Topical Bible: Fails

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In the context of the Bible, the concept of "fails" often relates to human shortcomings, the reliability of God's promises, and the ultimate triumph of divine purposes despite human failure. The term "fails" can be understood through various scriptural narratives and teachings that highlight both human frailty and divine faithfulness.

Human Failure

The Bible is replete with examples of human failure, illustrating the fallen nature of humanity and the need for divine grace. Adam and Eve's disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) marks the first significant failure, resulting in the fall of mankind and the introduction of sin into the world. This narrative sets the stage for the recurring theme of human failure throughout Scripture.

King David, despite being a man after God's own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), experienced personal failure through his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). His repentance, however, as recorded in Psalm 51, demonstrates the possibility of restoration and forgiveness through genuine contrition.

The Apostle Peter's denial of Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75) is another poignant example of human failure. Despite his initial failure, Peter is restored by Jesus and becomes a foundational leader in the early Church (John 21:15-19).

Divine Faithfulness

In contrast to human failure, the Bible emphasizes the unfailing nature of God's promises and love. Numbers 23:19 states, "God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?" This verse underscores the reliability of God's word and His unwavering commitment to His covenant.

The steadfast love of the Lord is a recurring theme, as seen in Lamentations 3:22-23 : "Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!" This passage reassures believers of God's constant mercy and faithfulness, even amidst human failure.

God's Purposes Prevail

Despite human failures, God's purposes ultimately prevail. Proverbs 19:21 declares, "Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail." This verse highlights the sovereignty of God and His ability to accomplish His will, regardless of human shortcomings.

The account of Joseph in Genesis illustrates how God can use human failure and adversity to fulfill His divine purposes. Joseph's brothers intended harm by selling him into slavery, but God used their actions to save many lives during a severe famine (Genesis 50:20).

The Role of Faith

Faith plays a crucial role in overcoming failure. Hebrews 11, often referred to as the "Faith Hall of Fame," recounts the accounts of individuals who, despite their failures and weaknesses, trusted in God's promises and were commended for their faith. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as "the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see."

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, encourages believers to press on despite past failures: "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have laid hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead" (Philippians 3:13). This exhortation emphasizes the importance of perseverance and reliance on God's strength.

Conclusion

The biblical concept of "fails" encompasses the reality of human imperfection, the assurance of God's unfailing promises, and the ultimate fulfillment of His divine purposes. Through faith and reliance on God's grace, believers are encouraged to overcome their failures and participate in God's redemptive plan.

Greek

808. aschemosune -- unseemliness
... Cognate: 808 (from 1 "without" and 4976 , "form") -- properly, deformity (improperly
fashioned); (figuratively) improper behavior that fails to fulfill the ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/808.htm - 7k

1587. ekleipo -- to leave out, leave off, by impl. to cease
... Word Origin from ek and leipo Definition to leave out, leave off, by impl. to cease
NASB Word Usage come to an end (1), fail (1), fails (1), obscured (1). ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1587.htm - 6k

4098. pipto -- to fall
... root pet Definition to fall NASB Word Usage beat down (1), fail (1), fails (1),
fall (15), fall down (2), fallen (8), falling (3), falls (8), fell (46), fell ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4098.htm - 8k

1483. ethnikos -- as a Gentile
... Cognate: 1483 (from 1482 , "a Gentile," a ) -- to live as a non-Israelite, ie as
a ; someone who fails short of being a full member of the Jewish nation ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1483.htm - 7k

4777. sugkakopatheo -- to bear evil treatment along with
... It is only used in 2 Tim 1:8. [K. Wuest, "The fails to take note of the prefixed
proposition which means '.') Paul is exhorting Timothy to endure hardships . ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4777.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

535. amal -- to be weak, languish
... 534, 535. amal. 536 . to be weak, languish. Transliteration: amal Phonetic
Spelling: (aw-mal') Short Definition: fails. Word Origin a prim. ...
/hebrew/535.htm - 6k

392. Akzib -- "deceptive," two places in Palestine
... Achzib. From 'akzab; deceitful (in the sense of a winter- torrent which fails in
summer); Akzib, the name of two places in Palestine -- Achzib. ...
/hebrew/392.htm - 6k

6. abad -- to perish
... 1), been lost (1), broken (1), corrupts (1), destroy (33), destroyed (15), destroying
(2), destroys (2), destruction (2), dying (2), fail (1), fails (1), give ...
/hebrew/6.htm - 6k

