What Does the Bible Say About Why God Punishes?

Romans 6:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 3:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Matthew 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Numbers 14:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes

‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

1 John 4:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

1 John 4:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

1 John 2:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

1 Peter 5:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Hebrews 12:5-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

Romans 8:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

John 13:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

John 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 3:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Matthew 25:41 ESV / 2 helpful votes

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 6:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Habakkuk 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

Micah 7:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.

Micah 6:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Hear what the Lord says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.” ...

Amos 2:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the Lord. Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those after which their fathers walked. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.” ...

Jeremiah 9:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the desert a travelers' lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a company of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. ...

Jeremiah 5:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say, “As the Lord lives,” yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds. ...

Jeremiah 2:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 63:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Psalm 99:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes

O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.

Psalm 79:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name's sake!

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...

Psalm 11:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

2 Samuel 24:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

Numbers 5:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ...

Exodus 34:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes

Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

Exodus 34:1-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes

The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ...

Exodus 20:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes

You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

Genesis 3:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

48 Bible Verses about Why God Punishes

Romans 6:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 3:23 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 5:28 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 14:18 ESV / 3 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 4:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 3:4 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 John 2:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Peter 5:10 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 12:5-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Hebrews 10:26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Ephesians 4:32 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 6:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

1 Corinthians 3:3 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:28 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 8:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Romans 5:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 13:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:36 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

John 3:16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 25:41 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Matthew 6:12 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Habakkuk 1:13 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Micah 7:18 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Micah 6:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Amos 2:1-16 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 9:1-26 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 5:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Jeremiah 2:19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Isaiah 63:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 13:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 99:8 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 79:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Psalm 11:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

2 Samuel 24:1 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 5:9 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Deuteronomy 4:24 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Numbers 5:1-31 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 34:7 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 34:6 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 34:1-35 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Exodus 20:5 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

Genesis 3:16-19 ESV / 2 helpful votes Helpful Not Helpful

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