Amos 5:6

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ¹  like fire against Joseph’s ²  family; ³ 

the fire ⁴  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 30:1-8

The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

30:1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses ⁶  I have set before you, you will reflect upon them ⁷  in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 30:2 Then if you and your descendants ⁸  turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being ⁹  just as ¹⁰  I am commanding you today, 30:3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he ¹¹  has scattered you. 30:4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, ¹²  from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 30:5 Then he ¹³  will bring you to the land your ancestors ¹⁴  possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse ¹⁵  your heart and the hearts of your descendants ¹⁶  so that you may love him ¹⁷  with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 30:7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 30:8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving ¹⁸  you today.

Deuteronomy 30:1

The Results of Covenant Reaffirmation

30:1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses ¹⁹  I have set before you, you will reflect upon them ²⁰  in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you.

Deuteronomy 28:9

28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ²¹  and obey him. ²² 

Deuteronomy 28:2

28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ²³  if you obey the Lord your God:

Deuteronomy 15:2

15:2 This is the nature of the cancellation: Every creditor must remit what he has loaned to another person; ²⁴  he must not force payment from his fellow Israelite, ²⁵  for it is to be recognized as “the Lord’s cancellation of debts.”

Deuteronomy 20:3

20:3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them,

Deuteronomy 34:3

34:3 the Negev, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of the date palm trees, as far as Zoar.

Psalms 14:2

14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven ²⁶  at the human race, ²⁷ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ²⁸  and seeks God. ²⁹ 

Psalms 27:8

27:8 My heart tells me to pray to you, ³⁰ 

and I do pray to you, O Lord. ³¹ 

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ³² 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ³³ 

and sinful people their plans. ³⁴ 

They should return ³⁵  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ³⁶ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ³⁷ 

Jeremiah 29:12-13

29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, ³⁸  I will hear your prayers. ³⁹  29:13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, ⁴⁰ 

Lamentations 3:25-26

ט (Tet)

3:25 The Lord is good to those who trust ⁴¹  in him,

to the one ⁴²  who seeks him.

3:26 It is good to wait patiently ⁴³ 

for deliverance from the Lord. ⁴⁴ 

Zephaniah 2:3

2:3 Seek the Lord’s favor, ⁴⁵  all you humble people ⁴⁶  of the land who have obeyed his commands! ⁴⁷ 

Strive to do what is right! ⁴⁸  Strive to be humble! ⁴⁹ 

Maybe you will be protected ⁵⁰  on the day of the Lord’s angry judgment.

Matthew 7:8

7:8 For everyone who asks ⁵¹  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

[5:6]  ¹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ² sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ³ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “to/for Bethel.” The translation assumes that the preposition indicates advantage, “on behalf of.” Another option is to take the preposition as vocative, “O Bethel.”

[30:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

[30:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

[30:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

[30:2]  ⁹ tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

[30:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to all.”

[30:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[30:4]  ¹² tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[30:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).

[30:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

[30:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

[30:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

[30:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the blessing and the curse.”

[30:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and you bring (them) back to your heart.”

[28:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ²² tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:2]  ²³ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[15:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his neighbor,” used idiomatically to refer to another person.

[15:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his neighbor and his brother.” The words “his brother” may be a scribal gloss identifying “his neighbor” (on this idiom, see the preceding note) as a fellow Israelite (cf. v. 3). In this case the conjunction before “his brother” does not introduce a second category, but rather has the force of “that is.”

[14:2]  ²⁶ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[14:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[14:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[14:2]  ²⁹ sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

[27:8]  ³⁰ tc Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the Lord he hears. His “heart” is viewed as speaking, however, so it is better to emend the form to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”).

[27:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “your face, O Lord, I seek.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 24:6; 105:4).

[55:6]  ³² tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ³³ tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ³⁶ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ³⁷ sn The appeal and promise of vv. 6-7 echoes the language of Deut 4:25-31; 30:1-10; and 1 Kgs 8:46-53, all of which anticipate the exile and speak of the prerequisites for restoration.

[29:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “come and pray to me.” This is an example of verbal hendiadys where two verb formally joined by “and” convey a main concept with the second verb functioning as an adverbial qualifier.

[29:12]  ³⁹ tn Or “You will call out to me and come to me in prayer and I will hear your prayers.” The verbs are vav consecutive perfects and can be taken either as unconditional futures or as contingent futures. See GKC 337 §112.kk and 494 §159.g and compare the usage in Gen 44:22 for the use of the vav consecutive perfects in contingent futures. The conditional clause in the middle of 29:13 and the deuteronomic theology reflected in both Deut 30:1-5 and 1 Kgs 8:46-48 suggest that the verbs are continent futures here. For the same demand for wholehearted seeking in these contexts which presuppose exile see especially Deut 30:2, 1 Kgs 8:48.

[29:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “If you wholeheartedly seek me”; Heb “You will seek me and find [me] because you will seek me with all your heart.” The translation attempts to reflect the theological nuances of “seeking” and “finding” and the psychological significance of “heart” which refers more to intellectual and volitional concerns in the OT than to emotional ones.

[3:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “wait for him”

[3:25]  ⁴² tn Heb “to the soul…” The term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”) is a synecdoche of part (= “the soul who seeks him”) for the whole person (= “the person who seeks him”).

[3:26]  ⁴³ tn Heb “waiting and silently.” The two adjectives וְיָחִיל וְדוּמָם (vÿyakhil vÿdumam, “waiting and silently”) form a hendiadys: The first functions verbally and the second functions adverbially: “to wait silently.” The adjective דוּמָם (dumam, “silently”) also functions as a metonymy of association, standing for patience or rest (HALOT 217 s.v.). This metonymical nuance is captured well in less literal English versions: “wait in patience” (TEV) and “wait patiently” (CEV, NJPS). The more literal English versions do not express the metonymy as well: “quietly wait” (KJV, NKJV, ASV), “waits silently” (NASB), “wait quietly” (RSV, NRSV, NIV).

[3:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “deliverance of the Lord.” In the genitive-construct, the genitive יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”) denotes source, that is, he is the source of the deliverance: “deliverance from the Lord.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “seek the Lord,” but “favor” seems to be implied from the final line of the verse.

[2:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “poor.” The precise referent of this Hebrew term is unclear. The word may refer to the economically poor or to the spiritually humble.

[2:3]  ⁴⁷ tn The present translation assumes the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) here refers to God’s covenantal requirements and is a synonym for the Law. The word can mean “justice” and could refer more specifically to the principles of justice contained in the Law. In this case the phrase could be translated, “who have promoted the justice God demands.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Seek what is right.”

[2:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Seek humility.”

[2:3]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “hidden.” Cf. NEB “it may be that you will find shelter”; NRSV “perhaps you may be hidden.”

[7:8]  ⁵¹ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.