Reference: Heart
Easton
According to the Bible, the heart is the centre not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operations of human life. "Heart" and "soul" are often used interchangeably (De 6:5; 26:16; comp. Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30,33), but this is not generally the case.
The heart is the "home of the personal life," and hence a man is designated, according to his heart, wise (1Ki 3:12, etc.), pure (Ps 24:4; Mt 5:8, etc.), upright and righteous (Ge 20:5-6; Ps 11:2; 78:72), pious and good (Lu 8:15), etc. In these and such passages the word "soul" could not be substituted for "heart."
The heart is also the seat of the conscience (Ro 2:15). It is naturally wicked (Ge 8:21), and hence it contaminates the whole life and character (Mt 12:34; 15:18; comp. Ec 8:11; Ps 73:7). Hence the heart must be changed, regenerated (Eze 36:26; 11:19; Ps 51:10-14), before a man can willingly obey God.
The process of salvation begins in the heart by the believing reception of the testimony of God, while the rejection of that testimony hardens the heart (Ps 95:8; Pr 28:14; 2Ch 36:13). "Hardness of heart evidences itself by light views of sin; partial acknowledgment and confession of it; pride and conceit; ingratitude; unconcern about the word and ordinances of God; inattention to divine providences; stifling convictions of conscience; shunning reproof; presumption, and general ignorance of divine things."
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Jehovah smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.
Abraham said that she was his sister. She said the same thing. I did this with a clear conscience. I have done no wrong! God said to him in a dream: Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience. In fact, I kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
You must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with your entire mind and with all your strength.
This day Jehovah your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your being.
I will do what you have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than anyone has ever had. There has never been nor will ever be anyone like you.
Wicked people bend their bows. They set their arrows against the strings to shoot in the dark at people who are upright in heart.
He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up (turned) to falsehood and has not sworn deceitfully.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast (dependable) spirit within me. Do not force me away from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. read more. Restore the joy of your salvation to me, and establish a willing spirit in me. I will teach your ways to transgressors, and sinners will turn to you. Rescue (deliver) me from the bloodguilt of murder O God of my salvation. Let my tongue sing joyfully about your righteousness!
Their eyes stand out with fatness, and their heart's imagination run wild.
With unselfish devotion David became their shepherd. With skill he guided them.
Do not harden your hearts, as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness.
Blessed is the man reverencing God. He who hardens his heart will fall into trouble.
Sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly. Therefore the hearts of the sons of men are fully committed to do evil.
I will give them one (united) heart, and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone (unkind attitude) out of them and give them a heart of flesh (loving disposition).
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stubborn hearts and give you obedient hearts.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
You offspring of vipers. How can you who are evil speak good things? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
That which comes out of the mouth, comes from the heart and makes a man unclean.
Jesus told him: You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart (Greek: kardia: feelings, emotions), and with all your being, and with your entire mind (Greek: dianoia: understanding). (Deuteronomy 6:5)
You should love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your being (with every breath you take) (your life), with your entire mind and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
To love him with all the heart, and with all understanding, and with total strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
The good ground represents the honest and good-hearted people. They hear the word, hold fast to it and produce forth fruit with patience.
They show the work of the law written in their hearts. Their conscience also bears witness, and their thoughts accuse or excuse them.
Fausets
Often including the intellect as well as the affections and will; as conversely the "mind" often includes the feeling and will as well as the intellect. Ro 1:21, "their foolish heart was darkened." Eph 1:18, "the eyes of your understanding (the Vaticanus manuscript; but the Sinaiticus and Alexandrinus manuscripts 'heart') being enlightened." Thus, the Scripture implies that the heart and the head act and react on one another; and in men's unbelief it is the will that perverts the intellectual perceptions. Joh 7:17, "if any man be willing to (Greek) do, he shall know." "Willingness to obey" is the key to spiritual knowledge. See Jer 17:9; Ho 7:11, "Ephraim is like a silly dove without heart," i.e. "moral understanding".
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The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately corrupt. Who can understand it?
Ephraim, you are like a simpleminded, senseless dove. You call to Egypt and run to Assyria for help.
If any man does his will he shall know the teachings. He will know if it is from God, or whether I speak from myself.
for when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God. They did not thank him and were vain in their reasoning, for their foolish hearts were darkened.
