Verse 9

“And you, Solomon my son, obey the God of your father and serve him with a submissive attitude and a willing spirit, for the LORD examines all minds and understands every motive of one’s thoughts. If you seek him, he will let you find him, but if you abandon him, he will reject you permanently.

Referenced Verses

  • Jer 29:13 : 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,
  • 1 Kgs 8:61 : 61 May you demonstrate wholehearted devotion to the LORD our God by following his rules and obeying his commandments, as you are presently doing.”
  • Jas 4:8-9 : 8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into despair. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you. 11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. He who speaks against a fellow believer or judges a fellow believer speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but its judge.
  • 1 Sam 16:7 : 7 But the LORD said to Samuel,“Don’t be impressed by his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. God does not view things the way men do. People look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
  • 2 Chr 15:2 : 2 He met Asa and told him,“Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The LORD is with you when you are loyal to him. If you seek him, he will respond to you, but if you reject him, he will reject you.
  • Ps 139:2 : 2 You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives.
  • John 4:24 : 24 God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
  • Jer 24:7 : 7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the LORD. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly return to me.’
  • Matt 7:7-8 : 7 Ask, Seek, Knock“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
  • Isa 55:6-7 : 6 Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! 7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the LORD, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.
  • Jer 17:10 : 10 I, the LORD, probe into people’s minds. I examine people’s hearts. I deal with each person according to how he has behaved. I give them what they deserve based on what they have done.
  • Ps 9:10 : 10 Your loyal followers trust in you, for you, LORD, do not abandon those who seek your help.
  • Prov 2:1-6 : 1 Benefits of Seeking Wisdom My child, if you receive my words, and store up my commands inside yourself, 2 by making your ear attentive to wisdom, and by turning your heart to understanding, 3 indeed, if you call out for discernment– shout loudly for understanding– 4 if you seek it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure, 5 then you will understand how to fear the LORD, and you will discover knowledge about God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
  • Heb 10:38-39 : 38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I take no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls.
  • Jer 31:34 : 34 “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the LORD.“For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.”
  • Hos 4:1 : 1 The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel Listen to the LORD’s message, you Israelites! For the LORD has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God.
  • Jer 9:24 : 24 If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the LORD, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” says the LORD.
  • 1 Chr 29:17-19 : 17 I know, my God, that you examine thoughts and are pleased with integrity. With pure motives I contribute all this; and now I look with joy as your people who have gathered here contribute to you. 18 O LORD God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, always maintain these motives of your people and keep them devoted to you. 19 Make my son Solomon willing to obey your commands, rules, and regulations, and to complete building the palace for which I have made preparations.”
  • Isa 45:19 : 19 I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,‘Seek me in vain!’ I am the LORD, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements.
  • Jer 22:16 : 16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.’ The LORD says,‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’
  • John 17:3 : 3 Now this is eternal life– that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
  • Ps 7:9 : 9 May the evil deeds of the wicked come to an end! But make the innocent secure, O righteous God, you who examine inner thoughts and motives!
  • Deut 31:21 : 21 Then when many disasters and distresses overcome them this song will testify against them, for their descendants will not forget it. I know the intentions they have in mind today, even before I bring them to the land I have promised.”
  • 2 Kgs 20:3 : 3 “Please, LORD. Remember how I have served you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, and how I have carried out your will.” Then Hezekiah wept bitterly.
  • 2 Kgs 22:2 : 2 He did what the LORD approved and followed in his ancestor David’s footsteps; he did not deviate to the right or the left.
  • 1 Chr 29:9 : 9 The people were delighted with their donations, for they contributed to the LORD with a willing attitude; King David was also very happy.
  • 1 Kgs 8:39 : 39 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place, forgive their sin, and act favorably toward each one based on your evaluation of his motives.(Indeed you are the only one who can correctly evaluate the motives of all people.)
  • Exod 15:2 : 2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
  • Gen 6:5 : 5 But the LORD saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.
  • Exod 3:16 : 16 “Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them,‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, appeared to me– the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob– saying,“I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt,
