1 Samuel 16:7

16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t be impressed by ¹  his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. ²  People look on the outward appearance, ³  but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:1

Samuel Anoints David as King

16:1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long do you intend to mourn for Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. ⁴  Fill your horn with olive oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, ⁵  for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.” ⁶ 

1 Raja-raja 8:39

8:39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, ⁷  and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives. ⁸  (Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.) ⁹ 

Mazmur 139:1-2

Psalm 139 ¹⁰ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

139:1 O Lord, you examine me ¹¹  and know.

139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;

even from far away you understand my motives.

Mazmur 139:23

139:23 Examine me, and probe my thoughts! ¹² 

Test me, and know my concerns! ¹³ 

Amsal 21:2

21:2 All of a person’s ways seem right in his own opinion, ¹⁴ 

but the Lord evaluates ¹⁵  the motives. ¹⁶ 

Yeremia 17:10

17:10 I, the Lord, probe into people’s minds.

I examine people’s hearts. ¹⁷ 

I deal with each person according to how he has behaved.

I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.

Lukas 16:15

16:15 But ¹⁸  Jesus ¹⁹  said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in men’s eyes, ²⁰  but God knows your hearts. For what is highly prized ²¹  among men is utterly detestable ²²  in God’s sight.

Roma 8:27

8:27 And he ²³  who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit ²⁴  intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Roma 8:1

The Believer’s Relationship to the Holy Spirit

8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ 

1 Tesalonika 2:4

2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we declare it, not to please people but God, who examines our hearts.

[16:7]  ¹ tn Heb “don’t look toward.”

[16:7]  ² tn Heb “for not that which the man sees.” The translation follows the LXX, which reads, “for not as man sees does God see.” The MT has suffered from homoioteleuton or homoioarcton. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 274.

[16:7]  ³ tn Heb “to the eyes.”

[16:1]  ⁴ tc The Lucianic recension of the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And the Lord said to Samuel.”

[16:1]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[16:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I have seen among his sons for me a king.”

[8:39]  ⁷ tn The words “their sin” are added for clarification.

[8:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “and act and give to each one according to all his ways because you know his heart.” In the Hebrew text vv. 37-39a actually contain one lengthy conditional sentence, which the translation has divided up for stylistic reasons.

[8:39]  ⁹ tn Heb “Indeed you know, you alone, the heart of all the sons of mankind.”

[139:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.

[139:1]  ¹¹ tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.

[139:23]  ¹² tn Heb “and know my heart.”

[139:23]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew noun שַׂרְעַפַּי (sar’apay, “concerns”) is used of “worries” in Ps 94:19.

[21:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in his own eyes.” The term “eyes” is a metonymy for estimation, opinion, evaluation.

[21:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “weighs” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “examines”; NCV, TEV “judges.”

[21:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the hearts.” The term לֵב (lev, “heart”) is used as a metonymy of association for thoughts and motives (BDB 660-61 s.v. 6-7). Even though people think they know themselves, the Lord evaluates motives as well (e.g., Prov 16:2).

[17:10]  ¹⁷ tn The term rendered “mind” here and in the previous verse is actually the Hebrew word for “heart.” However, in combination with the word rendered “heart” in the next line, which is the Hebrew for “kidneys,” it is best rendered “mind” because the “heart” was considered the center of intellect, conscience, and will and the “kidneys” the center of emotions.

[17:10]  sn For an earlier reference to this motif see Jer 11:20. For a later reference see Jer 20:12. See also Ps 17:2-3.

[16:15]  ¹⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[16:15]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ²⁰ tn Grk “before men.” The contrast is between outward appearance (“in people’s eyes”) and inward reality (“God knows your hearts”). Here the Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used twice in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, but “men” has been retained in the text to provide a strong verbal contrast with “God” in the second half of the verse.

[16:15]  ²¹ tn Or “exalted.” This refers to the pride that often comes with money and position.

[16:15]  ²² tn Or “is an abomination,” “is abhorrent” (L&N 25.187).

[8:27]  ²³ sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).

[8:27]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:1]  ²⁵ tc The earliest and best witnesses of the Alexandrian and Western texts, as well as a few others (א* B D* F G 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), have no additional words for v. 1. Later scribes (A D¹ Ψ 81 365 629 pc vg) added the words μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν (mh kata sarka peripatousin, “who do not walk according to the flesh”), while even later ones (א² D² 33^vid Ï) added ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα (alla kata pneuma, “but [who do walk] according to the Spirit”). Both the external evidence and the internal evidence are compelling for the shortest reading. The scribes were evidently motivated to add such qualifications (interpolated from v. 4) to insulate Paul’s gospel from charges that it was characterized too much by grace. The KJV follows the longest reading found in Ï.