Have the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know the hope of his calling, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the holy ones,
Hastings
1. Instances are not wanting in the OT of the employment of this word in a physiological sense, though they are not numerous. Jacob, for example, seems to have suffered in his old age from weakness of the heart; a sudden failure of its action occurred on receipt of the unexpected but joyful news of Joseph's great prosperity (Ge 45:26). A similar failure proved fatal in the case of Eli, also in extreme old age (1Sa 4:13-18; cf. the case of the exhausted king, 1Sa 28:20). The effect of the rending of the pericardium is referred to by Hosea as well known (1Sa 13:8); and although the proverb 'a sound (Revised Version margin 'tranquil') heart is the life of the flesh' (Pr 14:30) is primarily intended as a psychological truth, the simile is evidently borrowed from a universally recognized physiological fact (cf. Pr 4:23). The aphorism attributed to 'the Preacher' (Ec 10:2) may be interpreted in the same way; the 'right hand' is the symbol of strength and firmness, and the left of weakness and indecision (cf. Ec 2:14). Nor does it appear that OT writers were ignorant of the vital functions which the heart is called on to discharge. This will be seen by their habit of using the word metaphorically as almost a synonym for the entire life (cf. Ps 22:26; 69:32; Isa 1:5, where 'head' and 'heart' cover man's whole being).
2. The preponderating use of the word is, however, psychological; and it is in this way made to cover a large variety of thought. Thus it is employed to denote the centre of man's personal activities, the source whence the principles of his action derive their origin (see Ge 6:5; 8:21, where men's evil deeds are attributed to corruption of the heart). We are, therefore, able to understand the significance of the Psalmist's penitential prayer, 'Create in me a clean heart' (Ps 51:10), and the meaning of the prophet's declaration, 'a new heart also will I give you' (Eze 36:26; cf. Eze 11:19). The heart, moreover, was considered to be the seat of the emotions and passions (De 19:6; 1Ki 8:38; Isa 30:29; cf. Ps 104:15, where the heart is said to be moved to gladness by the use of wine). It was a characteristic, too, of Hebraistic thought which made this organ the seat of the various activities of the intellect, such as understanding (34/10/type/nsb'>Job 34:10,34; 1Ki 4:29), purpose or determination (Ex 14:5; 1Sa 7:3; 1Ki 8:48; Isa 10:7), consciousness (Pr 14:10, where, if English Version be an accurate tr of the original text, the heart is said to be conscious both of sorrow and of joy; cf. 1Sa 2:1), imagination (cf. Lu 1:51; Ge 8:21), memory (Ps 31:12; 1Sa 21:12; cf. Lu 2:19,51; 1:66). The monitions of the conscience are said to proceed from the heart (Job 27:6), and the counterpart of the NT expression 'branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron' (1Ti 4:2 RV) is found in the OT words 'I will harden his heart' (Ex 4:21; cf. De 2:30; Jos 11:20 etc.). Closely connected with the idea of conscience is that of moral character, and so we find 'a new heart' as the great desideratum of a people needing restoration to full and intimate relationship with God (Eze 18:31; cf. De 9:5; 1Ki 11:4). It is, therefore, in those movements which characterize repentance, placed in antithesis to outward manifestations of sorrow for sin, 'Rend your heart and not your garments' (Joe 2:13).
3. Moving along in the direction thus outlined, and not forgetting the influence of the Apocryphal writings on later thought (cf. e.g. Wis 8:19; Wis 17:11, Sir 42:18 etc.), we shall be enabled to grasp the religious ideas enshrined in the teaching of the NT. In the recorded utterances of Jesus, so profoundly influenced by the ancient writings of the Jewish Church, the heart occupies a very central place. The beatific vision is reserved for those whose hearts are 'pure' (Mt 5:8; cf. 2Ti 2:22; 1Pe 1:22 Revised Version margin). The heart is compared to the soil on which seed is sown; it containsmoral potentialities which spring into objective existence in the outward life of the receiver (Lu 8:15; cf., however, Mr 4:15-20, where no mention is made of this organ; see also Mt 13:18, in which the heart is referred to, as in Isa 6:10, as the seat of the spiritual understanding). Hidden within the remote recesses of the heart are those principles and thoughts which will inevitably spring into active life, revealing its purity or its native corruption (Lu 6:45; cf. Mt 12:34 f., Mt 15:18 f.). It is thus that men's characters reveal themselves in naked reality (1Pe 3:4). It is the infallible index of human character, but can be read only by Him who 'searcheth the hearts' (Ro 8:27; cf. 1Sa 16:7; Pr 21:2; Lu 16:15). Human judgment can proceed only according to the unerring evidence tendered by this resultant of inner forces, for 'by their fruits ye shall know them' (Mt 7:20). The more strictly Jewish of the NT writers show the influence of OT thought in their teaching. Where we should employ the word 'conscience' St. John uses 'heart,' whose judgments in the moral sphere are final (1Jo 3:20 f.). Nor is St. Paul free from the influence of this nomenclature. He seems, in fact, to regard conscience as a function of the heart rather than as an independent moral and spiritual organ (Ro 2:15, where both words occur; cf. the quotation Heb 10:16). In spite of the fact that the last-named Apostle frequently employs the terms 'mind,' 'understanding,' 'reason,' 'thinkings,' etc., to express the elements of intellectual activity in man, we find him constantly reverting to the heart as discharging functions closely allied to these (cf. 'the eyes of your heart,' Eph 1:18; see also 2Co 4:6). With St. Paul, too, the heart is the seat of the determination or will (cf. 1Co 7:37, where 'steadfast in heart' is equivalent to will-power). In all these and similar cases, however, it will be noticed that it is man's moral nature that he has in view; and the moral and spiritual life, having its roots struck deep in his being, is appropriately conceived of as springing ultimately from the most essentially vital organ of his personal life.
