Law

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

General scriptures concerning

• Psalm 19:7–9 The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the…
• Psalm 119:1–8 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD. Blessed are those who keep His testimonies and seek Him with all their heart. They do no iniquity; they walk in His ways. You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. Oh, that my ways were committed…
• Proverbs 28:4–5 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law resist them. Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.
• Matthew 22:21 “Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
• Luke 16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
• Luke 20:22–25 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus saw through their duplicity and said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?” “Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
• Romans 2:14–15 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or def…
• Romans 7:7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law. For I would not have been aware of coveting if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
• Romans 7:12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
• Romans 7:14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

See Litigation

See Commandments

See DUTY TO GOD

Of Moses

(Contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy)

Given at Sinai

• Exodus 19 In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. After they had set out from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the LOR… (whole chapter)
• Deuteronomy 1:1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan — in the Arabah opposite Suph — between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
• Deuteronomy 4:10–13 The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mou…
• Deuteronomy 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
• Habakkuk 3:3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth.

Received by the disposition of angels

• Deuteronomy 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
• Psalm 68:17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands — thousands of thousands are they; the Lord is in His sanctuary as He was at Sinai.
• Acts 7:53 you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”
• Galatians 3:19 Why then was the law given ? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.
• Hebrews 2:2 For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment,

Was given because of transgressions until the Messiah arrived

• Galatians 3:19 Why then was the law given ? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

Engraved on stone

• Exodus 20:3–17 You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the father…
• Exodus 24:12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
• Exodus 31:18 When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
• Exodus 32:16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
• Exodus 34:29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD.
• Exodus 40:20 Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.
• Deuteronomy 4:13 He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow — the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.
• Deuteronomy 5:4–22 The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. At that time I was standing between the LORD and you to declare to you the word of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. And He said: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the l…
• Deuteronomy 9:10 Then the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by the finger of God with the exact words that the LORD spoke to you out of the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly.

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Preserved in the ark of the covenant

• Exodus 25:16 And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
• Deuteronomy 31:9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
• Deuteronomy 31:26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you.

Found by Hilkiah in the house of the Lord

• 2 Kings 22:8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.

Engraved upon monuments

• Deuteronomy 27:2–8 And on the day you cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster. Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land that the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just…
• Joshua 8:30–35 At that time Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal to the LORD, the God of Israel, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of uncut stones on which no iron tool has been used.” And on it th…

To be written

On door posts

• Deuteronomy 6:9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
• Deuteronomy 11:20 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates,

On frontlets for the forehead, and parchment for the hand

• Exodus 13:9 It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
• Exodus 13:16 So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
• Deuteronomy 6:4–9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them whe…
• Deuteronomy 11:18–21 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorposts of your h…

Children instructed in

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See Instruction

Expounded by

The priests and Levites

• Leviticus 10:11 so that you may teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has given them through Moses.”
• Deuteronomy 33:10 He will teach Your ordinances to Jacob and Your law to Israel; he will set incense before You and whole burnt offerings on Your altar.
• 2 Chronicles 35:3 To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the LORD, Josiah said: “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. It is not to be carried around on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel.

Princes, priests, and Levites publicly taught

• Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, to practice it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.
• Nehemiah 8:1–18 At that time all the people gathered together in the square before the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded for Israel. On the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and…

From city to city

• 2 Chronicles 17:7–10 In the third year of his reign, Jehoshaphat sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah, accompanied by certain Levites — Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah — along with the p…

In synagogues

• Luke 4:16 Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read,
• Luke 4:32 They were astonished at His teaching, because His message had authority.
• Acts 13:14–52 And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue leaders sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, please speak.” Paul stood…
• Acts 15:21 For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”
• Acts 9:20 Saul promptly began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, declaring , “He is the Son of God.”
• Acts 14:1 At Iconium, Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue, where they spoke so well that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed.
• Acts 17:1–3 When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from…
• Acts 18:4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks alike.
• Acts 18:26 And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

Expounded to the assembled nation at the Feast of Tabernacles in the sabbatic year

• Deuteronomy 31:10–13 Then Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of remission of debt, during the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes before the LORD your God at the place He will choose, you are to read this law in the hearing of all Israel. Assemble the peopl…

Renewed by Moses

• Deuteronomy 4:44–46 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt, while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon…

Curses of, responsively read by Levites and people at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim

• Deuteronomy 27:12–26 “When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to deliver the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. Then the Levites shall proclaim in…
• Joshua 8:33–35 All Israel, foreigners and citizens alike, with their elders, officers, and judges, stood on both sides of the ark of the covenant of the LORD facing the Levitical priests who carried it. Half of the people stood in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servan…

Formed a constitution on which the civil government of the Israelites was founded, and according to which rulers were required to rule

• Deuteronomy 17:18–20 When he is seated on his royal throne, he must write for himself a copy of this instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by carefully observing all th…
• 2 Kings 11:12 Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him, and the people clapped their hands and declared, “Long live the king!”
• 2 Chronicles 23:11 Then Jehoiada and his sons brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, presented him with the Testimony, and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and shouted, “Long live the king!”

See GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTIONAL

Divine authority for

• Exodus 19:16–24 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the…
• Exodus 20:1–17 And God spoke all these words: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.…
• Exodus 24:12–18 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with Joshua his attendant and went up on the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, “Wai…
• Exodus 31:18 When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
• Exodus 32:15–16 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
• Exodus 34:1–4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and come up on Mount Sinai to present yourself before Me on the mountaintop. No one may go up with you; in fact…
• Exodus 34:27–28 The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten…
• Leviticus 26:46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD established between Himself and the Israelites through Moses on Mount Sinai.
• Deuteronomy 4:10–13 The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.” You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mou…
• Deuteronomy 4:36 He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.

Prophecies in, of the Messiah

• Luke 24:44 Jesus said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”
• John 1:45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
• John 5:46 If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.
• John 12:34 The crowd replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever. So how can You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
• Acts 26:22–23 But I have had God’s help to this day, and I stand here to testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen: that the Christ would suffer, and as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”
• Acts 28:23 So they set a day to meet with Paul, and many people came to the place he was staying. He expounded to them from morning to evening, testifying about the kingdom of God and persuading them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets.
• Romans 3:21–22 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction,

See JESUS, PROPHECIES CONCERNING

Epitomized by Jesus

• Matthew 22:40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
• Mark 12:29–33 Jesus replied, “This is the most important: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater…
• Luke 10:27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Book of, found by Hilkiah in the temple

• 2 Kings 22:8 Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD!” And he gave it to Shaphan, who read it.
• 2 Chronicles 34:14 While they were bringing out the money that had been taken into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given by Moses.

Temporary

• Jeremiah 3:16 “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
• Daniel 9:27 And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”
• Matthew 5:17–45 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever bre…
• Luke 16:16–17 The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.
• John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
• John 4:20–24 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Believe Me, woman,” Jesus replied, “a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do…
• John 8:35 A slave does not remain in the house forever, but a son remains forever.
• Acts 6:14 For we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
• Acts 10:28 He said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with a foreigner or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean.
• Acts 13:39 Through Him everyone who believes is justified from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.