1013 verses about Seeking

Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.

I cry with my voice to Yahweh. With my voice, I ask Yahweh for mercy.

Look on my right, and see; for there is no one who is concerned for me. Refuge has fled from me. No one cares for my soul.

I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah.

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.

Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.

Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me.

Yahweh is near to all those who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Wisdom calls aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the public squares.

She calls at the head of noisy places. At the entrance of the city gates, she utters her words:

Because I have called, and you have refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no one has paid attention;

Then will they call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me;

So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Get wisdom. Get understanding. Don’t forget, and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.

Wisdom is supreme. Get wisdom. Yes, though it costs all your possessions, get understanding.

Do this now, my son, and deliver yourself, since you have come into the hand of your neighbor. Go, humble yourself. Press your plea with your neighbor.

Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you.

Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice?

On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands.

Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud:

I love those who love me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts.

For whoever finds me, finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh.

She has sent out her maidens. She cries from the highest places of the city:

“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him,

He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him.

A scoffer seeks wisdom, and doesn’t find it, but knowledge comes easily to a discerning person.

The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

Wisdom is before the face of one who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool wander to the ends of the earth.

The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good.

Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one’s own honor.

Evil men don’t understand justice; but those who seek Yahweh understand it fully.

Many seek the ruler’s favor, but a man’s justice comes from Yahweh.

“Two things I have asked of you; don’t deny me before I die:

I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under the sky. It is a heavy burden that God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with.

I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine, my heart yet guiding me with wisdom, and how to lay hold of folly, until I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their lives.

a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me.

That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out?

I turned around, and my heart sought to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know that wickedness is stupidity, and that foolishness is madness.

“Behold, I have found this,” says the Preacher, “to one another, to find out the scheme;

which my soul still seeks; but I have not found. I have found one man among a thousand; but I have not found a woman among all those.

When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on the earth (for also there is that neither day nor night sees sleep with his eyes),

then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.

Further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yes, he pondered, sought out, and set in order many proverbs.

The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written blamelessly, words of truth.

Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you graze your flock, where you rest them at noon; For why should I be as one who is veiled beside the flocks of your companions? Lover

If you don’t know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the sheep. Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice.

My dove in the clefts of the rock, In the hiding places of the mountainside, Let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.

Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.

By night on my bed, I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.

I will get up now, and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I didn’t find him.

The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

I had scarcely passed from them, when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me.

Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, to the hill of frankincense.

I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.”

My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him.

I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock.

I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left; and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer.

The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? Beloved

My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

I went down into the nut tree grove, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower.

Many peoples shall go and say, “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go out, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem.

House of Jacob, come, and let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh.”

I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.

A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.

In that day, people will look to their Maker, and their eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.

The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again.”

Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!

who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked my advice; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt!

and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they don’t look to the Holy One of Israel, and they don’t seek Yahweh!

When king Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into Yahweh’s house.

He sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to Yahweh’s house, and spread it before Yahweh.

Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh,

and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to Yahweh’s house?”

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.

When I look, there is no man; even among them there is no counselor who, when I ask of them, can answer a word.

“Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.

Yet you have not called on me, Jacob; but you have been weary of me, Israel.

Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.

Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’”

I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.