J. R. Willis.
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Jehovah saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Jehovah smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.
Jehovah smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.
they told their father that Joseph was still alive and was the ruler of Egypt. But their father was so surprised that he could not believe them.
Jehovah said to Moses: When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power. I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
The king of Egypt was told that the people had escaped. He and his officials changed their minds and said: What have we done? We have let the Israelites escape, and we have lost them as our slaves!
King Sihon of Heshbon would not allow us to pass through. Jehovah your God made him stubborn and overconfident in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
It is not because you have been living right or because you are so honest that you enter to take possession of their land. It is because these people are so wicked that Jehovah your God is forcing them out of your way. It is also because Jehovah wants to confirm the promise he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Otherwise the avenger of blood might pursue the manslayer in the heat of his anger. He may overtake him and because the way is long he may take his life. Even though he was not deserving of death, since he had not hated him previously.
It was Jehovah who hardened their hearts to make war against Israel. That way he could completely destroy them. That they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them, as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in Jehovah. My horn (strength) (power) is exalted in Jehovah. I speak against (mock) my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation.
Eli was very worried about the Ark of the Covenant. He sat besides the road staring. When the man spread the news throughout the town everyone cried out in fear. Eli heard the noise and asked: What is all this noise about? The man hurried to Eli to tell him the news. read more. Eli was now ninety-eight years old and almost completely blind. The man said: I have escaped from the battle and ran all the way here today. Eli asked him: What happened, my son? The messenger answered: Israel ran away from the Philistines. It was a great slaughter and a terrible defeat for us! Besides that, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and God's Ark of the Covenant was captured! When the man mentioned the Ark of God Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He was so old and fat that the fall broke his neck and he died. He was a leader in Israel for forty years.
They were starting to run off and leave him. Saul waited there seven days, just as Samuel had ordered him to do. But Samuel did not come.
But Jehovah said to Samuel: Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature. I have rejected him. God does not see as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance. Jehovah looks at the heart (inner man).
At once Saul fell down and lay stretched out on the ground. He was terrified by what Samuel said. He was weak because he had not eaten anything all day and all night.
I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it! My conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.
Hear me, you who have sense, far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
Humble (meek) people will eat until they are full. Those who look to Jehovah will praise him. May your heart live forever.
I have faded from memory as if I were dead and have become like a piece of broken pottery.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast (dependable) spirit within me.
The humble have seen it and are glad. And you, who seek after God, let your heart live.
And wine which makes man's heart glad. That he may make his face shine with oil, and food, which sustains man's heart.
Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it come the source of life.
The heart knows its own bitterness; and no one else can share its joy.
A sound heart is life for the body. Envy (jealousy) is like bone cancer (decay) (rottenness to the bones).
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Jehovah measures the hearts.
The wise man's eyes are in his head, but the foolish man walks in darkness. Yet I saw that the same event happens to them all.
A wise man's heart is at his right hand and a fool's heart at his left.
Why do you still want to be beaten? Why do you continue to rebel? Your whole head is infected. Your whole heart is sick.
This people's heart has become calloused. They hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.(Septuagint)
But the Assyrian emperor has his own violent plans in mind. He is determined to destroy many nations.
You will sing a song like the song you sing on a festival night. Your hearts will be happy like someone going out with a flute on the way to Jehovah's mountain, to the rock of Israel.
I will give them one (united) heart, and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone (unkind attitude) out of them and give them a heart of flesh (loving disposition).
Give up all the evil you have been doing. Get yourselves new minds and hearts. Why do you Israelites want to die?
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stubborn hearts and give you obedient hearts.
Rip apart your heart, and not your garments. Turn to Jehovah your God! He is gracious and merciful. He is slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness. He will turn back from doing harm.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
You offspring of vipers. How can you who are evil speak good things? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
That which comes out of the mouth, comes from the heart and makes a man unclean.
These are they by the wayside where the word is sown. When they have heard; Satan comes and takes away the word that has been sown in them. The same is so of the word sown upon the rocky places. When they have heard the word and receive it with joy, read more. they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while. They stumble when tribulation or persecution arise. There is the word sown among the thorns. These have heard the word, but the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things enter in and choke the word. So it becomes unfruitful. Those who represent that sown upon the good soil hear the word and accept it. They bear fruit, thirty fold, and sixty fold, and a hundred fold.
