2461 verses about Righteousness

Heaven forbid that we should forsake the law and the ordinances.

We will not hearken to the king’s words, to go aside from our worship, on the right hand, or on the left.

And Mattathias saw it, and his zeal was kindled, and his reins trembled, and he showed forth his wrath according to judgement, and ran, and killed him upon the altar.

And the king’s officer, who compelled men to sacrifice, he killed at that time, and pulled down the altar.

And he was zealous for the law, even as Phinehas did to Zimri the son of Salu.

Then many that sought after justice and judgement went down into the wilderness, to dwell there,

saying, Let us die all in our innocency: heaven and earth witness over us, that you⌃ put us to death without trial.

Then were gathered together to them a company of Hasidaeans, mighty men of Israel, every one that offered himself willingly for the law.

And Mattathias and his friends went round about, and pulled down the altars;

And they rescued the law out of the hand of the Gentiles, and out of the hand of the kings, neither suffered they the sinner to triumph.

And call to remembrance the deeds of our fathers which they did in their generations; and receive great glory and an everlasting name.

Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness?

Phinehas our father, for that he was zealous exceedingly, obtained the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.

Joshua for fulfilling the word became a judge in Israel.

Caleb for bearing witness in the congregation obtained a heritage in the land.

David for being merciful inherited the throne of a kingdom forever and ever.

And take you⌃ to you all the doers of the law, and avenge the wrong of your people.

Render a recompense to the Gentiles, and take heed to the commandments of the law.

And he pursued the lawless, seeking them out, and he burned up those that troubled his people.

And the lawless shrunk for fear of him, and all the workers of lawlessness were sore troubled, and salvation prospered in his hand.

And he angered many kings, and made Jacob glad with his acts, and his memorial is blessed forever.

And he went about among the cities of Judah, and destroyed the ungodly out of the land, and turned away wrath from Israel:

And he chose blameless priests, such as had pleasure in the law:

And the man Judas and his kindred were glorified exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and of all the Gentiles, wherever their name was heard of;

and he gave himself to deliver his people, and to get him an everlasting name;

Even so discomfit you this army before us today, and let all the rest know that he has spoken wickedly against your sanctuary, and judge you him according to his wickedness.

And the rest of the acts of Judas, and his wars, and the valiant deeds which he did, and his greatness, they are not written; for they were exceeding many.

And the sword ceased from Israel. And Jonathan lived at Michmash; and Jonathan began to judge the people; and he destroyed the ungodly out of Israel.

I yield up also my authority over the citadel which is at Jerusalem, and give it to the high priest, that he may appoint in it such men as he shall choose to keep it.

Forasmuch as I am returned to my kingdom, and am set on the throne of my fathers, and have gotten the dominion, and have overthrown Demetrius, and have gotten possession of our country;

And the king made him sit with him, and said to his princes, Go forth with him into the midst of the city, and make proclamation, that no man complain against him of any matter, and let no man trouble him for any manner of cause.

and he encouraged them, and said to them, You⌃ yourselves know all the things that I, and my kindred, and my father’s house, have done for the laws and the sanctuary, and the battles and the distresses which we have seen:

And he put all uncleanness out of it, and placed in it such men as would keep the law, and made it stronger than it was before, and built therein a dwelling place for himself.

And they cried out to Simon, that he should give them his right hand; and he gave it to them: and he put them out from thence, and he cleansed the citadel from its pollutions.

And the land had rest all the days of Simon: and he sought the good of his nation; and and his authority and his glory was well-pleasing to them all his days.

And he strengthened all those of his people that were brought low: the law he searched out, and every lawless and wicked person he took away.

