I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. ¹  I did not tell Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain!’ ²  I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements. ³ 

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 ¹  on you.

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 

The inhabitants of one will go to another and say, “Let’s go up at once to ask the favor of the Lord, to seek the Lord who rules over all. Indeed, I’ll go with you.”’

I, the Lord, promise that ¹  I will hand Pharaoh Hophra ²  king of Egypt over to his enemies who are seeking to kill him. I will do that just as surely as I handed King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his enemy who was seeking to kill him.’”

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls.

For Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks ask for wisdom,

He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Please tell ¹  me where they are grazing their flocks.”

His sons must recompense ¹  the poor; his own hands ²  must return his wealth.

With all my heart I seek you. Do not allow me to stray from your commands!

The one who loves a quarrel loves transgression; ¹  whoever builds his gate high seeks destruction. ² 

So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations ¹  that come against Jerusalem.”

The crowd ¹  answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! ²  Who is trying to kill you?” ³ 

You will look for me ¹  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a foot disease. ¹  Though his disease was severe, he did not seek the Lord, but only the doctors. ² 

Let none who rely on you be disgraced because of me, O sovereign Lord and king! ¹  Let none who seek you be ashamed because of me, O God of Israel!

In this place I will thwart ¹  the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. I will deliver them over to the power of their enemies who are seeking to kill them. They will die by the sword ²  at the hands of their enemies. ³  I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild beasts to eat.

I will reduce the people of this city to desperate straits during the siege imposed on it by their enemies who are seeking to kill them. I will make them so desperate that they will eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters and the flesh of one another.”’” ¹ 

I can do nothing on my own initiative. ¹  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ²  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ³ 

Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for Saul,