9 Bible Verses About International Trade (ESV)

20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you may not charge your brother interest, that the LORD your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

14   Thus says the LORD:
  “The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,
    and the Sabeans, men of stature,
  shall come over to you and be yours;
    they shall follow you;
    they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
  They will plead with you, saying:
    ‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,
    no god besides him.’”

5   saying, “When will the new moon be over,
    that we may sell grain?
  And the Sabbath,
    that we may offer wheat for sale,
  that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great
    and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6   that we may buy the poor for silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals
    and sell the chaff of the wheat?”

60:1   Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2   For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
    and thick darkness the peoples;
  but the LORD will arise upon you,
    and his glory will be seen upon you.
3   And nations shall come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4   Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
    they all gather together, they come to you;
  your sons shall come from afar,
    and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
5   Then you shall see and be radiant;
    your heart shall thrill and exult,
  because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
    the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6   A multitude of camels shall cover you,
    the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
    all those from Sheba shall come.
  They shall bring gold and frankincense,
    and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.
7   All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
    the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
  they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
    and I will beautify my beautiful house.
8   Who are these that fly like a cloud,
    and like doves to their windows?
9   For the coastlands shall hope for me,
    the ships of Tarshish first,
  to bring your children from afar,
    their silver and gold with them,
  for the name of the LORD your God,
    and for the Holy One of Israel,
    because he has made you beautiful.
10   Foreigners shall build up your walls,
    and their kings shall minister to you;
  for in my wrath I struck you,
    but in my favor I have had mercy on you.
11   Your gates shall be open continually;
    day and night they shall not be shut,
  that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
    with their kings led in procession.
12   For the nation and kingdom
    that will not serve you shall perish;
    those nations shall be utterly laid waste.
13   The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
    the cypress, the plane, and the pine,
  to beautify the place of my sanctuary,
    and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14   The sons of those who afflicted you
    shall come bending low to you,
  and all who despised you
    shall bow down at your feet;
  they shall call you the City of the LORD,
    the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15   Whereas you have been forsaken and hated,
    with no one passing through,
  I will make you majestic forever,
    a joy from age to age.
16   You shall suck the milk of nations;
    you shall nurse at the breast of kings;
  and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17   Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
    and instead of iron I will bring silver;
  instead of wood, bronze,
    instead of stones, iron.
  I will make your overseers peace
    and your taskmasters righteousness.
18   Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
    devastation or destruction within your borders;
  you shall call your walls Salvation,
    and your gates Praise.
19   The sun shall be no more
    your light by day,
  nor for brightness shall the moon
    give you light;
  but the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your God will be your glory.
20   Your sun shall no more go down,
    nor your moon withdraw itself;
  for the LORD will be your everlasting light,
    and your days of mourning shall be ended.
21   Your people shall all be righteous;
    they shall possess the land forever,
  the branch of my planting, the work of my hands,
    that I might be glorified.
22   The least one shall become a clan,
    and the smallest one a mighty nation;
  I am the LORD;
    in its time I will hasten it.

22:1 For three years Syria and Israel continued without war. 2 But in the third year Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. 3 And the king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, and we keep quiet and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria?” 4 And he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.”

5 And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.” 6 Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” 7 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?” 8 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” 9 Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” 10 Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. 11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the LORD, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” 12 And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.”

13 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what the LORD says to me, that I will speak.” 15 And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the LORD will give it into the hand of the king.” 16 But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” 17 And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” 18 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” 19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; 20 and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. 21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ 22 And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ 23 Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”

24 Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?” 25 And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” 26 And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son, 27 and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” 28 And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me.” And he said, “Hear, all you peoples!”

29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. 30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes.” And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle. 31 Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, “Fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel.” 32 And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “It is surely the king of Israel.” So they turned to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. 33 And when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. 34 But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, “Turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I am wounded.” 35 And the battle continued that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Syrians, until at evening he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. 36 And about sunset a cry went through the army, “Every man to his city, and every man to his country!”

37 So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And they buried the king in Samaria. 38 And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the LORD that he had spoken. 39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did, and the ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 40 So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place.

41 Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 43 He walked in all the way of Asa his father. He did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not taken away, and the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. 44 Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel.

45 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 46 And from the land he exterminated the remnant of the male cult prostitutes who remained in the days of his father Asa.

47 There was no king in Edom; a deputy was king. 48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber. 49 Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships,” but Jehoshaphat was not willing. 50 And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Jehoram his son reigned in his place.

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.

27:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “Now you, son of man, raise a lamentation over Tyre, 3 and say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, thus says the Lord GOD:

  “O Tyre, you have said,
    ‘I am perfect in beauty.’
4   Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
    your builders made perfect your beauty.
5   They made all your planks
    of fir trees from Senir;
  they took a cedar from Lebanon
    to make a mast for you.
6   Of oaks of Bashan
    they made your oars;
  they made your deck of pines
    from the coasts of Cyprus,
    inlaid with ivory.
7   Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
    was your sail,
    serving as your banner;
  blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
    was your awning.
8   The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
    were your rowers;
  your skilled men, O Tyre, were in you;
    they were your pilots.
9   The elders of Gebal and her skilled men were in you,
    caulking your seams;
  all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you
    to barter for your wares.

