'Living' in the Bible

Then God said, “Let the waters swarm and abundantly produce living creatures, and let birds soar above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”

God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good and He affirmed and sustained it.

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to (limited to, consistent with) their kind: livestock, crawling things, and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds”; and it was so [because He had spoken them into creation].

And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.”

then the Lord God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].

So the Lord God formed out of the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, “Can it really be that God has said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”

The Lord God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this,You are cursed more than all the cattle,And more than any animal of the field;On your belly you shall go,And dust you shall eatAll the days of your life.

The man named his wife Eve (life spring, life giver), because she was the mother of all the living.

And of every living thing [found on land], you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female.

For in seven days I am going to cause it to rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy (blot out, wipe away) every living thing that I have made from the surface of the earth.”

God destroyed (blotted out, wiped away) every living thing that was on the surface of the earth; man and animals and the crawling things and the birds of the heavens were destroyed from the land. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.

And God remembered and thought kindly of Noah and every living thing and all the animals that were with him in the ark; and God made a wind blow over the land, and the waters receded.

Bring out with you every living thing from all flesh—birds and animals and every crawling thing that crawls on the earth—that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma [a soothing, satisfying scent] and the Lord said to Himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intent (strong inclination, desire) of man’s heart is wicked from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done.

and with every living creature that is with you—the birds, the livestock, and the wild animals of the earth along with you, of everything that comes out of the ark—every living creature of the earth.

And God said, “This is the token (visible symbol, memorial) of the [solemn] covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations;

and I will [compassionately] remember My covenant, which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and never again will the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.

When the rainbow is in the clouds and I look at it, I will [solemnly] remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.”

Then a survivor who had escaped [from the invading forces on the other side of the Jordan] came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the terebinths (oaks) of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner—they were allies of Abram.

Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is between Kadesh and Bered.

Now Isaac had returned from going to Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me), for he was living in the Negev.

but to the sons of his concubines [Hagar and Keturah], Abraham gave gifts while he was still living and he sent them to the east country, away from Isaac his son [of promise].

Now after the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac; and Isaac lived at Beer-lahai-roi.

But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of flowing [spring] water,

He commanded them, saying, “This is what to say to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says this, “I have been living temporarily with Laban, and have stayed there until now;

Again she conceived and gave birth to still another son and named him Shelah. It was at Chezib that she gave birth to him.

but whatever does not have fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, of all the teeming life in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are [to be considered] detestable to you.

This is the law regarding the animal and the bird and every living thing that moves in the waters and everything that swarms on the earth,

then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet string and hyssop for the one to be cleansed.

As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird sacrificed over the running water.

He shall sprinkle [the blood] seven times on the one to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him [ceremonially] clean. Then he shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

and he shall take the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird as well as in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

So he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the running water, along with the live bird and the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet string.

But he shall let the live bird go free outside the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.”

He stood between the dead and the living, so that the plague was brought to an end.

For who is there of all flesh (mankind) who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

and what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel.

Are they not across the Jordan, west of the road, toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will, without fail, drive out from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite.

There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women and the children and the foreigners who were living among them.

And Micah said to him, “Live here with me and be a father and a [personal] priest to me, and I will give you ten pieces of silver each year, a supply of clothing, and your sustenance (room and board).” So the Levite went in.

Now it happened in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that a certain Levite living [as an alien] in the most remote part of the hill country of Ephraim, who took a concubine for himself from Bethlehem in Judah.

Then behold, there was an old man who was coming out of the field from his work at evening. He was from the hill country of Ephraim but was staying in Gibeah, and the men of the place were sons (descendants) of Benjamin.

Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “May he be blessed of the Lord who has not ceased His kindness to the living and to the dead.” Again Naomi said to her, “The man is one of our closest relatives, one who has the right to redeem us.”

Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes the disgrace [of his taunting] from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he has taunted and defied the armies of the living God?”

Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted and defied the armies of the living God.”

Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound in the [precious] bundle of the living with the Lord your God; but the lives of your enemies—those He will hurl out as from the center of a sling.

Then Saul said to his servants, “Find for me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], so that I may go to her and ask her advice.” His servants said to him, “There is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”

Then David came to his house (palace) at Jerusalem, and the king took the ten women, his concubines whom he had left to take care of the house, and placed them under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were confined, and lived as widows until the day of their death.

