'Woe' in the Bible
Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh. He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to the king of the Amorites, Sihon.
Again he {uttered} his oracle and said, "Woe, who will live when God establishes this?
So [the] Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come to the camp." And they said, "Woe to us, {for this has never happened before!}
Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These [are] the [same] gods who struck the Egyptians with all [sorts of] plagues in the desert.
If I am guilty, woe to me! But if I am righteous, I dare not lift my head; [I am] filled [with] shame, and [just] look [at] my misery!
Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, [that] I dwell among the tents of Kedar.
To whom [is] woe? To whom [is] sorrow? To whom [are] quarrels? To whom [is] complaint? To whom [are] wounds without cause? To whom [is] redness of [the] eyes?
Woe to you, O land, when your king is a youth and your princes feast in the morning.
The look on their faces testifies against them and they declare their sin like Sodom; they do not hide [it]. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves.
Woe to the wicked! [It is] bad! For what is done [by] his hands will be done to him.
And I said, "Woe to me! For I am destroyed! For I [am] a man {of unclean lips}, and I [am] living among a people {of unclean lips}, for my eyes have seen the king, Yahweh of hosts!"
We hear songs from the {edge} of the earth: "Glory to the righteous [one]!" But I say, "Ruin to me! Ruin to me! Woe to me! [The] treacherous ones deal treacherously, and [the] treacherous ones deal treacherously [with] treachery!"
Woe [to the] one who strives with his {maker}, a potsherd among potsherds of earth! Does [the] clay say to the one who fashions it, 'What are you making?' and 'Your work has no hands'?
Woe [to the] one who says to a father, 'What you are begetting?' or to a woman, '[With] what are you in labor?'"
Look, he comes up like the clouds, and his chariots [are] like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles, woe to us, for we are devastated.
For I heard a voice like an ill woman, anxiety like [a woman who] bears her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion. She is gasping for breath, she is spreading out her hands: "Woe is me, for I am becoming tired before killers."
{Sanctify} war against her. Arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day turns, for [the] shadows of evening are lengthened.
Woe to me, because of my wound. My wound [is] incurable. But I said, "Surely this [is my] sickness, and I must bear it."
Your adulteries, and your neighings, the shameful behavior of your fornications on [the] hills in the countryside, I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, Jerusalem! {How long will you continue to be unclean}?"
Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of contention and quarreling {to the whole land}. I have not lent out and {I have not borrowed}. All of them [are] cursing me.
Woe [to the one who] builds his house without righteousness, and his upper rooms without justice. His fellow countryman, he works for nothing, and he does not give to him his wages.
"Woe [to the] shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture," {declares} Yahweh.
'You said, "Woe please to me, for Yahweh has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary in my groaning and I do not find rest." '
Concerning Moab, thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel: "Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated. It is ashamed, Kiriathaim is captured. Misgab is ashamed, and it is filled with terror.
Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished. For your sons have been taken into captivity, and your daughters into captivity.
Massacre all her bulls, let them go down to the slaughtering. Woe to them, for [their] day has come, the time of their punishment.
The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
And you must say, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe to {those who sew} magic charm bands on all the wrists of the hands of my [people] and {those who make the veils} [that are] on the head of [people of] every height, to ensnare [people's] lives! Will you ensnare [the] lives of my people {and keep yourselves alive}?
" 'And then after all of your evil! Woe, woe, to you!' {declares} the Lord Yahweh.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe [to] the city of bloodguilt! A pot that [has] its rust in it; {its rust did not go out from it}. Bring it out {piece by piece}; {one is as good as another}.
Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe [to] the city of bloodguilt! I, even I, will make the pile of wood great!
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and you must say to them, to the shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Woe [to] the shepherds of Israel who were feeding themselves! Must not the shepherds feed the flock?
Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I myself would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.
Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them before maturity. Woe to them indeed, when I depart from them!
Woe [to] those who plan wickedness and evil deeds upon their beds! In the light of the morning they did it, because they have power in their hands.
Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of the grape harvest, [when] there is no cluster of grapes to eat [or] early ripened fruit [that] my soul desires.
