate and establish the second [covenant by means of obedience].

But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;

Remember your former leaders--it was they who brought you God's Message. Bear in mind how they ended their lives, and imitate their faith.

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;

for he with whom these things are not present is blind, short-sighted, and has forgotten the purging of his former sins.

For if, after escaping the world's corruptions through a full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus, the Messiah, they are again entangled and conquered by those corruptions, then their last condition is worse than their former one.

After these [things] I looked, and behold, an open door in heaven, and the former voice that I had heard like a trumpet speaking with me was saying, "Come up here and I will show you [the things] which must take place after these [things]."

He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence [when the two are together]. And he makes the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (vanished), and there is no longer any sea.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.