Bible Verses About Self-Denial

Isn't the whole land there in front of you? Please separate yourself from me - if you go to the left, I will go to the right; if you go to the right, I will go to the left."

After these things, God tested Avraham. He said to him, "Avraham!" and he answered, "Here I am."

He said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Yitz'chak; and go to the land of Moriyah. There you are to offer him as a burnt offering on a mountain that I will point out to you."

Avraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, together with Yitz'chak his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, departed and went toward the place God had told him about.

On the third day, Avraham raised his eyes and saw the place in the distance.

Avraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go there, worship and return to you."

Avraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Yitz'chak his son. Then he took in his hand the fire and the knife, and they both went on together.

Yitz'chak spoke to Avraham his father: "My father?" He answered, "Here I am, my son." He said, "I see the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"

Avraham replied, "God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son"; and they both went on together.

They came to the place God had told him about; and Avraham built the altar there, set the wood in order, bound Yitz'chak his son and laid him on the altar, on the wood.

Then Avraham put out his hand and took the knife to kill his son.

But the angel of ADONAI called to him out of heaven: "Avraham? Avraham!"He answered, "Here I am."

He said, "Don't lay your hand on the boy! Don't do anything to him! For now I know that you are a man who fears God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

But the king said to Aravnah, "No; I insist on buying it from you at a price. I refuse to offer to ADONAI my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for one-and-a-quarter pounds of silver shekels.

She answered, "As ADONAI your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in the jug. Here I am, gathering a couple sticks of wood, so that I can go and cook it for myself and my son. After we have eaten that, we will die."

Eliyahu said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go; and do what you said; but first, use a little of it to make me a small loaf of bread; and bring it out to me. After that, make food for yourself and your son.

For this is what ADONAI the God of Isra'el, says: 'The pot of meal will not get used up, nor will there fail to be oil in the jug, until the day ADONAI sends rain down on the land.'"

She went and acted according to what Eliyahu had said; and she, he and her household had food to eat for a long time.

"Go, assemble all the Jews to be found in Shushan, and have them fast for me, neither eating nor drinking for three days, night and day; also I and the girls attending me will fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish."

"I will not enter the house where I live or get into my bed,

I will not allow myself to sleep or even close my eyes,

until I find a place for ADONAI, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Ya'akov."

He who controls his temper is better than a war hero, he who rules his spirit better than he who captures a city.

If you have a big appetite, put a knife to your throat!

But they said, "We will not drink any wine; because Yonadav the son of Rekhav, our ancestor, gave us this order: 'You are not to drink wine, neither you nor your descendants, forever.