But as soon as they heard that his brother Simon was made high priest in his stead, and ruled the country, and the cities therein,

and the people saw the faith of Simon, and the glory which he thought to bring to his nation, and they made him their leader and high priest, because he had done all these things, and for the justice and the faith which he kept to his nation, and for that he sought by all means to exalt his people:

and that the Jews and the priests were well pleased that Simon should be their leader and high priest forever, until there should arise a faithful prophet;

All the people consented to ordain for Simon that he should do according to these words;

Now therefore deliver up the cities which you⌃ have taken, and the tributes of the places whereof you⌃ have gotten dominion without the borders of Judea:

And Simon answered, and said to him, We have neither taken other men’s land, nor have we possession of that which appertains to others, but of the inheritance of our fathers; howbeit, it was had in possession of our enemies wrongfully for a certain time.

But we, having opportunity, hold fast the inheritance of our fathers.

Blessed be our God in all things, who gave for a prey those who had committed impiety.

And the prayer was after this manner: O Lord, Lord God, the Creator of all things, who are terrible and strong and righteous and merciful, who alone are King and gracious,

who alone suppliest every need, who alone are righteous and almighty and eternal, you that save Israel out of all evil, who made the fathers your chosen, and did sanctify them:

Plant your people in your holy place, even as Moses said.

WHEN the holy city was inhabited with all peace, and the laws were kept very well, because of the godliness of Onias the high priest, and his hatred of wickedness,

And when Onias had sure knowledge of this, he sharply reproved him, having withdrawn himself into a sanctuary at Daphne, that lies by Antioch.

For the which cause not only Jews, but many also of the other nations, had indignation and displeasure at the unjust murder of the man.

For indeed that those who act impiously be not let alone any long time, but straightway meet with retribution, is a sign of great beneficence.

Eleazar, one of the principal scribes, a man already well stricken in years, and of a noble countenance, was compelled to open his mouth to eat swine’s flesh.

coming forward as men ought to come that are resolute to repel such things as not even for the natural love of life is it lawful to taste.

But he, having formed a high resolve, and one that became his years, and the dignity of old age, and the gray hairs which he had reached with honor, and his excellent education from a child, or rather that became the holy laws of God’s ordaining, declared his mind accordingly, bidding them quickly send him to Hades.

For it becomes not our years to dissemble, said he, that through this many of the young should suppose that Eleazar, the man of fourscore years and ten, had gone over to an alien religion;

Wherefore, by manfully parting with my life now, I will show myself worthy of my old age,

and when he was at the point to die with the stripes, he groaned aloud and said, To the Lord, that has the holy knowledge, it is manifest that, whereas I might have been delivered from death, I endure sore pains in my body by being scourged; but in soul I gladly suffer these things for my fear of him.

So this man also died after this manner, leaving his death for an ensample of nobleness and a memorial of virtue, not only to the young but also to the great body of his nation.

And next after him they brought the fifth, and shamefully handled him.

setting before their eyes the outrage that had been lawlessly perpetrated upon the holy place, and the shameful handling of the city that had been turned to mockery, and further the overthrow of the mode of life received from their ancestors.

But when his sufferings did in no wise cease, for the judgement of God had come upon him in righteousness, having given up all hope of himself, he wrote to the Jews the letter written below, having the nature of a supplication, to this effect:

and calling upon God the righteous Judge, he came against the murderers of his kindred, and set the haven on fire by night, and burned the boats, and put to the sword those that had fled there.

All therefore, blessing the works of the Lord, the righteous Judge, who makes manifest the things that are hid,

And when this message came to Nicanor, he was confounded, and was sore troubled at the thought of annulling the articles that had been agreed upon, the man having done no wrong;

choosing rather to die nobly than to fall into the hands of the wicked wretches, and suffer outrage unworthy of his own nobleness:

And when the Jews that were compelled to follow him said, O destroy not so savagely and barbarously, but give due glory to the day which he that sees all things has honored and hallowed above other days;

And the vision of that dream was this: He saw Onias, him that was high priest, a noble and good man, reverend in bearing, yet gentle in manner and well-spoken, and exercised from a child in all points of virtue, with outstretched hands invoking blessings on the whole body of the Jews:

And he that in all things was in body and soul the foremost champion of his fellow-citizens, he that kept through life the good will of his youth toward his countrymen, commanded to cut off Nicanor’s head, and his hand with the shoulder, and bring them to Jerusalem.

