35 Bible Verses about drawing near to God

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [you] sinners, and purify [your] hearts, [you] double-minded!

And to Moses he said, "Go up to Yahweh--you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel--and you will worship at a distance. And Moses {alone} will come near to Yahweh, and they will not come near, and the people will not go up with him."

And Yahweh went down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to see and many from them fall. And even the priests who come near Yahweh must consecrate themselves, lest Yahweh break out against them."read more.
And Moses said to Yahweh, "The people are not able to go up to Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, saying, 'Set limits [around] the mountain and consecrate it.'" And Yahweh said to him, "Go, go down, and come up, you and Aaron with you and the priests, but the people must not break through to go up to Yahweh, lest he break out against them."

And all the people [were] seeing the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram's horn and the mountain smoking, and the people saw, and they trembled, and they stood at a distance. And they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will listen, but let not God speak with us, lest we die."

"Ho! Everyone thirsty, come to the waters! And whoever has no money, come, buy and eat, and come, buy without money, wine and milk without price! Why do you weigh out money for [what is] not food, and your labor for {what cannot satisfy}? Listen carefully to me, and eat [what is] good, and let your soul take pleasure in {rich} food. Extend your ear, and come to me! Listen so that your soul may live, and I will {make} an everlasting covenant with you, the enduring proofs of {the mercies shown to} David.

Any man from Aaron the priest's offspring in whom is a physical defect shall not come near to present offerings made by fire to Yahweh; a physical defect [is] in him; he shall not come near to present his God's food.

Seek Yahweh {while he lets himself be found}; call him {while he is} near. Let [the] wicked forsake his way, and [the] man of sin his thoughts. And let him return to Yahweh, that he may take pity on him, and to our God, for he will {forgive manifold}.

"These words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire and the very thick cloud [with] a loud voice, and {he did not add anything}, and [then] he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. {And then} {when you heard} the voice from the midst of the darkness, and [as] the mountain [was] burning with fire, and [and] all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me, you said, 'Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire; this day we have seen that God can speak with a human being, {yet he remains alive}.read more.
And so then why shall we die, for this great fire will consume us if {we continue} to hear the voice of Yahweh our God [any] longer, and [so] we shall die? For who [is there of] all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire as we [have heard it] {and remained alive}? [You] go near and hear {everything} that Yahweh our God will say; and [then] you tell us all that Yahweh our God tells you, and we will listen, and we will do [it].'

Blessed [is one whom] you choose and bring near, [that] he may abide in your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.

She listens to no voice; she does not accept correction. In Yahweh she does not trust; to her God she does not draw near.

But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who cared for the responsibility of my sanctuary {when the Israelites went astray} from me, they will approach me to serve me, and they will stand {before me} to offer to me fat and blood," {declares} the Lord Yahweh.

"For {in vain} I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets, like a ravening lion. O generation, you see the word of Yahweh. Have I been a desert to Israel? Or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, 'We roam about freely, we will not come again to you'?

And Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer, and they put fire in them and placed incense on it; then they presented {before} Yahweh illegitimate fire, which he had not commanded them. So fire went out {from before} Yahweh, and it consumed them so that they died {before} Yahweh. Therefore Moses said to Aaron, "This [is] what Yahweh spoke, saying, 'Among those who are close to me I will show myself holy, and {in the presence of} all the people I will display my glory.'" So Aaron was silent.

For there will be a day [when] watchmen will call in the hill country of Ephraim, 'Stand up, and let us go up [to] Zion, to Yahweh our God.'"

And the chamber {with its face to the north} [is] for the priests [who are] taking care of the responsibility of the altar. They [are] the descendants of Zadok, the [ones who] approach [from among] the descendants of Levi to Yahweh to serve him."

And their noble will be from them, and their ruler will come out from their midst. And I will bring him near and he will approach me. For who [is] he that would pledge his heart to approach me?' {declares} Yahweh. 'And you will be to me a people, and I will be to you God.'"

And he said to me, "The chambers of the north [and] the chambers of the south which [are] {before} the courtyard, they {are the holy chambers} in which the priests, who [are] near to Yahweh, will eat the {most holy objects}. There they shall put the {most holy objects}, and the grain offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place [is] holy.