Then Adonijah the son of [David’s wife] Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I [the eldest living son] will be king.” So [following Absalom’s example] he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.

So he said, “You know that the kingdom belonged to me [as the eldest living son] and all Israel looked to me and expected me to be king. However, the kingdom has passed [from me] and became my brother’s, for it was his from the Lord.

Then the other woman said, “No! For my son is the one who is living, and your son is the dead one.” But the first woman said, “No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.” [This is how] they were speaking before the king.

Then the king said, “This woman says, ‘This is my son, the one who is alive, and your son is the dead one’; and the other woman says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the one who is alive.’”

Then the king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to the one [woman] and half to the other.”

Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply moved over her son, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; cut him!”

Then the king said, “Give the first woman [who is pleading for his life] the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.”

It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. So offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left [in Judah].’”

O Lord, bend down Your ear and hear; Lord, open Your eyes and see; hear the [taunting] words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to taunt and defy the living God.

Then it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down 185,000 [men] in the camp of the Assyrians; when the survivors got up early in the morning, behold, all [185,000] of them were dead.

He also told (ordered) the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion that was due to the priests and Levites, so that they might [be free to] devote themselves to the Law of the Lord.

“You will laugh at violence and famine,And you will not be afraid of the wild beasts of the earth.

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,And the breath of all mankind?

“You prevail forever against him and overpower him, and he passes on;You change his appearance and send him away [from the presence of the living].

“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;For emptiness will be his reward [for such living].

“I was [living] at ease, but He crushed me and broke me apart,And He has seized me by the neck and has shaken me to pieces;He has also set me up as His target.

“Man does not know the value of it;Nor is it found in the land of the living.

“It is hidden from the eyes of all the livingAnd concealed from the birds of the heavens.

“For I know that You will bring me to deathAnd to the house of meeting [appointed] for all the living.

To bring his life back from the pit [of destruction],That he may be enlightened with the light of the living.

The wicked [those who live in disobedience to God’s law] are not so,But they are like the chaff [worthless and without substance] which the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand [unpunished] in the judgment,Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord knows and fully approves the way of the righteous,But the way of the wicked shall perish.

I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the LordIn the land of the living.

My soul (my life, my inner self) thirsts for God, for the living God.When will I come and see the face of God?

But God will break you down forever;He will take you away and tear you away from your tent,And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.

For You have rescued my soul from death,Yes, and my feet from stumbling,So that I may walk before GodIn the light of life.

Who keeps us among the living,And does not allow our feet to slip or stumble.

May they be blotted out of the book of life [and their lives come to an end]And may they not be recorded with the righteous (those in right standing with God).

My soul (my life, my inner self) longs for and greatly desires the courts of the Lord;My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

[They are living memorials] to declare that the Lord is upright and faithful [to His promises];He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

I will walk [in submissive wonder] before the LordIn the land of the living.

Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness (right living),And let Your godly ones shout for joy.

I cried out to You, O Lord;I said, “You are my refuge,My portion in the land of the living.

And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,For in Your sight no man living is righteous or justified.

You open Your handAnd satisfy the desire of every living thing.

For length of days and years of life [worth living]And tranquility and prosperity [the wholeness of life’s blessings] they will add to you.

What advantage does man have from all his workWhich he does under the sun (while earthbound)?

So I congratulated and thought more fortunate are those who are already dead than the living who are still living.

I have seen all the living under the sun join with the second youth (the king’s acknowledged successor) who replaces him.

For what advantage has the wise man over the fool [for being worldly-wise is not the secret to happiness]? What advantage has the poor man who has learned how to walk [publicly] among the living [with men’s eyes on him; for being poor is not the secret to happiness either]?

For there are many other words that increase futility. What then is the advantage for a man?

It is better to go to the house of mourningThan to go to the house of feasting,For that [day of death] is the end of every man,And the living will take it to heart and solemnly ponder its meaning.

Wisdom along with an inheritance is goodAnd an [excellent] advantage for those who see the sun.

[There is no exemption,] but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion.

For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they no longer have a reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten.

“You are a fountain in a garden,A well of fresh and living water,And streams flowing from Lebanon.”

When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, “Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

The way of the righteous [those in right-standing with God—living in moral and spiritual integrity] is smooth and level;O Upright One, make a level path for the just and righteous.

It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh [the commander], whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to taunt and defy the living God, and will avenge the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant [of His people] that is left.’”