  • 1 Kgs 9:6-9 : 6 “But if you or your sons ever turn away from me, fail to obey the regulations and rules I instructed you to keep, and decide to serve and worship other gods, 7 then I will remove Israel from the land I have given them, I will abandon this temple I have consecrated with my presence, and Israel will be mocked and ridiculed among all the nations. 8 This temple will become a heap of ruins; everyone who passes by it will be shocked and will hiss out their scorn, saying,‘Why did the LORD do this to this land and this temple?’ 9 Others will then answer,‘Because they abandoned the LORD their God, who led their ancestors out of Egypt. They embraced other gods whom they worshiped and served. That is why the LORD has brought all this disaster down on them.’”
  • Ps 101:2 : 2 I will walk in the way of integrity. When will you come to me? I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace.
  • John 21:17 : 17 Jesus said a third time,“Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed that Jesus asked him a third time,“Do you love me?” and said,“Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus replied,“Feed my sheep.
  • Ezek 38:10 : 10 “‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
  • Acts 17:30 : 30 Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,
  • Rom 1:28-29 : 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips,
  • 2 Cor 4:6 : 6 For God, who said“Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.
  • Heb 4:13 : 13 And no creature is hidden from God, but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.
  • Ezra 8:22 : 22 I was embarrassed to request soldiers and horsemen from the king to protect us from the enemy along the way, because we had said to the king,“The good hand of our God is on everyone who is seeking him, but his great anger is against everyone who forsakes him.”
  • Gen 28:13 : 13 and the LORD stood at its top. He said,“I am the LORD, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on.
  • Gen 8:21 : 21 And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself,“I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.
  • Deut 4:35 : 35 You have been taught that the LORD alone is God– there is no other besides him.
  • Deut 31:16-17 : 16 Then the LORD said to Moses,“You are about to die, and then these people will begin to prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land into which they are going. They will reject me and break my covenant that I have made with them. 17 At that time my anger will erupt against them and I will abandon them and hide my face from them until they are devoured. Many disasters and distresses will overcome them so that they will say at that time,‘Have not these disasters overcome us because our God is not among us?’
  • 1 Kgs 3:6 : 6 Solomon replied,“You demonstrated great loyalty to your servant, my father David, as he served you faithfully, properly, and sincerely. You have maintained this great loyalty to this day by allowing his son to sit on his throne.
  • Job 36:11-12 : 11 If they obey and serve him, they live out their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness. 12 But if they refuse to listen, they pass over the river of death, and expire without knowledge.
  • Ps 18:2 : 2 The LORD is my high ridge, my stronghold, my deliverer. My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, and my refuge.
  • Ps 89:26 : 26 He will call out to me,‘You are my father, my God, and the protector who delivers me.’
  • Prov 17:3 : 3 The crucible is for refining silver and the furnace is for gold, likewise the LORD tests hearts.
  • Isa 1:28 : 28 All rebellious sinners will be shattered, those who abandon the LORD will perish.
  • Jer 11:20 : 20 So I said,“O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you are a just judge! You examine people’s hearts and minds. I want to see you pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.”
  • Jer 20:12 : 12 O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you test and prove the righteous. You see into people’s hearts and minds. Pay them back for what they have done because I trust you to vindicate my cause.
  • Rev 2:23 : 23 Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve.
  • 2 Cor 8:12 : 12 For if the eagerness is present, the gift itself is acceptable according to whatever one has, not according to what he does not have.
  • 2 Cor 9:7 : 7 Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver.
  • Heb 12:28 : 28 So since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us give thanks, and through this let us offer worship pleasing to God in devotion and awe.
  • 1 Cor 15:34 : 34 Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God– I say this to your shame!
  • John 8:55 : 55 Yet you do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his teaching.
  • Acts 1:24 : 24 Then they prayed,“Lord, you know the hearts of all. Show us which one of these two you have chosen
  • Acts 17:23 : 23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.
  • Hos 4:6 : 6 You have destroyed my people by failing to acknowledge me! Because you refuse to acknowledge me, I will reject you as my priests. Because you reject the law of your God, I will reject your descendants.
  • John 2:25 : 25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, for he knew what was in man.
  • John 1:47 : 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed,“Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”
  • 1 Pet 5:2 : 2 Give a shepherd’s care to God’s flock among you, exercising oversight not merely as a duty but willingly under God’s direction, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
  • 1 Kgs 8:43 : 43 Then listen from your heavenly dwelling place and answer all the prayers of the foreigners. Then all the nations of the earth will acknowledge your reputation, obey you like your people Israel do, and recognize that this temple I built belongs to you.