'Accept' in the Bible

Abraham said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from me as a witness for me, that I dug this well.”

He said to Ephron in the presence of the people of the land, “If you will only please listen to me and accept my offer. I will give you the price of the field; accept it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

and you shall say, ‘Look, your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said [to himself], “I will try to appease him with the gift that is going ahead of me. Then afterward I will see him; perhaps he will accept and forgive me.”

Please accept my blessing (gift) which has been brought to you, for God has dealt graciously with me and I have everything [that I could possibly want].” So Jacob kept urging him and Esau accepted it.

then an oath before the Lord shall be made by the two of them that he has not taken his neighbor’s property; and the owner of it shall accept his word and not require him to make restitution.

So you shall keep My commandments and do them; I am the Lord.

I also was acting with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—then if their uncircumcised (sin-filled) hearts are humbled and they accept the punishment for their wickedness,

But the land will be abandoned by them and will enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them; and they will accept the punishment for their wickedness and make amends because they rejected My ordinances and their soul rejected My statutes.

“Accept these things from them, so that they may be used in the service of the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle), and give them to the Levites, to each man according to his service.”

You shall not accept a ransom for him who has escaped to his city of refuge, so that he may return to live in his [own] land before the death of the high priest.

“O Lord, bless Levi’s substance (ability),And accept and take pleasure in the work of his hands;Crush and shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,And of those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

Also, before they burned (offered) the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat to roast, since he will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw.”

They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you will accept from their hand.

Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, let Him accept an offering [from me]; but if it is men, may they be cursed before the Lord, because they have driven me out this day to keep me from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

The Gibeonites said to him, “We will not accept silver or gold belonging to Saul or his household (descendants); nor is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” David said, “I will do for you whatever you say.”

All of this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God be favorable to you.”

Then Naaman returned to the man of God, he and all the people in his group, and stood before him. He said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel; so now accept a blessing and gift from your servant.”

But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will accept nothing.” He urged him to take it, but Elisha refused.

Elisha said to him, “Did my heart not go with you, when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a [proper] time to accept money and clothing and olive orchards and vineyards and sheep and oxen and male and female servants?

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the [spiritually] foolish women speaks [ignorant and oblivious to God’s will]. Shall we indeed accept [only] good from God and not [also] accept adversity and disaster?” In [spite of] all this Job did not sin with [words from] his lips.

“Have you not asked those who travel this way,And do you not recognize their witness?

“Shall God’s retribution [for your sins] be on your terms, because you refuse to accept it?For you must do the choosing, and not I;Therefore say what you [truthfully] know.

Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him [and his prayer] so that I may not deal with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right, as My servant Job has.”

May He remember all your meal offeringsAnd accept your burnt offering. Selah.

“I will accept no young bull from your houseNor male goat from your folds.

Accept and take pleasure in the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,And teach me Your ordinances.

And you treated all my counsel as nothingAnd would not accept my reprimand,

They would not accept my counsel,And they spurned all my rebuke.

The wise in heart [are willing to learn so they] will accept and obey commands (instruction),But the babbling fool [who is arrogant and thinks himself wise] will come to ruin.

Listen to counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction,That you may be wise in the time to come.

Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, He has also given the power and ability to enjoy them and to receive [this as] his [allotted] portion and to rejoice in his labor—this is the gift of God [to him].

“Those who err in mind will know the truth,And those who criticize and murmur discontentedly will accept instruction.

Thus says the Lord to this people [Judah], “In the manner and to the degree [already pointed out] they have loved to wander; they have not restrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them; He will now remember [in detail] their wickedness and punish them for their sins.”

Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; and though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them [because they are done as obligations, and not as acts of loving obedience]. Instead I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel (Zion),” says the Lord God, “there the whole house of Israel, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There I will [graciously] accept them, and there I will seek (require) your offerings and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy and sacred things.

I will accept you [graciously] as a pleasant and soothing aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands in which you have been scattered; and I will prove Myself holy and manifest My holiness among you in the sight of the nations.

When they have completed these days, on the eighth day and from then onward, the priests shall offer your burnt offerings on the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you,’ says the Lord God.”

As for My sacrificial offerings,They sacrifice the meat [as a mere formality] and eat it,But the Lord is not pleased with them and does not accept them.Now He will remember and take into account their wickedness and guilt,And punish them for their sins.They will return [in captivity] to [another] Egypt [that is, Assyria].