10 “Persia and Lud and Put were in your army as your men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in you; they gave you splendor. 11 Men of Arvad and Helech were on your walls all around, and men of Gamad were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they made perfect your beauty.

12 “Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14 From Beth-togarmah they exchanged horses, war horses, and mules for your wares. 15 The men of Dedan traded with you. Many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Syria did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and ruby. 17 Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, meal, honey, oil, and balm. 18 Damascus did business with you for your abundant goods, because of your great wealth of every kind; wine of Helbon and wool of Sahar 19 and casks of wine from Uzal they exchanged for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were bartered for your merchandise. 20 Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. 22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold. 23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, traders of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. 24 In your market these traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure. 25 The ships of Tarshish traveled for you with your merchandise. So you were filled and heavily laden in the heart of the seas.

26   “Your rowers have brought you out
    into the high seas.
  The east wind has wrecked you
    in the heart of the seas.
27   Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
    your mariners and your pilots,
  your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
    and all your men of war who are in you,
  with all your crew
    that is in your midst,
  sink into the heart of the seas
    on the day of your fall.
28   At the sound of the cry of your pilots
    the countryside shakes,
29   and down from their ships
    come all who handle the oar.
  The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
    stand on the land
30   and shout aloud over you
    and cry out bitterly.
  They cast dust on their heads
    and wallow in ashes;
31   they make themselves bald for you
    and put sackcloth on their waist,
  and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
    with bitter mourning.
32   In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you
    and lament over you:
  ‘Who is like Tyre,
    like one destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33   When your wares came from the seas,
    you satisfied many peoples;
  with your abundant wealth and merchandise
    you enriched the kings of the earth.
34   Now you are wrecked by the seas,
    in the depths of the waters;
  your merchandise and all your crew in your midst
    have sunk with you.
35   All the inhabitants of the coastlands
    are appalled at you,
  and the hair of their kings bristles with horror;
    their faces are convulsed.
36   The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
    you have come to a dreadful end
    and shall be no more forever.’”

11:1   Cast your bread upon the waters,
    for you will find it after many days.
2   Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
    for you know not what disaster may happen on earth.

51:1   Thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer
    against Babylon,
    against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai,
2   and I will send to Babylon winnowers,
    and they shall winnow her,
  and they shall empty her land,
    when they come against her from every side
    on the day of trouble.
3   Let not the archer bend his bow,
    and let him not stand up in his armor.
  Spare not her young men;
    devote to destruction all her army.
4   They shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
    and wounded in her streets.
5   For Israel and Judah have not been forsaken
    by their God, the LORD of hosts,
  but the land of the Chaldeans is full of guilt
    against the Holy One of Israel.
6   “Flee from the midst of Babylon;
    let every one save his life!
  Be not cut off in her punishment,
    for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance,
    the repayment he is rendering her.
7   Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand,
    making all the earth drunken;
  the nations drank of her wine;
    therefore the nations went mad.
8   Suddenly Babylon has fallen and been broken;
    wail for her!
  Take balm for her pain;
    perhaps she may be healed.
9   We would have healed Babylon,
    but she was not healed.
  Forsake her, and let us go
    each to his own country,
  for her judgment has reached up to heaven
    and has been lifted up even to the skies.
10   The LORD has brought about our vindication;
    come, let us declare in Zion
    the work of the LORD our God.
11   “Sharpen the arrows!
    Take up the shields!

The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for his temple.

12   “Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon;
    make the watch strong;
  set up watchmen;
    prepare the ambushes;
  for the LORD has both planned and done
    what he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.
13   O you who dwell by many waters,
    rich in treasures,
  your end has come;
    the thread of your life is cut.
14   The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself:
  Surely I will fill you with men, as many as locusts,
    and they shall raise the shout of victory over you.
15   “It is he who made the earth by his power,
    who established the world by his wisdom,
  and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.
16   When he utters his voice there is a tumult of waters in the heavens,
    and he makes the mist rise from the ends of the earth.
  He makes lightning for the rain,
    and he brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
17   Every man is stupid and without knowledge;
    every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols,
  for his images are false,
    and there is no breath in them.
18   They are worthless, a work of delusion;
    at the time of their punishment they shall perish.
19   Not like these is he who is the portion of Jacob,
    for he is the one who formed all things,
  and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance;
    the LORD of hosts is his name.
20   “You are my hammer and weapon of war:
  with you I break nations in pieces;
    with you I destroy kingdoms;
21   with you I break in pieces the horse and his rider;
    with you I break in pieces the chariot and the charioteer;
22   with you I break in pieces man and woman;
    with you I break in pieces the old man and the youth;
  with you I break in pieces the young man and the young woman;
23     with you I break in pieces the shepherd and his flock;
  with you I break in pieces the farmer and his team;
    with you I break in pieces governors and commanders.

