'God' in the Bible

“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,“And My servant whom I have chosen,That you may know and believe MeAnd understand that I am He.Before Me there was no God formed,And there will be none after Me.

“I have declared [the future] and saved [the nation] and proclaimed [that I am God],And there was no strange (alien) god among you;Therefore you are My witnesses [among the pagans],” declares the Lord,“That I am God.

“For the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts says this,‘I am the First and I am the Last;And there is no God besides Me.

‘Do not tremble nor be afraid [of the violent upheavals to come];Have I not long ago proclaimed it to you and declared it?And you are My witnesses.Is there a God besides Me?There is no other Rock;I know of none.’”

Who has made a god or cast an idol which is profitable for nothing?

In fact, all his companions will be put to shame, for the craftsmen themselves are mere men. Let them all assemble, let them stand up, let them be terrified, let them together be put to shame.

Then it becomes fuel for a man to burn, so he takes one of them and warms himself; he also kindles a fire to bake bread. He also makes a god [from the same wood] and worships it. He makes it into a carved idol [with his own hands] and falls down and worships it!

But from what is left of the wood he makes a god, his carved idol. He falls down before it, he worships it and prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god.”

They do not know, nor do they understand, for God has muddied their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts (minds) as well so that they cannot understand.

No one remembers, nor has knowledge and understanding [enough] to say [to himself], “I have burned half of this log in the fire, and also baked bread on its coals and have roasted meat and eaten it. Then I make the rest of it into an repulsive thing [to God]; I bow down [to worship] before a block of wood!”

“I will give you the treasures of darkness [the hoarded treasures]And the hidden riches of secret places,So that you may know that it is I,The Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you (Cyrus the Great) by your name.

“I am the Lord, and there is no one else;There is no God except Me.I will embrace and arm you, though you have not known Me,

That people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun [the world over]That there is no one except Me.I am the Lord, and there is no other,

“Rain down, O heavens, from above,Let the clouds pour down righteousness [all the blessings of God];Let the earth open up, let salvation bear fruit,And righteousness spring up with it;I, the Lord, have created it.

For this is what the Lord says,“The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush (ancient Ethiopia)And the Sabeans, men of stature,Will come over to you and they will be yours;They will walk behind you, in chains [of subjection to you] they will come over,And they will bow down before you;They will make supplication to you, [humbly and earnestly] saying,‘Most certainly God is with you, and there is no other,No other God [besides Him].’”

Truly, You are a God who hides Himself,O God of Israel, Savior!

For the Lord, who created the heavens (He is God, who formed the earth and made it; He established it and did not create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited) says this,“I am the Lord, and there is no one else.

“Assemble yourselves and come;Come together, you survivors of the nations!They are ignorant,Who carry around their wooden idols [in religious processions or into battle]And keep on praying to a god that cannot save them.

“Declare and present your defense of idols;Indeed, let them consult together.Who announced this [rise of Cyrus and his conquests] long before it happened?Who declared it long ago?Was it not I, the Lord?And there is no other God besides Me,A [consistently and uncompromisingly] just and righteous God and a Savior;There is none except Me.

“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth;For I am God, and there is no other.

“Those who lavish gold from the bagAnd weigh out silver on the scalesHire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;They bow down, indeed they worship it.

“Remember [carefully] the former things [which I did] from ages past;For I am God, and there is no one else;I am God, and there is no one like Me,

“Listen to Me, you stiff-necked people,You who are far from righteousness (right standing with God).

“Hear this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of IsraelAnd who come from the seed of Judah,You who swear [allegiance] by the name of the LordAnd invoke the God of Israel,But not in truth (sincerity) nor in righteousness [with moral and spiritual integrity].

“For they call themselves [citizens of Jerusalem] after the holy cityAnd depend on the God of Israel;The Lord of hosts is His name.

“Come near to Me, listen to this:From the beginning I have not spoken in secret,From the time that it happened, I was there.And now the Lord God has sent Me, and His [Holy] Spirit.”

This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says,“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit (benefit),Who leads you in the way that you should go.

And [the Lord] said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel,In Whom I will show My glory.”

Then I said, “I have labored in vain,I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity (pride, uselessness);However My justice is with the Lord,And My reward is with My God.”

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,To bring Jacob back to Him and that Israel might be gathered to Him,—For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,And My God is My strength—

This is what the Lord God says,“Listen carefully, I will lift up My hand to the [Gentile] nationsAnd set up My banner to the peoples;And they will bring your sons in the fold of their garments,And your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.

The Lord God has given Me [His Servant] the tongue of disciples [as One who is taught],That I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.He awakens Me morning by morning,He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple [as One who is taught].

The Lord God has opened My ear,And I have not been rebelliousNor have I turned back.

For the Lord God helps Me,Therefore, I have not been ashamed or humiliated.Therefore, I have made My face like flint,And I know that I shall not be put to shame.