Take the words [confessing your guilt] with you and return to the Lord.Say to Him, “Take away all our wickedness;Accept what is good and receive us graciously,So that we may present the fruit of our lips (gratitude).

“Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your grain offerings,I will not accept them;And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fattened animals.

“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah [as representatives]; and you go the same day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have arrived from Babylon.

“But now will you not entreat God’s favor, that He may be gracious to us? With such an offering from your hand [as an imperfect animal for sacrifice], will He show favor to any of you?” says the Lord of hosts.

“Oh, that there were even one among you [whose duty it is to minister to Me] who would shut the gates, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar uselessly [with an empty, worthless pretense]! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of hosts, “nor will I accept an offering from your hand.

You also say, ‘How tiresome this is!’ And you disdainfully sniff at it,” says the Lord of hosts, “and you bring what was taken by robbery, and the lame or the sick [animals]; this you bring as an offering! Should I receive it with pleasure from your hand?” says the Lord.

This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with [your own] weeping and sighing, because the Lord no longer regards your offering or accepts it with favor from your hand.

Whoever does not welcome you, nor listen to your message, as you leave that house or city, shake the dust [of it] off your feet [in contempt, breaking all ties].

And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is [the fulfillment of] Elijah [as the messenger] who was to come [before the kingdom].

But He said to them, “Not all men can accept this statement, but only those to whom [the capacity to receive] it has been given.

For there are eunuchs who have been born that way from their mother’s womb [making them incapable of consummating a marriage]; and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men [for royal service]; and there are eunuchs who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”

In a similar way these [in the second group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy [but accept it only superficially];

And those [in the last group] are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word [of God, the good news regarding the way of salvation] and accept it and bear fruit—thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much [as was sown].”

Any place that does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet as a testimony against them [breaking all ties with them because they rejected My message].”

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”

And as for all those who do not welcome you, when you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet [breaking all ties with them] as a testimony against them [that they rejected My message].”

but the people would not welcome Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.

Whenever you go into a city and they welcome you, eat what is set before you;

But whatever city you enter and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,

I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the management, people [who are my master’s debtors] will welcome me into their homes.’

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God [with faith and humility] like a child will not enter it at all.”

But the testimony I receive is not from man [a merely human witness]; but I say these things so that you may be saved [that is, have eternal life].

Whoever rejects Me and refuses to accept My teachings, has one who judges him; the very word that I spoke will judge and condemn him on the last day.

And Peter said to them, “Repent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

He expected his countrymen to understand that God was granting them freedom through him [assuming that they would accept him], but they did not understand.

They continued stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!”

[Philip said to him, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]

They are publicly teaching customs which are unlawful for us, as Romans, to accept or observe.”

And when Apollos wanted to go across to Achaia (southern Greece), the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples, [urging them] to welcome him gladly. When he arrived, he was a great help to those who, through grace, had believed and had followed Jesus as Lord and Savior,

in every way and in every place, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with all gratitude.

Or do you have no regard for the wealth of His kindness and tolerance and patience [in withholding His wrath]? Are you [actually] unaware or ignorant [of the fact] that God’s kindness leads you to repentance [that is, to change your inner self, your old way of thinking—seek His purpose for your life]?

For what the Law could not do [that is, overcome sin and remove its penalty, its power] being weakened by the flesh [man’s nature without the Holy Spirit], God did: He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful man as an offering for sin. And He condemned sin in the flesh [subdued it and overcame it in the person of His own Son],

But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters].

So even though I wrote to you [as I did], it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but in order to make evident to you before God how earnestly you do care for us [and your willingness to accept our authority].

But as for you, be clear-headed in every situation [stay calm and cool and steady], endure every hardship [without flinching], do the work of an evangelist, fulfill [the duties of] your ministry.

Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured [to death], refusing to accept release [offered on the condition of denying their faith], so that they would be resurrected to a better life;

If we accept [as we do] the testimony of men [that is, if we are willing to take the sworn statements of fallible humans as evidence], the testimony of God is greater [far more authoritative]; for this is the testimony of God, that He has testified regarding His Son.

If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching [but diminishes or adds to the doctrine of Christ], do not receive or welcome him into your house, and do not give him a greeting or any encouragement;

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to put himself first, does not accept what we say and refuses to recognize my authority.