'Pay Attention' in the Bible

Lamech said to his wives:Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words.For I killed a man for wounding me,a young man for striking me.

Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”

He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in His eyes, pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am Yahweh who heals you.”

Balaam proclaimed his poem:Balak, get up and listen;son of Zippor, pay attention to what I say!

When you returned, you wept before the Lord, but He didn’t listen to your requests or pay attention to you.

Pay attention, heavens, and I will speak;listen, earth, to the words of my mouth.

He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.

Listen, kings! Pay attention, princes!I will sing to the Lord;I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.

As she was dying, the women taking care of her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay attention.

Then Samuel said:Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrificesas much as in obeying the Lord?Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

For ask the previous generation,and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,

If I summoned Him and He answered me,I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.

Would He prosecute me forcefully?No, He will certainly pay attention to me.

But now, Job, pay attention to my speech,and listen to all my words.

Pay attention, Job, and listen to me.Be quiet, and I will speak.

But now, because God’s anger does not punishand He does not pay attention to transgression,

Pay attention to the sound of my cry,my King and my God,for I pray to You.

A Davidic prayer.Lord, hear a just cause;pay attention to my cry;listen to my prayer—from lips free of deceit.

Listen, daughter, pay attention and consider:forget your people and your father’s house,

Pay attention to me and answer me.I am restless and in turmoil with my complaint,

For the choir director: on stringed instruments. Davidic.God, hear my cry;pay attention to my prayer.

They say, “The Lord doesn’t see it.The God of Jacob doesn’t pay attention.”

Pay attention, you stupid people!Fools, when will you be wise?

I will pay attention to the way of integrity.When will You come to me?I will live with a heart of integrity in my house.

He will pay attention to the prayer of the destituteand will not despise their prayer.

Let whoever is wise pay attention to these thingsand consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.

Listen, my sons, to a father’s discipline,and pay attention so that you may gain understanding,

My son, pay attention to my words;listen closely to my sayings.

My son, pay attention to my wisdom;listen closely to my understanding

Now, my sons, listen to me,and pay attention to the words of my mouth.

Listen closely, pay attention to the words of the wise,and apply your mind to my knowledge.

Know well the condition of your flock,and pay attention to your herds,

Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you,

Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,for the Lord has spoken:“I have raised children and brought them up,but they have rebelled against Me.

Band together, peoples, and be broken;pay attention, all you distant lands;prepare for war, and be broken;prepare for war, and be broken.

Listen and hear my voice.Pay attention and hear what I say.

Stand up, you complacent women;listen to me.Pay attention to what I say,you overconfident daughters.

You nations, come here and listen;you peoples, pay attention!Let the earth hear, and all that fills it,the world and all that comes from it.

Who among you will pay attention to this?Let him listen and obey in the future.

Coastlands, listen to me;distant peoples, pay attention.The Lord called me before I was born.He named me while I was in my mother’s womb.

Pay attention to Me, My people,and listen to Me, My nation;for instruction will come from Me,and My justice for a light to the nations.I will bring it about quickly.

Pay attention and come to Me;listen, so that you will live.I will make an everlasting covenant with you,the promises assured to David.

Evil generation,pay attention to the word of the Lord!Have I been a wilderness to Israelor a land of dense darkness?Why do My people claim,“We will go where we want;we will no longer come to You”?

Who can I speak to and give such a warningthat they will listen?Look, their ear is uncircumcised,so they cannot pay attention.See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them—they find no pleasure in it.

Yet they didn’t listen or pay attention but followed their own advice and according to their own stubborn, evil heart. They went backward and not forward.

However, they wouldn’t listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate; they did more evil than their ancestors.

Now hear the word of the Lord, you women.Pay attention to the word of His mouth.Teach your daughters a lamentand one another a dirge,

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do.”

Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud,for the Lord has spoken.

They wouldn’t listen or pay attention but became obstinate, not listening or accepting discipline.

Pay attention to me, Lord.Hear what my opponents are saying!

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says:Pay attention! Disaster spreadsfrom nation to nation.A great storm is stirred upfrom the ends of the earth.”

Time and time again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: Turn, each one from his evil way of life, and correct your actions. Stop following other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. But you would not pay attention or obey Me.

Now pay attention: Today I am setting you free from the chains that were on your hands. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look—the whole land is in front of you. Wherever it seems good and right for you to go, go there.”

But they did not listen or pay attention; they did not turn from their evil or stop burning incense to other gods.

He spoke to me: “Son of man, look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and pay attention to everything I am going to show you, for you have been brought here so that I might show it to you. Report everything you see to the house of Israel.”

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention; look with your eyes and listen with your ears to everything I tell you about all the statutes and laws of the Lord’s temple. Take careful note of the entrance of the temple along with all the exits of the sanctuary.

Hear this, priests!Pay attention, house of Israel!Listen, royal house!For the judgment applies to youbecause you have been a snare at Mizpahand a net spread out on Tabor.

Listen, all you peoples;pay attention, earth and everyone in it!The Lord God will be a witness against you,the Lord, from His holy temple.

The voice of Yahweh calls out to the city(and it is wise to fear Your name):“Pay attention to the rodand the One who ordained it.

Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.

If he pays no attention to them, tell the church. But if he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like an unbeliever and a tax collector to you.

Then He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. By the measure you use, it will be measured and added to you.

But Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed to them: “Men of Judah and all you residents of Jerusalem, let me explain this to you and pay attention to my words.

A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul.

And tell Archippus, “Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord, so that you can accomplish it.”

or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies. These promote empty speculations rather than God’s plan, which operates by faith.

and may not pay attention to Jewish myths and the commands of men who reject the truth.

So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.