The children of Israel will remain for many days without a king and prince, without sacrifice and stone pillar, ephod and teraphim. Afterward the children of Israel will return and seek Yahweh their God and David their king. They will come in fear to Yahweh and to his goodness at the end of days.

And you must give to the Levitical priests who [are] from the offspring of Zadok, the [ones] [coming] near me," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "to serve me, a bull, {a calf} as sin offering.

"For just as the new heavens and earth that I [am] about to make shall stand before me," {declares} Yahweh, "so shall your descendants and your name stand. And this shall happen: From {new moon to new moon} and from {Sabbath to Sabbath} all flesh shall come to bow in worship before me," says Yahweh.

It [is] a holy portion from the land; it will be for the priests, the servants of the sanctuary {who approach} to serve Yahweh, and it will be for them a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

" 'And when the person who discharges becomes clean from his body fluid discharge, he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing; then he shall wash his garments, and he shall wash his body with {fresh} water, and he shall be clean. Then on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two {young doves}, and he shall come {before} Yahweh at [the] tent of assembly's entrance, and he shall give them to the priest. And the priest shall {sacrifice} one [as] a sin offering and {the other} [as] a burnt offering, and so the priest shall make atonement for him {before} Yahweh from his body fluid discharge.

Yahweh [is] near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

Then on the eighth day Moses summoned Aaron and his sons and Israel's elders, and he said to Aaron, "Take for yourself {a bull calf} as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering, without defect, and present [them] {before} Yahweh. Then you must speak to the {Israelites}, saying, 'Take {a he-goat} as a sin offering and a bull calf and a male sheep, {yearlings} without defect, as a burnt offering,read more.
and an ox and a ram as fellowship offerings to sacrifice {before} Yahweh, and a grain offering mixed with oil, because today Yahweh will appear to you." So they took what Moses had commanded to [the] {front of} [the] tent of assembly, and the whole community presented [themselves], and they stood {before} Yahweh.

Return, apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. 'Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.

Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name; bring an offering and come into his courts.

You must say to them: 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "Return to me," {declares} Yahweh of hosts, "and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts.

Serve Yahweh with joy; come into his presence with exultation. Know that Yahweh, he [is] God; he made us and we are his. [We are] his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, his courts with praise. Give thanks to him; bless his name.

From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my rules, and have not kept [them]! Return to me and I will return to you," says Yahweh of hosts, "but you say, 'How shall we return?'

With what shall I approach Yahweh, and bow down to God on high? Shall I approach him with burnt offerings, with bull calves a year old? Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams, with myriads of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body [for the] sin of my soul? He has told you, O mortal, what [is] good, and what does Yahweh ask from you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Therefore, brothers, [since we] have confidence for the entrance into the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, [by the] new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh, and [since we have] a great priest over the house of God,read more.
let us approach with a true heart in the full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled [clean] from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

(for the law [made] nothing perfect), but on the other hand [there is] the introduction of a better hope through which we draw near to God.

But food does not bring us close to God. For neither if we eat do we have more, nor if we do not eat do we lack.

Thus if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood, for on the basis of it the people received the law, what further need [is there] for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek and not said to be according to the order of Aaron? For [when] the priesthood changes, of necessity there is a change of the law also. For the one about whom these [things] are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no one has officiated at the altar.read more.
For [it is] evident that our Lord is a descendant of Judah, a tribe [with reference] to which Moses said nothing concerning priests. And it is still more clear, if another priest according to the likeness of Melchizedek arises, who has become [a priest] not according to a law of physical requirement, but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is testified, "You [are] a priest {forever} according to the order of Melchizedek." For on the one hand a preceding commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law [made] nothing perfect), but on the other hand [there is] the introduction of a better hope through which we draw near to God.

For the law, possessing a shadow of the good [things] that are about to come, not the form of things itself, [is] never able {year by year} by means of the same sacrifices which they offer without interruption to make perfect those who draw near. For otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the ones who worship, having been purified once and for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? But in them [there is] a reminder of sins {year by year}.read more.
For [it is] impossible [for] the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, [when he] came into the world, he said, "Sacrifice and offering you did not want, but a body you prepared for me; you did not delight in whole burnt offerings and [offerings] for sins. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-- in the roll of the book it is written about me-- to do your will, O God.' [When he] says above, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and [offerings] for sin you did not want, nor did you delight in," which are offered according to the law, then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first in order to establish the second, by which will we are made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.