Seek the Lord and the strength he gives! Seek his presence ¹  continually!

Seek the Lord and the strength he gives! Seek his presence continually!

Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; ¹  call to him while he is nearby!

Such purity characterizes the people who seek his favor, Jacob’s descendants, who pray to him. ¹  (Selah)

The wicked have no chance for deliverance, ¹  for they do not seek your statutes.

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ¹  Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow! ² 

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation ¹  with the Lord who commands armies.

But Amaziah did not heed the warning, ¹  for God wanted to hand them over to Joash because they followed the gods of Edom. ² 

He followed ¹  God during the lifetime of ²  Zechariah, who taught him how to honor God. As long as he followed ³  the Lord, God caused him to succeed. ⁴ 

For our leaders ¹  are stupid. They have not sought the Lord’s advice. ²  So they do not act wisely, and the people they are responsible for ³  have all been scattered.

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 

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.

Ahaziah fell through a window lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria ¹  and was injured. He sent messengers with these orders, ²  “Go, ask ³  Baal Zebub, ⁴  the god of Ekron, if I will survive this injury.”

¹ They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. ²  Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” ³ 

Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead, ¹  those who rely on war horses, and trust in Egypt’s many chariots ²  and in their many, many horsemen. ³  But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel ⁴  and do not seek help from the Lord.

Carefully read the scroll of the Lord! ¹  Not one of these creatures will be missing, ²  none will lack a mate. ³  For the Lord has issued the decree, ⁴  and his own spirit gathers them. ⁵ 

“Go, seek an oracle from ¹  the Lord for me and the people – for all Judah. Find out about ²  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ³  because our ancestors have not obeyed the words of this scroll by doing all that it instructs us to do.” ⁴ 

“Go, seek an oracle from ¹  the Lord for me and those who remain in Israel and Judah. Find out about ²  the words of this scroll that has been discovered. For the Lord’s fury has been ignited against us, ³  because our ancestors ⁴  have not obeyed the word of the Lord by doing all that this scroll instructs!” ⁵ 

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,