In fact, the Lord God helps Me;Who is he who condemns Me [as guilty]?Indeed, they will all wear out like a garment;The moth will eat them.

Who is among you who fears the Lord,Who obeys the voice of His Servant,Yet who walks in darkness and has no light?Let him trust and be confident in the name of the Lord and let him rely on his God.

“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness (right standing with God),The people in whose heart is My law and instruction;Do not fear the reproach and taunting of man,Nor be distressed at their reviling.

Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the Lord;Awake as in the ancient days, as in the generations of long ago.Was it not You who cut Rahab (Egypt) in pieces,Who pierced the dragon [of Egypt]?

So the redeemed of the Lord will returnAnd come with joyful shouting to Zion;Everlasting joy will be on their heads.They will obtain gladness and joy,And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is His name.

Your sons have fainted;They lie helpless at the head of every street,Like an antelope in a net,Full [from drinking] of the wrath of the Lord,The rebuke of your God.

Therefore, now hear this, you who are afflicted,Who are drunk, but not with wine [but overwhelmed by the wrath of God].

So says your Lord, the Lord, who is also your GodWho pleads the cause of His people,“Listen carefully, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering and intoxication,The cup of My wrath;You shall never drink it again.

For the Lord God says this, “My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there; and [many years later Sennacherib] the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

How beautiful and delightful on the mountainsAre the feet of him who brings good news,Who announces peace,Who brings good news of good [things],Who announces salvation,Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

The Lord has bared His holy arm (His infinite power)Before the eyes of all the nations [revealing Himself as the One by Whom Israel is redeemed from captivity],That all the ends of the earth may seeThe salvation of our God.

For you will not go out in a hurry [as when you left Egypt],Nor will you go in flight [fleeing, as you did from the Egyptians];For the Lord will go before you,And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Just as many were astonished and appalled at you, My people,So His appearance was marred more than any manAnd His form [marred] more than the sons of men.

For He [the Servant of God] grew up before Him like a tender shoot (plant),And like a root out of dry ground;He has no stately form or majestic splendorThat we would look at Him,Nor [handsome] appearance that we would be attracted to Him.

But [in fact] He has borne our griefs,And He has carried our sorrows and pains;Yet we [ignorantly] assumed that He was stricken,Struck down by God and degraded and humiliated [by Him].

As a result of the anguish of His soul,He shall see it and be satisfied;By His knowledge [of what He has accomplished] the Righteous One,My Servant, shall justify the many [making them righteous—upright before God, in right standing with Him],For He shall bear [the responsibility for] their sins.

“For your husband is your Maker,The Lord of hosts is His name;And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,Who is called the God of the whole earth.

“For the Lord has called you,Like a wife who has been abandoned, grieved in spirit,And like a wife [married] in her youth when she is [later] rejected and scorned,”Says your God.

“In fact, you [Israel] will call a nation that you do not know,And a nation that does not know you will run to you,Because of the Lord your God, even the Holy One of Israel;For He has glorified you.”

Let the wicked leave (behind) his wayAnd the unrighteous man his thoughts;And let him return to the Lord,And He will have compassion (mercy) on him,And to our God,For He will abundantly pardon.

This is what the Lord says,“Maintain justice and do righteousness,For My salvation is soon to come,And My righteousness and justice is soon to be revealed.

The Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares:“I will gather yet others to them (Israel), to those [already] gathered.”

“Behind the door and the doorpostYou have set up your [pagan] symbol;Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,And have gone up and made your bed wide.And you have made a [new] agreement for yourself with the adulterers,You have loved their bed,You have looked [with passion] on their manhood.

“You have gone to the king [of a pagan land] with oilAnd increased your perfumes;You have sent your messengers a great distanceAnd made them go down to Sheol (the realm of the dead).

“You were wearied by the length of your road,Yet you did not say, ‘It is no use.’You found renewed strength,Therefore you did not grow weak.

“There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight [superficially] to know My ways,As [if they were in reality] a nation that has done righteousnessAnd has not abandoned (turned away from) the ordinance of their God.They ask of Me righteous judgments,They delight in the nearness of God.

“Then your light will break out like the dawn,And your healing (restoration, new life) will quickly spring forth;Your righteousness will go before you [leading you to peace and prosperity],The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

But your wickedness has separated you from your God,And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Rebelling against and denying the Lord,Turning away from [following] our God,Speaking oppression and revolt,Conceiving and muttering from the heart lying words.

Justice is pushed back,And righteous behavior stands far away;For truth has fallen in the city square,And integrity cannot enter.

“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you [writing the law of God on the heart], and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouths of your [true, spiritual] children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”

“The islands and coastlands will confidently wait for Me;And the ships of Tarshish will come first,To bring your sons from far away,Their silver and gold with them,For the name of the Lord your God,For the Holy One of Israel because He has glorified you.

