The deliberate rejection of God lies at the heart of human sin. It is seen in rebellion against God's authority, purpose and instruction and results in the rejection of God's servants and, ultimately, in the rejection of his Son. Passages gathered in the Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation. They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear. You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
If anyone sacrifices to any god other than the LORD alone, he must be set apart for destruction.
When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
But rebels and sinners will together be shattered, and those who forsake the LORD will perish.
But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
You have forsaken Me, declares the LORD. You have turned your back. So I will stretch out My hand against you and I will destroy you; I am weary of showing compassion.
so that I may take hold of the hearts of the people of Israel. For because of their idols, they are all estranged from Me.'
And the LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected Me as their king.
But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your troubles and afflictions, and you have said to Him, 'No, set a king over us.' Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and clans."
For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways."
For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: "By repentance and rest you would be saved; your strength would lie in quiet confidence— but you were not willing."
and in the morning you will see the LORD's glory, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. For who are we that you should grumble against us?" And Moses added, "The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD."
And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: 'Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!' Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat. You will eat it not for one or two days, nor for five or ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and makes you nauseous—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have cried out before Him, saying, 'Why did we ever leave Egypt?'"
"How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me.
But My people would not listen to Me, and Israel would not obey Me. So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If only My people would listen to Me, if Israel would follow My ways,
"Because this people has rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah and rejoiced in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
"Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin. They set out to go down to Egypt without asking My advice, to seek shelter under Pharaoh's protection and take refuge in Egypt's shade.
But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.
"I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts," he replied, "but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well."
and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
"I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts," he replied, "but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well."
Put the ram's horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, "If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?" So they said to one another, "Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt."
But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it.
You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. But the more I called Israel, the farther they departed from Me. They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them in My arms, but they never realized that it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with ropes of love; I lifted the yoke from their necks and bent down to feed them.
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all that night.
Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you as king."
"I will not return with you," Samuel replied. "For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel."
Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand, because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,
For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The peoples that you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land. Because of this, He has sent lions among them, which are indeed killing them off."
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.
How can you say, 'We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,' when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception? The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the LORD, what wisdom do they really have?
But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.'
Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.
For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.
This is what the LORD says: "For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.
Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters."
he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, trusting in oppression and relying on deceit,
I will destine you for the sword, and you will all kneel down to be slaughtered, because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not listen; you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight."
To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,
Therefore this is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'Behold, I will bring to Judah and to all the residents of Jerusalem all the disaster I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them but they have not obeyed, and I have called to them but they have not answered.'"
And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe's knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire. Yet in hearing all these words, the king and his servants did not become frightened or tear their garments.
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "It was necessary to speak the word of God to you first. But since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
And the couriers traveled from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun; but the people scorned and mocked them.
For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and derision all day long.
They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.
Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent other servants, more than the first group. But the tenants did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.' So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
Then Jesus began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a wine vat, and built a watchtower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But they seized the servant, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Then he sent them another servant, and they struck him over the head and treated him shamefully. He sent still another, and this one they killed. He sent many others; some they beat and others they killed. Finally, having one beloved son, he sent him to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said. But the tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they seized the son, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
Then He proceeded to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and went away for a long time. At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. So he sent another servant, but they beat him and treated him shamefully, sending him away empty-handed. Then he sent a third, but they wounded him and threw him out. 'What shall I do?' asked the owner of the vineyard. 'I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw the son, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
This Moses, whom they had rejected with the words, 'Who made you ruler and judge?' is the one whom God sent to be their ruler and redeemer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Then He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and after three days rise again.
From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
"The Son of Man must suffer many things," He said. "He must be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: "Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You."
I offered My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who tore out My beard. I did not hide My face from scorn and spittle.
Just as many were appalled at Him — His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness—
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people.
Have you never read this Scripture: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
But Jesus looked directly at them and said, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: 'The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone' ?
To you who believe, then, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,"
He replied, "Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected?
But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands."
as it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame."
So this is what the Lord GOD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue, and they were astonished. "Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?" they asked. "Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't His mother's name Mary, and aren't His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren't all His sisters with us as well? Where then did this man get all these things?" And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown and in his own household is a prophet without honor." And He did not do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.
Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. "Where did this man get these ideas?" they asked. "What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles? Isn't this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren't His sisters here with us as well?" And they took offense at Him. Then Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor." So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them. And He was amazed at their unbelief. And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.
On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.
I have come in My Father's name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were asking, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, 'I have come down from heaven?'"
At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him. But Jesus was hidden and went out of the temple area.
Because of this, some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a sinful man perform such signs?" And there was division among them.
"What then should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked. They all answered, "Crucify Him!" "Why?" asked Pilate. "What evil has He done?" But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify Him!"
So Pilate asked them again, "What then do you want me to do with the One you call the King of the Jews?" And they shouted back, "Crucify Him!" "Why?" asked Pilate. "What evil has He done?" But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify Him!"
Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate addressed them again, but they kept shouting, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" A third time he said to them, "What evil has this man done? I have found in Him no offense worthy of death. So after I punish Him, I will release Him." But they were insistent, demanding with loud voices for Jesus to be crucified. And their clamor prevailed.
As soon as the chief priests and officers saw Him, they shouted, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" "You take Him and crucify Him," Pilate replied, "for I find no basis for a charge against Him."
At this, they shouted, "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!" "Shall I crucify your King?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," replied the chief priests.
He was delivered up by God's set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.