He shows strength with his arm. He scatters the proud in the thoughts of their heart.
All that heard them wondered in their heart, saying, What will this child be? For the hand of Jehovah was with him.
Mary remembered all these sayings, pondering them in her heart.
He went with them to Nazareth. He remained subject to them. His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good. The evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth that which is evil. Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
The good ground represents the honest and good-hearted people. They hear the word, hold fast to it and produce forth fruit with patience.
Jesus said: You make yourselves look righteous to other people. God knows your hearts. The things considered of great value by people are worth nothing in God's sight.
They show the work of the law written in their hearts. Their conscience also bears witness, and their thoughts accuse or excuse them.
So he who searches the hearts knows what is the inclination (purpose) (mind-set) of the Spirit [of God], because the Spirit makes intercession for the holy ones according to the will of God.
Nevertheless he who stands steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virginity he does well.
God said: Light will shine out of darkness. He shined in our hearts. He gave the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face (presence) ((person) of Jesus Christ.
Have the eyes of your heart enlightened, that you may know the hope of his calling, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the holy ones,
through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron.
Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, with those who call on the Lord with a clean heart.
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,' says Jehovah; 'I will put my laws in their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.' (Jeremiah 31:33)
Let your appearance be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible apparel of a meek and quiet spirit. This is of great value in the sight of God.
If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Morish
The heart is often referred to in scripture as the seat of the affections and of the passions, also of wisdom and understanding
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Jehovah saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become. Every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
Jehovah smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: Never again will I curse the ground because of man, for the intent of his heart is evil from childhood. I will never again destroy every living creature, as I have done.
It is from the heart that evil thoughts come such as: fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries,
The good ground represents the honest and good-hearted people. They hear the word, hold fast to it and produce forth fruit with patience.
If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and have active faith in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
But the objective is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith without hypocrisy.
Watsons
HEART. The Hebrews regarded the heart as the source of wit, understanding, love, courage, grief, and pleasure. Hence are derived many modes of expression. "An honest and good heart," Lu 8:15, is a heart studious of holiness, being prepared by the Spirit of God to receive the word with due affections, dispositions, and resolutions. We read of a broken heart, a clean heart, an evil heart, a liberal heart. To "turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers," Mal 4:6, signifies to cause them to be perfectly reconciled, and that they should be of the same mind. To want heart, sometimes denotes to want understanding and prudence: "Ephraim is like a silly dove, without heart," Ho 7:11. "O fools, and slow of heart," Lu 24:25; that is, ignorant, and without understanding. "This people's heart is waxed gross, lest they should understand with their heart," Mt 13:15; their heart is become incapable of understanding spiritual things; they resist the light, and are proof against all impressions of truth. "The prophets prophesy out of their own heart," Eze 13:2; that is, according to their own imagination, without any warrant from God.
The heart is said to be dilated by joy, contracted by sadness, broken by sorrow, to grow fat, and be hardened by prosperity. The heart melts under discouragement, forsakes one under terror, is desolate in affliction, and fluctuating in doubt. To speak to any one's heart is to comfort him, to say pleasing and affecting things to him. The heart expresses also the middle part of any thing: "Tyre is in the heart of the seas," Eze 27:4; in the midst of the seas. "We will not fear though the mountains be carried into the heart (middle) of the sea," Ps 46:2.
The heart of man is naturally depraved and inclined to evil, Jer 17:9. A divine power is requisite for its renovation, Joh 3:1-11. When thus renewed, the effects will be seen in the temper, conversation, and conduct at large. Hardness of heart is that state in which a sinner is inclined to, and actually goes on in, rebellion against God.
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Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.
The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately corrupt. Who can understand it?
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own heart (inspiration): 'Listen to the word of Jehovah!
Your borders are in the heart of the seas. Your builders have perfected your beauty.
Ephraim, you are like a simpleminded, senseless dove. You call to Egypt and run to Assyria for help.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers and bring them together again before I come and strike the earth with destruction (a curse).
The heart of this people is callous and dull. Their ears are plugged. They cannot hear. They closed their eyes and cannot see. They cannot see nor hear nor understand with their heart. They should turn around and I would heal them.'
The good ground represents the honest and good-hearted people. They hear the word, hold fast to it and produce forth fruit with patience.
He said to them: You are foolish men. You are slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night, and said to him: Rabbi! We know you are a teacher from God. No one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. read more. Jesus answered: Truly I tell you unless a person is born again (brought forth from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus asked: How could a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb again and be born? Jesus responded: I tell you truth, except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! That which is born from the flesh is flesh and that which is born from the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I say you must be born again. The wind blows where it will. You hear the sound of it. Yet you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. It is like this with every one who is born from the Spirit. Nicodemus asked: How can these things be? Jesus answered: Are you a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? This is the truth. We speak what we know and witness about what we have seen. But you do not receive our testimony.