Psalms 53:2–3

⁶¶ Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

²And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.

¹⁷For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

⁸When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

²⁴Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

³Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.

¹³The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.

¹⁴From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

¹⁹For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth;

⁹¶ And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

²⁸And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

⁴The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

⁴The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

⁶Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

¹²They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

⁶But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

³They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

⁵Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

⁶I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle.

¹¹Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.

²⁹If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

¹HAVING therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

²So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.

²⁵¶ Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

¹⁶How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

¹¹He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

⁶And them that are turned back from the Lord; and those that have not sought the Lord, nor inquired for him.