'Trying' in the Bible

Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door.

When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to dissuade her.

So Jonathan told David, "My father Saul is trying to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find a hiding place and stay in seclusion.

the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, "Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!"

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "My own son, my very own flesh and blood, is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

So Joab's men came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab's soldiers were trying to break through the wall so that it would collapse,

the Ammonite officials said to Hanun, "Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, his servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land!"

They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs -- also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!

May those who are trying to snatch away my life be totally embarrassed and ashamed! May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

May those who are trying to take my life be embarrassed and ashamed! May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the wind!

The Teacher says: I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

They will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

So Isaiah replied, "Pay attention, family of David. Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

Who is the Lord trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother's breast!

Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, I am tired of trying to hold it in." The Lord answered, "Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

Sometimes I think, "I will make no mention of his message. I will not speak as his messenger any more." But then his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it.

So these officials said to the king, "This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. This man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them."

In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people.

This is what the Lord who rules over all says, "Babylon's thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed."

Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption.

Why are you doing these things to me, Tyre and Sidon? Are you trying to get even with me, land of Philistia? I will very quickly repay you for what you have done!

You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape. You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity.

Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, "What have you done?" (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had previously told them.)

"But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the kingdom of heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Just then some men showed up, carrying a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to bring him in and place him before Jesus.

The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all.

He was trying to get a look at Jesus, but being a short man he could not see over the crowd.

The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to execute Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me."

For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

The crowd answered, "You're possessed by a demon! Who is trying to kill you?"

Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill?

But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this!

I am not trying to get praise for myself. There is one who demands it, and he also judges.

The disciples replied, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going there again?"

But Saul was trying to destroy the church; entering one house after another, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.

He was speaking and debating with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they were trying to kill him.

But the magician Elymas (for that is the way his name is translated) opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

But the Jews became jealous, and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar. They attacked Jason's house, trying to find Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly.

While they were trying to kill him, a report was sent up to the commanding officer of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.

If then I am in the wrong and have done anything that deserves death, I am not trying to escape dying, but if not one of their charges against me is true, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar!"

For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple courts and were trying to kill me.

They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying in even greater numbers. From morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets.

But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face difficult circumstances, and I am trying to spare you such problems.

Or are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we really stronger than he is?

Do you not have houses so that you can eat and drink? Or are you trying to show contempt for the church of God by shaming those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who take pride in outward appearance and not in what is in the heart.

I do not want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters,

Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ!

For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it.

Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by human effort?

You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

Those who want to make a good showing in external matters are trying to force you to be circumcised. They do so only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

Dear friends, this is already the second letter I have written you, in which I am trying to stir up your pure mind by way of reminder:

These things I have written to you about those who are trying to deceive you.