1 Chronicles 16:11

16:11 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives!

Seek his presence ¹  continually!

1 Chronicles 28:9

28:9 “And you, Solomon my son, obey ²  the God of your father and serve him with a submissive attitude and a willing spirit, ³  for the Lord examines all minds and understands every motive of one’s thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him, ⁴  but if you abandon him, he will reject you permanently.

Deuteronomy 4:29

4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 32:46-47

32:46 he said to them, “Keep in mind all the words I am solemnly proclaiming to you today; you must command your children to observe carefully all the words of this law. 32:47 For this is no idle word for you – it is your life! By this word you will live a long time in the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

Psalms 27:4

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ⁶  in the Lord’s house ⁷  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁸  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

Psalms 27:2

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁹ 

to devour my flesh, ¹⁰ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ¹¹ 

they stumble and fall. ¹² 

Psalms 20:3

20:3 May he take notice ¹³  of your offerings;

may he accept ¹⁴  your burnt sacrifice! (Selah)

Daniel 9:3

9:3 So I turned my attention ¹⁵  to the Lord God ¹⁶  to implore him by prayer and requests, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. ¹⁷ 

Haggai 1:5

1:5 Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: ‘Think carefully about what you are doing. ¹⁸ 

Acts 11:23

11:23 When ¹⁹  he came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true ²⁰  to the Lord with devoted hearts, ²¹ 

[16:11]  ¹ tn Heb “face.”

[28:9]  ² tn Heb “know.”

[28:9]  ³ tn Heb “with a complete heart and a willing being.”

[28:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “he will allow himself to be found by you.”

[4:29]  ⁵ tn Or “mind and being.” See Deut 6:5.

[27:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁷ sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ⁸ tn Or “beauty.”

[27:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ¹⁰ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹² tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[20:3]  ¹³ tn Or “remember.” For other examples of the verb זָכַר (zakhar) carrying the nuance “take notice of,” see Pss 8:4 and 9:12.

[20:3]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “consider as fat.” The verbal form should probably be emended to יְדַשְּׁנֶהָ (yÿdashÿneha), the final he (ה) being understood as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix referring back to the feminine noun “burnt sacrifice.”

[9:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “face.”

[9:3]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew phrase translated “Lord God” here is אֲדֹנָי הָאֱלֹהִים (’adonay ha’elohim).

[9:3]  ¹⁷ sn When lamenting, ancient Israelites would fast, wear sackcloth, and put ashes on their heads to show their sorrow and contrition.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Set your heart upon your ways” (see 2:15, 18); traditionally “Consider your ways” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB).

[11:23]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Antioch, who when.” The relative pronoun was omitted and a new sentence was begun in the translation at this point to improve the English style, due to the length of the sentence in Greek.

[11:23]  ²⁰ tn BDAG 883 s.v. προσμένω 1.a.β has “remain true to the Lord” for προσμένειν (prosmenein) in this verse.

[11:23]  ²¹ tn Grk “with purpose of heart”; BDAG 869 s.v. πρόθεσις 2.a translates this phrase “purpose of heart, i.e. devotion” here.