5800a. azab -- to leave, forsake, loose
... root Definition to leave, forsake, loose NASB Word Usage abandon (3), abandoned
(11), abandons (1), commits (1), deserted (1), failed (1), fails (1), forsake ...
/hebrew/5800a.htm - 6k

3615. kalah -- to be complete, at an end, finished, accomplished ...
... 1), determined (1), devoured (1), died (1), end (4), ended (3), ending (1), exhausted
(2), exterminated (1), fail (10), failed (1), fails (2), faints (1), feed ...
/hebrew/3615.htm - 7k

369. ayin -- nothing, nought
... nothing, nought NASB Word Usage almost (1), bereft* (1), beyond (5), beyond* (1),
cease (2), countless* (2), else* (1), endless* (1), fails (1), found (1 ...
/hebrew/369.htm - 7k

Library

The Power that Never Fails.
... The Holy Spirit The Power That Never Fails. You and I have to ... the hard rock.
But sometimes this fails to split the rock. The iron ...
/.../gordon/quiet talks with world winners/the power that never fails.htm

I when Fails the Light at Sunset Grey,
... EVENING I When fails the light at sunset grey,. 8,8,8,8 ... Springs from my heart
in fervent prayer,. When fails the light at sunset grey,. ...
/.../brownlie/hymns of the russian church/i when fails the light.htm

Whether an Accuser who Fails to Prove his Indictment is Bound to ...
... OF MATTERS CONCERNING UNJUST ACCUSATION (FOUR ARTICLES) Whether an accuser who fails
to prove his indictment is bound to the punishment of retaliation? ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether an accuser who fails.htm

Tries to Become a Politician. Fails. Last Act as a Politician. ...
... CHAPTER VII. Tries to Become a Politician. Fails. Last Act as a Politician. Tries
to Join the Southern Army. Fails Again. His First Appointment. ...
/.../chapter vii tries to become.htm

Faustus Fails to Understand Why He Should be Required Either to ...
... Faustus fails to understand why he should be required either to accept or reject
the New Testament as a whole, while the Catholics accept or reject the various ...
/.../faustus fails to understand why.htm

Further, if any one Fails to Understand How it Can be that We...
... Book I. Chapter 4. " 5. Further, if any one fails to understand how it can
be that we? "5. Further, if any one fails to understand ...
/.../writings in connection with the donatist controversy /chapter 4 5 further.htm

Jesus Fails to Attend the Third Passover.
... (Time: One Year Less One Week.) LXV. Jesus Fails to Attend the Third Passover.
Scribes Reproach Him for Disregarding Tradition. ...
/.../mcgarvey/the four-fold gospel/lxv jesus fails to attend.htm

Hermogenes Makes Great Efforts to Remove Evil from God to Matter ...
... Chapter XI."Hermogenes Makes Great Efforts to Remove Evil from God to Matter
How He Fails to Do This Consistently with His Own Argument. ...
/.../tertullian/against hermogenes/chapter xi hermogenes makes great efforts.htm

That God's Love is to be Mingled with Ilk Time and Deed nor Fails ...
... BOOK II CHAPTER X THAT GOD'S LOVE IS TO BE MINGLED WITH ILK TIME AND DEED NOR FAILS
NOT FOR WEAL OR WOE, AND OF THE WORTHINESS AND THE GAINING THEREOF: AND OF ...
//christianbookshelf.org/rolle/the fire of love/chapter x that gods love.htm

Notwithstanding their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails ...
... Chapter XVIII."Notwithstanding Their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails
in the Vouchers Both of Created Evidence and of Adequate Revelation. ...
/.../chapter xviii notwithstanding their conceits the.htm

Thesaurus

Fails (35 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Fails (35 Occurrences). Luke 3:9 And even now
the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every ...
/f/fails.htm - 16k

Atheism
... the existence of such a need and such a tendency, and yet believe that the need
corresponds to nothing, that the tendency has no goal." (3) It fails to account ...
/a/atheism.htm - 13k

Spent (76 Occurrences)
... For our money fails." (WEB JPS ASV NAS RSV). ... Psalms 31:10 For my life is spent with
sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. ...
/s/spent.htm - 28k

Failure (5 Occurrences)

/f/failure.htm - 8k

Fail (130 Occurrences)
... 4. (vi) To deteriorate in respect to vigor, activity, resources, etc.; to become
weaker; as, a sick man fails. ... (WEY). 1 Corinthians 13:8 Love never fails. ...
/f/fail.htm - 43k

Forsake (88 Occurrences)
... Psalms 71:9 Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails. ...
Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. ...
/f/forsake.htm - 34k