24 “I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, declares the LORD.

25   “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain,
      declares the LORD,
    which destroys the whole earth;
  I will stretch out my hand against you,
    and roll you down from the crags,
    and make you a burnt mountain.
26   No stone shall be taken from you for a corner
    and no stone for a foundation,
  but you shall be a perpetual waste,
    declares the LORD.
27   “Set up a standard on the earth;
    blow the trumpet among the nations;
  prepare the nations for war against her;
    summon against her the kingdoms,
    Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz;
  appoint a marshal against her;
    bring up horses like bristling locusts.
28   Prepare the nations for war against her,
    the kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies,
    and every land under their dominion.
29   The land trembles and writhes in pain,
    for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand,
  to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
    without inhabitant.
30   The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting;
    they remain in their strongholds;
  their strength has failed;
    they have become women;
  her dwellings are on fire;
    her bars are broken.
31   One runner runs to meet another,
    and one messenger to meet another,
  to tell the king of Babylon
    that his city is taken on every side;
32   the fords have been seized,
    the marshes are burned with fire,
    and the soldiers are in panic.
33   For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
  The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor
    at the time when it is trodden;
  yet a little while
    and the time of her harvest will come.”
34   “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
    he has crushed me;
  he has made me an empty vessel;
    he has swallowed me like a monster;
  he has filled his stomach with my delicacies;
    he has rinsed me out.
35   The violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon,”
    let the inhabitant of Zion say.
  “My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,”
    let Jerusalem say.
36   Therefore thus says the LORD:
  “Behold, I will plead your cause
    and take vengeance for you.
  I will dry up her sea
    and make her fountain dry,
37   and Babylon shall become a heap of ruins,
    the haunt of jackals,
  a horror and a hissing,
    without inhabitant.
38   “They shall roar together like lions;
    they shall growl like lions’ cubs.
39   While they are inflamed I will prepare them a feast
    and make them drunk, that they may become merry,
  then sleep a perpetual sleep
    and not wake, declares the LORD.
40   I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter,
    like rams and male goats.
41   “How Babylon is taken,
    the praise of the whole earth seized!
  How Babylon has become
    a horror among the nations!
42   The sea has come up on Babylon;
    she is covered with its tumultuous waves.
43   Her cities have become a horror,
    a land of drought and a desert,
  a land in which no one dwells,
    and through which no son of man passes.
44   And I will punish Bel in Babylon,
    and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
  The nations shall no longer flow to him;
    the wall of Babylon has fallen.
45   “Go out of the midst of her, my people!
    Let every one save his life
    from the fierce anger of the LORD!
46   Let not your heart faint, and be not fearful
    at the report heard in the land,
  when a report comes in one year
    and afterward a report in another year,
  and violence is in the land,
    and ruler is against ruler.
47   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming
    when I will punish the images of Babylon;
  her whole land shall be put to shame,
    and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her.
48   Then the heavens and the earth,
    and all that is in them,
  shall sing for joy over Babylon,
    for the destroyers shall come against them out of the north,
      declares the LORD.
49   Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel,
    just as for Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
50   “You who have escaped from the sword,
    go, do not stand still!
  Remember the LORD from far away,
    and let Jerusalem come into your mind:
51   ‘We are put to shame, for we have heard reproach;
    dishonor has covered our face,
  for foreigners have come
    into the holy places of the LORD’s house.’
52   “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD,
    when I will execute judgment upon her images,
  and through all her land
    the wounded shall groan.
53   Though Babylon should mount up to heaven,
    and though she should fortify her strong height,
  yet destroyers would come from me against her,
    declares the LORD.
54   “A voice! A cry from Babylon!
    The noise of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
55   For the LORD is laying Babylon waste
    and stilling her mighty voice.
  Their waves roar like many waters;
    the noise of their voice is raised,
56   for a destroyer has come upon her,
    upon Babylon;
  her warriors are taken;
    their bows are broken in pieces,
  for the LORD is a God of recompense;
    he will surely repay.
57   I will make drunk her officials and her wise men,
    her governors, her commanders, and her warriors;
  they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake,
    declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
58   “Thus says the LORD of hosts:
  The broad wall of Babylon
    shall be leveled to the ground,
  and her high gates
    shall be burned with fire.
  The peoples labor for nothing,
    and the nations weary themselves only for fire.”

59 The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the quartermaster. 60 Jeremiah wrote in a book all the disaster that should come upon Babylon, all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: “When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words, 62 and say, ‘O LORD, you have said concerning this place that you will cut it off, so that nothing shall dwell in it, neither man nor beast, and it shall be desolate forever.’ 63 When you finish reading this book, tie a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, 64 and say, ‘Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of the disaster that I am bringing upon her, and they shall become exhausted.’”

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.