Psalms 105:4

105:4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives!

Seek his presence continually!

Isaiah 55:6-7

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹ 

call to him while he is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle ² 

and sinful people their plans. ³ 

They should return ⁴  to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, ⁵ 

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:13-14

3:13 However, you must confess that you have done wrong, ⁷ 

and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.

You must confess ⁸  that you have given yourself to ⁹  foreign gods under every green tree,

and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord.

3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ¹⁰  If you do, ¹¹  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

Jeremiah 4:1-2

4:1 “If you, Israel, want to come back,” says the Lord,

“if you want to come back to me ¹² 

you must get those disgusting idols ¹³  out of my sight

and must no longer go astray. ¹⁴ 

4:2 You must be truthful, honest and upright

when you take an oath saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives!’ ¹⁵ 

If you do, ¹⁶  the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are

and will make him the object of their boasting.” ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 29:12-13

29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, ¹⁸  I will hear your prayers. ¹⁹  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, ²⁰ 

Hosea 7:10

7:10 The arrogance of Israel testifies against him,

yet they refuse to return to the Lord their God!

In spite of all this they refuse to seek him!

Hosea 10:12

10:12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,

reap unfailing love.

Break up the unplowed ground for yourselves,

for it is time to seek the Lord,

until he comes and showers deliverance ²¹  on you.

Amos 5:4-6

5:4 The Lord says this to the family ²²  of Israel:

“Seek me ²³  so you can live!

5:5 Do not seek Bethel! ²⁴ 

Do not visit Gilgal!

Do not journey down ²⁵  to Beer Sheba!

For the people of Gilgal ²⁶  will certainly be carried into exile; ²⁷ 

and Bethel will become a place where disaster abounds.” ²⁸ 

5:6 Seek the Lord so you can live!

Otherwise he will break out ²⁹  like fire against Joseph’s ³⁰  family; ³¹ 

the fire ³²  will consume

and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ³³ 

Amos 5:14-15

5:14 Seek good and not evil so you can live!

Then the Lord, the God who commands armies, just might be with you,

as you claim he is.

5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!

Promote ³⁴  justice at the city gate! ³⁵ 

Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ³⁶  those who are left from ³⁷  Joseph. ³⁸ 

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ³⁹  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ⁴⁰  will be opened for you. 7:8 For everyone who asks ⁴¹  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

[55:6]  ¹ tn Heb “while he allows himself to be found.” The Niphal form has a tolerative force here.

[55:7]  ² tn Heb “Let the wicked one abandon his way.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ³ tn Heb “and the man of evil his thoughts.” The singular is collective.

[55:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “let him return.” The singular is collective, meaning “let them.”

[55:7]  ⁵ tn The imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive after the jussive indicates purpose/result.

[55:7]  ⁶ 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.

[3:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

[3:13]  ⁸ tn The words “You must confess” are repeated to convey the connection. The Hebrew text has an introductory “that” in front of the second line and a coordinative “and” in front of the next two lines.

[3:13]  ⁹ tc MT reads דְּרָכַיִךְ (dÿrakhayikh, “your ways”), but the BHS editors suggest דּוֹדַיִךְ (dodayikh, “your breasts”) as an example of orthographic confusion. While the proposal makes sense, it remains a conjectural emendation since it is not supported by any actual manuscripts or ancient versions.

[3:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I am your true husband.”

[3:14]  ¹¹ tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

[4:1]  ¹² tn Or “If you, Israel, want to turn [away from your shameful ways (those described in 3:23-25)]…then you must turn back to me.” Or perhaps, “Israel, you must turn back…Yes, you must turn back to me.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “disgusting things.”

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Or possibly, “If you get those disgusting idols out of my sight, you will not need to flee.” This is less probable because the normal meaning of the last verb is “to wander,” “ to stray.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “If you [= you must, see the translator’s note on the word “do” later in this verse] swear/take an oath, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness…”

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn 4:1-2a consists of a number of “if” clauses, two of which are formally introduced by the Hebrew particle אִם (’im) while the others are introduced by the conjunction “and,” followed by a conjunction (“and” = “then”) with a perfect in 4:2b which introduces the consequence. The translation “You must…. If you do,” was chosen to avoid a long and complicated sentence.

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “bless themselves in him and make their boasts in him.”

[29:12]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.

[10:12]  ²¹ tn Or “righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “justice.”

[5:4]  ²² tn Heb “house.”

[5:4]  ²³ sn The following verses explain what it meant to seek the Lord. Israel was to abandon the mere formalism and distorted view of God and reality that characterized religious activity at the worship sites, as well as the social injustice that permeated Israelite society. Instead the people were to repent and promote justice in the land. This call to seek the Lord echoes the challenge in 4:13 to prepare to meet him as he truly is.

[5:5]  ²⁴ sn Ironically, Israel was to seek after the Lord, but not at Bethel (the name Bethel means “the house of God” in Hebrew).

[5:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “cross over.”

[5:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “For Gilgal.” By metonymy the place name “Gilgal” is used instead of referring directly to the inhabitants. The words “the people of” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:5]  ²⁷ tn In the Hebrew text the statement is emphasized by sound play. The name “Gilgal” sounds like the verb גָּלָה (galah, “to go into exile”), which occurs here in the infinitival + finite verb construction (גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה, galoh yigleh). The repetition of the “ג” (g) and “ל” (l) sounds draws attention to the announcement and suggests that Gilgal’s destiny is inherent in its very name.

[5:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “disaster,” or “nothing”; NIV “Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

[5:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “rush.” The verb depicts swift movement.

[5:6]  ³⁰ sn Here Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[5:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “house.”

[5:6]  ³² tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:6]  ³³ 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.”

[5:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).

[5:15]  ³⁵ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.

[5:15]  ³⁶ tn Or “will show favor to.”

[5:15]  ³⁷ tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”

[5:15]  ³⁸ sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[7:7]  ³⁹ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[7:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

[7:8]  ⁴¹ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.