'Men' in the Bible

Standing before these [images] were seventy elders of the house of Israel, and among them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan [the scribe], each man with his censer in his hand and a thick and fragrant cloud of incense was rising [as they prayed to these gods].

So He brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch (vestibule, portico) and the [bronze] altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were bowing down toward the east and worshiping the sun.

Behold, six men [angelic beings] came from the direction of the Upper Gate, which faces north, each with his battle-axe in his hand; and among them was a certain man clothed in linen, with a scribe’s writing case at his side. They entered and stood beside the bronze altar.

The Lord said to him, “Go through the midst of the city, throughout all of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh [in distress] and grieve over all the repulsive acts which are being committed in it.”

Utterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women; but do not touch or go near anyone on whom is the mark. Begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the old men who were in front of the temple [who did not have the Lord’s mark on their foreheads].

Moreover, the Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the gate of the Lord’s house, which faced eastward. And behold, at the entrance of the gate there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

Then the Spirit said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who devise evil and give wicked advice in this city,

They have seen falsehood and lying divination, saying, ‘The Lord says,’ but the Lord has not sent them. Yet they hope and make men to hope for the confirmation of their word.

“Son of man, these men have set up [and honored] their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the [vile] stumbling block of their wickedness and guilt; should I [permit Myself to] be consulted by them at all?

even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job were in that land, by their own righteousness (right standing with God) they could only save (deliver) themselves,” says the Lord God.

though these three men were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters. They alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate (ruined, deserted).

even though these three men were in the land, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved.

Can wood be taken from it to make any object? Or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel?

You also took your beautiful jewels and beautiful vessels made of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men so that you could prostitute yourself with them;

Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you give your gifts to all your lovers, bribing the pagan nations to come to you [as allies] from every direction for your obscene immoralities.

And he took a member of the royal family [the king’s uncle, Zedekiah] and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. He also took the important leaders of the land,

‘When she [the royal mother-city] brought up [Jehoahaz] one of her cubs,He became a [young] lion,And he learned to catch and tear the prey;He devoured men.

‘And he moved among the lions;He became a young lion,He learned to tear the prey;He devoured men.

I will pour out My indignation on you [sons of Ammon]; I will blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and I will place you in the hand of brutal men, skilled in destruction.

In you are men who slander for the purpose of shedding blood, and in your presence they have eaten [food offered to idols] at the mountain shrines; in your midst they have committed acts of lewdness.

In you men have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness [the nakedness of mother or stepmother]; in you they have violated women who are [set apart as ceremonially] unclean during their menstrual impurity [or after childbirth].

who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them attractive young men, horsemen riding on horses.

She bestowed [freely] her immoralities on them, the choicest men of Assyria, all of them; and with all whom she adored and lusted after, she defiled herself with their idols.

She did not give up the acts of prostitution that originated during her time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their depravity on her.

She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, her neighbors, magnificently clothed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

But Oholibah carried her depravity further, for she saw men pictured on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) sketched and portrayed in vermilion (bright red pigment),

girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonian men whose native land was Chaldea.

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, princes, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

“Furthermore, you have even sent a messenger for men to come from far away; and behold, they came—those for whom you bathed, painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with ornaments;

The sound of a carefree crowd was with her; and drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of a common sort, who put bracelets on the hands of the women (both sisters) and beautiful crowns on their heads.

And they, righteous men, will judge and condemn them with the judgment (punishment) of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

Because of the great number of his horses, their dust will cover you; your walls [O Tyre] will shake from the noise of the horsemen and the wagons and the chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a city that is breached.

They will take up a dirge (funeral poem to be sung) for you and say to you,‘How you have perished and vanished, O renowned city,From the seas, O renowned city,Which was mighty on the sea,She and her inhabitants,Who imposed her terrorOn all who lived there!

“The inhabitants of Sidon and [the island] of Arvad were your oarsmen;Your skilled and wise men, O Tyre, were with you; they were your pilots.

“The elders of Gebal and its skilled and wise men were with you, repairing your leaks;All the ships of the sea with their mariners were with you to deal in your merchandise.

“Persia and Lud and Put (Libya) were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and the helmet on you; they gave you splendor.

The men of Arvad with your army were upon your walls, all around, and the Gammadim (men of valor) were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls, all around; they perfected your beauty.

Javan (Greece), Tubal and Meshech (Asia Minor) traded with you; with the lives of men [taken as slaves] and vessels of bronze they paid for your merchandise.

The men of Dedan were your traders. Many coastlands were your markets; ivory tusks and ebony they brought to you in payment or as gifts.

“Your riches, your wares, your merchandiseYour oarsmen and your pilots,Your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,And all your men of war who are with you,With all your company that is in your midst,Will sink in the heart of the seasOn the day of your ruin.

“And I will make the rivers [of the Nile delta] dryAnd sell the land into the hands of evil men;I will make the land desolateAnd all that is in it,By the hand of strangers. I the Lord have spoken.”

“The young men of On (Aven) and of Pi-besethWill fall by the sword,And the women [and children] will go into captivity.

so that none of the trees by the waters may exalt themselves because of their height, nor set their top among the clouds, nor their well-watered mighty ones stand [arrogantly] in their height. For they have all been handed over to death, to the earth beneath, among the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit (the grave).”

“As for you, My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

I will fill its mountains with its slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, and in your valleys, and in all your ravines.

I will multiply people on you, all the house of Israel, [indeed] all of it; the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt.

Yes, [O mountains of Israel] I will cause men—My people Israel—to walk on you and take possession of you, so that you will become their inheritance and never again bereave them of children.’

“Thus says the Lord God, ‘Because they say to you, “You [O land] are a devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,”

therefore you will no longer devour people, and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ says the Lord God.

When they came to the nations wherever they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord; yet they have come out of His land.’

‘Thus says the Lord God, “This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock.

Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the desolate cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know [with confident assurance] that I am the Lord.”’”

so that the fishes of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all the creatures that crawl on the earth, and all the men that are on the face of the earth will tremble and shake at My presence; the mountains will crumble, the steep places will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.

“They will elect men who will constantly go through the land, [men commissioned] to bury those who were passing through, those bodies that lie unburied on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will do a search.

You will eat your fill at My table with horses and riders, with mighty men, and with all the men of war,” says the Lord God.