And when these things were done, the priests and Levites, having the unleavened bread, stood in comely order according to the kindred,

And the works of Josias were upright before his Lord with a heart full of godliness.

Now when Cyrus king of the Persians had brought them forth, he delivered them to Mithradates his treasurer,

and sat him down in the royal seat of judgment; and the writing was read before them.

All the earth calls upon truth, and the heaven blesses her: all works shake and tremble, but with her is no unrighteous thing.

Wine is unrighteous, the king is unrighteous, women are unrighteous, all the children of men are unrighteous, and unrighteous are all such their works; and there is no truth in them; in their unrighteousness also they shall perish.

With her there is no accepting of persons or rewards; but she does the things that are just, and refrains from all unrighteous and wicked things; and all men do well like of her works.

Neither in her judgment is any unrighteousness; and she is the strength, and the kingdom, and the power, and the majesty, of all ages. Blessed be the God of truth.

and that the holy vessels of the house of the Lord, both gold and silver, that Nabuchodonosor took out of the house at Jerusalem, and carried away to Babylon, should be restored to the house at Jerusalem, and be set in the place where they were before.

did very carefully oversee the holy works, assisting the elders of the Jews and rulers of the temple.

And the children of Israel that came out of the captivity did eat, even all those who had separated themselves from the abominations of the heathen of the land, and sought the Lord.

And you, Esdras, according to the wisdom of God ordain judges and justices, that they may judge in all Syria and Phoenicia all those that know the law of your God; and those that know it not you shall teach.

Then rising up from the fast with my clothes and my holy garment tore, and bowing my knees, and stretching forth my hands to the Lord,

and with them the rulers and judges of every place, till we turn away the wrath of the Lord from us for this matter.

O LORD Almighty, that are in heaven, you God of our fathers, of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and of their righteous seed;

Not the men only, but the very walls and floor seemed to sound forth; all things preferring dissolution rather than to see the place defiled.

It is you, the Creator of all, the Lord of the universe, who are a righteous Governor, and judge all who act with pride and insolence.

although, as they adorned their conversation with works of righteousness, they had established themselves in the good opinion of the world.

And Eleazar, an illustrious priest of the country, who had attained to length of days, and whose life had been adorned with virtue, caused the presbyters who were about him to cease to cry out to the holy God, and prayed thus:

Those who had marked them out as for death and for carrion, and had registered them with joy, howled aloud, and were clothed with shame, and had the fire of their rage ingloriously put out.

For know you⌃, that should we conceive any evil design, or in any way aggrieve them, we shall ever have as our opposite, not man, but the highest God, the ruler of all might. From Him there will be no escape, as the avenger of such deeds. Fare you⌃ well.

Woe to you, Assur, you that hide the unrighteous with you! O you wicked nation, remember what I did to Sodom and Gomorrah;

Do right to the widow, judge the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked,

Look upon your number, O Sion, and make up the reckoning of those of your that are clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord.

Nevertheless one of them you left, Noah with his household, even all the righteous men that came of him.

And it came to pass, when they did wickedly before you, you did choose you one from among them, whose name was Abraham;

You shall find that men who may be reckoned by name have kept your precepts; but nations you shall not find.

Then answered he me, and said, You have given a right judgement, and why judge you not in your own case?

For it is not able to bear the things that are promised to the righteous in the times to come: for this world is full of sadness and infirmities.

Did not the souls of the righteous ask question of these things in their chambers, saying, How long are we here? when comes the fruit of the threshing time of our reward?

and for our sakes perhaps it is that the threshing time of the righteous is kept back, because of the sins of those who dwell upon the earth.

and it shall be sought of many, and shall not be found: and unrighteousness and incontinency shall be multiplied upon earth.