“The sun will no longer be your light by day,Nor shall the bright glow of the moon give light to you,But the Lord will be an everlasting light for you;And your God will be your glory and splendor.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,Because the Lord has anointed and commissioned meTo bring good news to the humble and afflicted;He has sent me to bind up [the wounds of] the brokenhearted,To proclaim release [from confinement and condemnation] to the [physical and spiritual] captivesAnd freedom to prisoners,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord,And the day of vengeance and retribution of our God,To comfort all who mourn,

To grant to those who mourn in Zion the following:To give them a turban instead of dust [on their heads, a sign of mourning],The oil of joy instead of mourning,The garment [expressive] of praise instead of a disheartened spirit.So they will be called the trees of righteousness [strong and magnificent, distinguished for integrity, justice, and right standing with God],The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

But you shall be called the priests of the Lord;People will speak of you as the ministers of our God.You will eat the wealth of nations,And you will boast of their riches.

I will rejoice greatly in the Lord,My soul will exult in my God;For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,He has covered me with a robe of righteousness,As a bridegroom puts on a turban,And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,So the Lord God will [most certainly] cause righteousness and justice and praiseTo spring up before all the nations [through the power of His word].

You will also be [considered] a crown of glory and splendor in the hand of the Lord,And a royal diadem [exceedingly beautiful] in the hand of your God.

For as a young man marries a virgin [O Jerusalem],So your sons will marry you;And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,So your God will rejoice over you.

For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived,Nor has the eye seen a God besides You,Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.

“But you who abandon (turn away from) the Lord,Who forget and ignore My holy mountain (Zion),Who set a table for Gad [the Babylonian god of fortune],And who fill a jug of mixed wine for Meni [the god of fate],

Therefore, the Lord God says this,“Listen carefully, My servants will eat, but you will be hungry;Indeed, My servants will drink, but you will be thirsty;Indeed, My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.

“And you will leave your name behind to My chosen ones [who will use it] as a curse,And the Lord God will put you to death,But He will call His servants by another name [a much greater name, just as the name Israel was greater than the name Jacob].

“Because he who blesses himself on the earthWill bless himself by the God of truth and faithfulness;And he who swears [an oath] on the earthWill swear by the God of truth and faithfulness;Because the former troubles are forgotten,And because they are hidden from My sight.

“He who kills an ox [for pagan sacrifice] is [as guilty] as one who kills a man;He who sacrifices a lamb, as one who breaks a dog’s neck;He who offers a grain offering, as one who offers swine’s blood;He who offers incense, as one who blesses an idol.Such people have chosen their own ways,And their soul delights in their repulsive acts;

“Shall I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?” says the Lord.“Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.

Then I said, “Ah, Lord God!Behold, I do not know how to speak,For I am [only] a young man.”

“[Even] the priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’And those who deal with the law [given to Moses] did not know Me.The rulers and shepherds also transgressed against Me,And the prophets prophesied by [the authority and in the name of] BaalAnd walked after [idolatrous] things that did not benefit [them].

“Has a nation [ever] changed godsEven though they were not gods [but merely man-made objects]?But My people have exchanged their Glory (the true God)For that [man-made idol] which does not benefit [them].

“Have you not brought this on yourselfBy abandoning (rejecting) the Lord your GodWhen He led you in the way?

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see;Where have you not been violated?You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods]Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert,And you have desecrated the landWith your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).

‘Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt,That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the Lord your GodAnd have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree,And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.

A voice is heard on the barren heights,The weeping and pleading of the children of Israel,Because they have lost their way,They have [deliberately] forgotten the Lord their God.

“Return, O faithless sons,” [says the Lord],“I will heal your unfaithfulness.”[They answer] “Behold, we come to You,For You are the Lord our God.

“Truly, [the hope of salvation from] the hill [where idols are worshiped] is a deception,A tumult and noisy multitude on the mountains;Truly in the Lord our GodIs the salvation of Israel.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor and humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Surely You have completely deceived and misled this people and Jerusalem, [for the prophets represented You as] saying [to Your people], ‘You will have peace,’ but [in fact] a sword reaches to their throat.”

Then I said, “[Surely] these are only the poor (uneducated);They are [sinfully] foolish and have no [spiritual] understanding,For they do not know the way of the LordOr the ordinance of their God [and the requirements of His just and righteous law].

“I will go to the great [men]And speak to them,For they [must] know the way of the Lord,The ordinance of their God.”But [I found the reverse to be true, that] they too had all alike broken the yoke [of God’s law]And had burst the bonds [of obedience to Him].

“The prophets are like the wind [their prophecy will not come to pass],And the word [of God] is not in them.In this manner it will be done to them [as they prophesied, not to us].”

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts,“Because you [people] have spoken this word,Behold, I am making My words a fire in your mouth [Jeremiah]And this people wood, and My words will consume them.