Woe to the city [that has shed] {much blood}! {She is a deceiver}, She is filled [with] plunder, {She has hoarded her spoils of war}.
Shall not all of these take up a taunt against him, with ridicule and riddles against him, saying, 'Woe to him who heaps up what is not his'? [For] how long? And, '[Woe to him] who makes himself heavy with pledges'?
Woe to [him who] obtains profit [from] evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be saved from the hand of misfortune!
Woe to [him who] builds a city by bloodguilt, and [who] founds a city by wickedness!
Woe to [him who] gives a drink to his neighbors, pouring out your wrath and also making [them] drunk in order to see their nakedness!
Woe to [him who] says to the wood, 'Wake up!' [And] to a lifeless stone, 'Arise!' Can he teach? Look, it is covered [with] gold and silver, and there is no breath within it.
Woe [to you], inhabitants of the region of the sea, people of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh [is] against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines. I will destroy you {until there is no inhabitant}.
Woe [to you], O rebellious and defiled one! The oppressing city!
"Woe! Woe! Flee from [the] land of [the] north," {declares} Yahweh, "for I have scattered you like [the] four winds of the heavens," {declares} Yahweh.
"Woe, Zion! Escape, you inhabitants of [the] daughter of Babylon!"
"Woe, my worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! [May] a sword [fall] on his arm and on {his right eye}! May his arm wither completely and {his right eye} be utterly blinded!"
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
Woe to the world because of causes for stumbling, for [it is] a necessity [that] causes for stumbling come; nevertheless, woe to the person through whom the cause for stumbling comes.
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you shut the kingdom of heaven before people! For you do not enter, nor permit those wanting to go in to enter.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you travel around the sea and the dry [land] to make one convert, and when he becomes [one], you make him twice as much a son of hell [as] you [are]!
"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing! But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound [by his oath].'
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you pay a tenth of mint and dill and cumin, and neglect the more important [matters] of the law--justice and mercy and faithfulness! It was necessary to do these [things] {while not neglecting those}.
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean!
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees--hypocrites!--because you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous,
And woe to those {who are pregnant} and to those who are nursing [their babies] in those days!
The Son of Man is going just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if that man had not been born."
And woe to those {who are pregnant} and to those who are nursing [their babies] in those days!
For the Son of Man is going just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! [It would be] better for him if that man had not been born."
"But woe to you who are rich, because you have received your comfort.
Woe to you who are satisfied now, because you will be hungry. Woe, you who laugh now, because you will mourn and weep.
Woe whenever all people speak well of you, for their fathers used to do the same [things] to the false prophets.
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes!
"But woe to you, Pharisees, because you pay a tenth of mint and rue and every garden herb, and neglect justice and love for God! But it was necessary to do these [things] without neglecting those things also.
Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces!
Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and the people who walk over [them] do not know [it]!
So he said, "Woe to you also, legal experts, because you load people [with] burdens hard to bear, and [you] yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers!
Woe to you, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them!
Woe to you, legal experts, because you have taken away the key to knowledge! You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering!"
And he said to his disciples, "It is impossible for causes for stumbling not to come, but woe [to him] through whom they come!
Woe to those {who are pregnant} and to those who are nursing [their babies] in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people,
For the Son of Man is going according to what has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!"
For if I proclaim the gospel, it is not to me a reason for boasting, for necessity is imposed on me. For woe is to me if I do not proclaim the gospel.
Woe to them! For they have traveled in the way of Cain, and have given themselves up to the error of Balaam for gain, and have perished in the rebellion of Korah.
And I looked, and I heard one eagle flying {directly overhead}, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who live on the earth, from the remaining sounds of the trumpets of the three angels who are about to blow the trumpet!"
The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still coming after these [things].
The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly!
Because of this, rejoice, you heavens, and those who live in them! Woe [to] the earth and [to] the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great anger, [because he] knows that he has little time!"
standing {far off} because of the fear of her torment, saying, "Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon the powerful city, because in one hour your judgment has come!"
saying, "Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen and purple cloth and scarlet cloth, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls,
And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, "Woe, woe, the great city, in which all those who had ships on the sea became rich from her prosperity, because in one hour she has been laid waste!"