Yield (78 Occurrences)
... Luke 3:9 And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree
which fails to yield good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into ...
/y/yield.htm - 30k

Nimrim (2 Occurrences)
... Nimrim (2 Occurrences). Isaiah 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for
the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing. ...
/n/nimrim.htm - 8k

Neglects (3 Occurrences)
... Numbers 9:13 But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to
keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. ...
/n/neglects.htm - 7k

Resources

What does it mean that love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8)? | GotQuestions.org

What is truth? | GotQuestions.org

What does it mean that the Bible is infallible? What is biblical infallibility? | GotQuestions.org

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus

Concordance

Fails (35 Occurrences)

Luke 3:9
And even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees, so that every tree which fails to yield good fruit will quickly be hewn down and thrown into the fire."
(WEY)

Luke 11:4
and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive every one who fails in his duty to us; and bring us not into temptation.'"
(WEY)

Luke 16:9
"But I charge you, so to use the wealth which is ever tempting to dishonesty as to win friends who, when it fails, shall welcome you to the tents that never perish.
(WEY DBY NAS RSV)

1 Corinthians 11:29
For any one who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgement to himself, if he fails to estimate the body aright.
(WEY)

1 Corinthians 13:8
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.
(WEB WEY DBY NAS NIV)

2 Timothy 2:13
"And even if *our* faith fails, He remains true--He cannot prove false to Himself."
(WEY)

James 2:10
A man who has kept the Law as a whole, but has failed to keep some one command, has become guilty of violating all.
(See RSV)

James 4:17
To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.
(See RSV)

1 John 3:10
By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.
(WEY)

Genesis 47:15
When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails."
(WEB)

Exodus 21:33
"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
(See NIV)

Numbers 9:13
But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and fails to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Because he didn't offer the offering of Yahweh in its appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
(WEB NIV)

Numbers 19:13
Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and doesn't purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet on him.
(See NIV)

2 Kings 10:19
Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all of his worshippers, and all of his priests. Let none be absent; for I have a great sacrifice to Baal. Whoever is absent, he shall not live." But Jehu did it in subtlety, intending that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal.
(See NIV)

Psalms 31:10
For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.
(WEB RSV NIV)

Psalms 38:10
My heart throbs. My strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

Psalms 40:12
For innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath failed me.
(See RSV NIV)

Psalms 71:9
Don't reject me in my old age. Don't forsake me when my strength fails.
(WEB NAS)

Psalms 73:26
My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(WEB)

Psalms 143:7
Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don't hide your face from me, so that I don't become like those who go down into the pit.
(WEB NAS RSV NIV)

Ecclesiastes 6:6
Yes, though he live a thousand years twice told, and yet fails to enjoy good, don't all go to one place?
(WEB NIV)

Ecclesiastes 10:3
Yes also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool.
(WEB)

Ecclesiastes 12:5
Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and terrors shall be in the way; and the almond-tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall drag itself along, and the caperberry shall fail; because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets;
(See RSV)

Isaiah 15:6
For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
(WEB RSV)

Isaiah 41:17
The poor and needy seek water, and there is none. Their tongue fails for thirst. I, Yahweh, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
(WEB)

Isaiah 44:12
The blacksmith takes an axe, works in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. He is hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water, and is faint.
(WEB NAS RSV)

Isaiah 65:20
No longer will there be there a child whose days are cut short, or an old man whose days have not come to their full measure: for the young man at his death will be a hundred years old, and he whose life is shorter than a hundred years will seem as one cursed.
(See NIV)

Jeremiah 14:6
And the wild asses stand on the high hills, they gasp for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
(See NIV)

Jeremiah 15:18
Why hath my pain been perpetual? And my wound incurable? It hath refused to be healed, Thou art surely to me as a failing stream, Waters not stedfast.
(See NIV)

Jeremiah 17:8
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
(See NIV)

Jeremiah 33:25
Thus says Yahweh: If my covenant of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
(WEB)

Ezekiel 12:22
Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails?
(WEB NAS)

Joel 1:10
The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.
(See NAS RSV NIV)

Joel 1:12
The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.
(See NAS RSV)

Habakkuk 3:17
For though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
(WEB NIV)

Subtopics

Fails

Related Terms

Loss (90 Occurrences)

Fail (130 Occurrences)

Offices (14 Occurrences)

Lapse (9 Occurrences)

Fault (42 Occurrences)

Decay (18 Occurrences)

Dew (35 Occurrences)

Collapse (9 Occurrences)

Crime (45 Occurrences)