“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion(A) and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart(B) and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him,(C) he will be found by you; but if you forsake(D) him, he will reject(E) you forever.

Read full chapter

13 You will seek(A) me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.(B)

Read full chapter

Come near to God and he will come near to you.(A) Wash your hands,(B) you sinners, and purify your hearts,(C) you double-minded.(D) Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.(E) 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.(F)

11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.(G) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister[a] or judges them(H) speaks against the law(I) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,(J) but sitting in judgment on it.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. James 4:11 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.

Ask, Seek, Knock(A)

“Ask and it will be given to you;(B) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;(C) and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Read full chapter

Seek(A) the Lord while he may be found;(B)
    call(C) on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake(D) their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.(E)
Let them turn(F) to the Lord, and he will have mercy(G) on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.(H)

Read full chapter

61 And may your hearts(A) be fully committed(B) to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.”

Read full chapter

I will give them a heart to know(A) me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people,(B) and I will be their God, for they will return(C) to me with all their heart.(D)

Read full chapter

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

My son,(A) if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding(B)
indeed, if you call out for insight(C)
    and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,(D)
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.(E)
For the Lord gives wisdom;(F)
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.(G)

Read full chapter

He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you(A) when you are with him.(B) If you seek(C) him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.(D)

Read full chapter

24 God is spirit,(A) and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Read full chapter

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance,(A) but the Lord looks at the heart.”(B)

Read full chapter

You know when I sit and when I rise;(A)
    you perceive my thoughts(B) from afar.

Read full chapter

10 Those who know your name(A) trust in you,
    for you, Lord, have never forsaken(B) those who seek you.(C)

Read full chapter

10 “I the Lord search the heart(A)
    and examine the mind,(B)
to reward(C) each person according to their conduct,
    according to what their deeds deserve.”(D)

Read full chapter

38 And,

“But my righteous[a] one will live by faith.(A)
    And I take no pleasure
    in the one who shrinks back.”[b](B)

39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 10:38 Some early manuscripts But the righteous
  2. Hebrews 10:38 Hab. 2:4 (see Septuagint)

The Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge(A) to bring
    against you who live in the land:(B)
“There is no faithfulness,(C) no love,
    no acknowledgment(D) of God in the land.(E)

Read full chapter

17 I know, my God, that you test the heart(A) and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.(B) 18 Lord, the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep these desires and thoughts in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you. 19 And give my son Solomon the wholehearted devotion(C) to keep your commands, statutes and decrees(D) and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided.”(E)

Read full chapter

Now this is eternal life: that they know you,(A) the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.(B)

Read full chapter

24 but let the one who boasts boast(A) about this:
    that they have the understanding to know(B) me,
that I am the Lord,(C) who exercises kindness,(D)
    justice and righteousness(E) on earth,
    for in these I delight,”
declares the Lord.

Read full chapter

19 I have not spoken in secret,(A)
    from somewhere in a land of darkness;(B)
I have not said to Jacob’s descendants,(C)
    ‘Seek(D) me in vain.’
I, the Lord, speak the truth;
    I declare what is right.(E)

Read full chapter

34 No longer will they teach(A) their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know(B) me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive(C) their wickedness
    and will remember their sins(D) no more.”

Read full chapter

16 He defended the cause of the poor and needy,(A)
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know(B) me?”
    declares the Lord.

Read full chapter

“Remember,(A) Lord, how I have walked(B) before you faithfully(C) and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Read full chapter

“But if you[a] or your descendants turn away(A) from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you[b] and go off to serve other gods(B) and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land(C) I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name.(D) Israel will then become a byword(E) and an object of ridicule(F) among all peoples. This temple will become a heap of rubble. All[c] who pass by will be appalled(G) and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’(H) People will answer,(I) ‘Because they have forsaken(J) the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster(K) on them.’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  2. 1 Kings 9:6 The Hebrew is plural.
  3. 1 Kings 9:8 See some Septuagint manuscripts, Old Latin, Syriac, Arabic and Targum; Hebrew And though this temple is now imposing, all

The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly(A) to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends