'Asking' in the Bible

So the LORD God called out to the man, asking him, "Where are you?"

So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said.

Abraham continued to speak to him, asking, "What if 40 are found there?" The LORD replied, "I won't do it for the sake of those 40."

Because she had been asking, "May God give me another son," she named him Joseph.

Early in the morning Laban got up and kissed his grandchildren and his daughters [goodbye] and pronounced a blessing [asking God’s favor] on them. Then Laban left and returned home.

"Please," Jacob inquired, "Tell me your name." But he asked, "Why are you asking about my name?" And he blessed Jacob there.

"I'll send you a young goat from the flock," he responded. But she pressed him, asking, "What security will you put up until you've sent it?"

They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

No, only the men may go and worship Yahweh, for that is what you have been asking for.” And they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.

He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment (decision) of the Urim. At Joshua’s command the people shall go out and at his command they shall come in, he and all the congregation of Israel with him.”

'And now, Israel, what is Jehovah thy God asking from thee, except to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,

be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’

and a charmer, and one asking at a familiar spirit, and a wizard, and one seeking unto the dead.

The Ephraimites assembled and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, "Why did you go and fight with the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We will burn your house down right over you!"

The angel of the LORD answered him, "Why are you asking this about my name? It's "Wonderful.'"

As they approached Micah's home, they recognized the voice of the young male descendant of Levi. They turned aside from there and spoke to him, asking him, "Who brought you here? What work are you doing here? And what's your business here?"

Samuel told all the Lord’s words to the people who were asking him for a king.

Today when you leave me, you’ll find two men at Rachel’s Grave at Zelzah in the land of Benjamin. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you went looking for have been found, and now your father has stopped being concerned about the donkeys and is worried about you, asking: What should I do about my son?’

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who were the ones asking, 'Will Saul reign over us?' Hand over those men so we may execute them!"

Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.

Then all the people told Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for your servants, so that we don't die, because we made all our sins worse by asking for a king for ourselves."

Samuel answered, “Since the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy, why are you asking me?

And he saith, 'Good -- I make with thee a covenant; only, one thing I am asking of thee, that is, Thou dost not see my face, except thou dost first bring in Michal, daughter of Saul in thy coming into see my face.'

Wherever I have gone with all the Israelites, did I speak a word to any from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, asking, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’

In reply, the king asked the woman, "Please don't conceal anything about which I'm going to be asking you now." So the woman replied, "Please, your majesty, let the king speak."

Then Absalom sent a message to Joab asking him to send him to the king, but Joab was not willing to come to him. So he sent a second message to him, but he still was not willing to come.

Now the advice Ahithophel gave in those days was like someone asking about a word from God—such was the regard that both David and Absalom had for Ahithophel’s advice. >

The Gibeonites said to him, “We are not asking for money from Saul or his family, and we cannot put anyone to death in Israel.”“Whatever you say, I will do for you,” he said.

Later, David's conscience bothered him after he had numbered the army, so David told the LORD, "I have sinned greatly by what I did. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly."

His father had never challenged him at any time during his life by asking him, "Why are you acting like this?" Adonijah was very handsome and had been born after Absalom.

While he was still asking that question, Jonathan, the son of Abiathar the priest arrived, so Adonijah told him, "Come on in, since you're a worthy man and are bringing us good news!"

So now I'm asking one thing from you. Don't refuse me." "Talk," she told him.

She said, "I have one small request I am asking from you. Do {not refuse me}." The king said to her, "Ask, my mother, for I will {not refuse you}."

But King Solomon replied to his mother, "Why are you asking Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Why not ask me to give up the kingdom for him, since he's my older brother, and why not ask for Abiathar the priest, and for Zeruiah's son Joab?"

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to these people?”

Now when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king, asking, “Why have you torn your clothes? Just let Naaman come to me, and he shall know that there is a [true] prophet in Israel.”

Then Elisha prayed, asking the LORD, "Please make him able to really see!" And so when the LORD enabled the young man to see, he looked, and there was the mountain, filled with horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha!

When the army approached him, Elisha spoke to the LORD, asking him, "LORD, I'm asking you please to afflict this group of people with blindness!" So he afflicted them with blindness, just as Elisha had asked.

So Hazael went to meet Elisha and took a gift with him of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ loads; and he came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to you, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”

Later on, Jabez called on the God of Israel, asking him, ""whether you would bless me again and again, enlarge my territory, keep your power with me, keep me from evil, and keep me from harm!" And God granted what he had requested.

So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it;

In all My travels throughout Israel, have I ever spoken a word to even one of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, asking: Why haven’t you built Me a house of cedar?’

David responded to God, "I sinned greatly by behaving this way. But now I am asking you, please remove the guilt of your servant, since I have acted very foolishly."

Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to these people?”

We inquired of those elders, asking them, 'Who gave you the authority to rebuild this temple and to complete this structure?'

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking "Why is the temple of God neglected?" Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions.

"When you're thinking about asking yourselves, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem is with him?'

I have not allowed my mouth to sinby asking for his life with a curse.

Many are asking, "Who will help us to see better days?" LORD, may the light of your favor shine upon us.

My tears have been my food day and night, while people keep asking me all day long, "Where is your God?"

And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.

They spoke against God by asking, "Is God able to prepare a feast in the desert?

May his children roam around begging, asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home!

My eyes grow weary with respect to what you have promised I keep asking, "When will you comfort me?"

I rejoiced when they kept on asking me, "Let us go to the LORD's Temple."

Whoever corrects a mocker is asking for insult; whoever reproves a wicked person receives abuse.

Since a king's command is powerful, who is able to challenge him, asking, "What are you doing?"

"How do your voluminous sacrifices benefit me?" the LORD is asking. "I've had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts. I don't enjoy the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats.

Then I heard the voice of the LORD as he was asking, "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am!" I replied. "Send me."

They will say to you, "Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?"

They set out to go down to Egyptwithout asking My advice,in order to seek shelter under Pharaoh’s protectionand take refuge in Egypt’s shadow.

Your mind will meditate on the terror [asking]:“Where is he who counts?Where is he who weighs [the tribute]?Where is he who counts the towers?”

Then the word of the Lord came to me, asking, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”I replied, “I see a branch of an almond tree.”

They stopped asking, “Where is the Lordwho brought us from the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and ravines,through a land of drought and darkness,a land no one traveled throughand where no one lived?”

The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”The experts in the law no longer knew Me,and the rulers rebelled against Me.The prophets prophesied by Baaland followed useless idols.

I have paid careful attention.They do not speak what is right.No one regrets his evil,asking, ‘What have I done?’Everyone has stayed his courselike a horse rushing into battle.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah, asking,

King Zedekiah sent Shelemiah's son Jehucal and Maaseiah's son Zephaniah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, asking him, "Please pray to the LORD our God for us."

Now, please listen, your majesty, and pay attention to what I'm asking you. Don't make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so I don't die there."

And the king Zedekiah sendeth, and taketh Jeremiah the prophet unto him, unto the third entrance that is in the house of Jehovah, and the king saith unto Jeremiah, 'I am asking thee a thing, do not hide from me anything.'

"Yet you keep asking, "Why wouldn't the son bear the punishment of his father's sin?' Because the son has done what was lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes and obeyed them, he's certainly going to live.

"Meanwhile, Babylon's king is standing at the fork of the road, where he can head in either of two directions, and that's where he is practicing divination. Shaking his arrows, he's asking questions of his teraphim while he examines livers.

What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”

Daniel hath answered before the king and said, 'The secret that the king is asking, the wise men, the enchanters, the scribes, the soothsayers, are not able to shew to the king;

Then those officials who had gone to the king came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God.

I approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:

And the LORD was asking me, "What do you see, Amos?" I replied, "A plumb line." So the Lord said, "Look, I have set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will no longer spare them.

And he was asking, "What do you see, Amos?" I answered, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD told me, "The end approaches for my people Israel. I will no longer spare them.

asking, “When will the New Moon be overso we may sell grain,and the Sabbath,so we may market wheat?We can reduce the measurewhile increasing the priceand cheat with dishonest scales.

On the evil are both hands to do it well, The prince is asking -- also the judge -- for recompence, And the great -- he is speaking the mischief of his soul, And they wrap it up.

"Speak to Shealtiel's son Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, to Jehozadak's son Joshua, the high priest, and to the rest of the people, asking,

The angel who had been speaking with me answered by asking, "You don't know what these mean, do you?" So I responded, "No, sir."

by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Hosts as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, “In what way have we wearied Him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them,” or [by asking], “Where is the God of justice?”

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king (Herod the Great), magi (wise men) from the east came to Jerusalem, asking,

And having been warned [by God] in a dream not to go back to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

to him who is asking of thee be giving, and him who is willing to borrow from thee thou mayest not turn away.

be ye not therefore like to them, for your Father doth know those things that ye have need of before your asking him;

Do not be over-anxious, therefore, asking 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

For all these are questions that Gentiles are always asking; but your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things--all of them.

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Because everyone who keeps asking will receive, and the person who keeps searching will find, and the person who keeps knocking will have the door opened.

So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who keep on asking him!

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help:

While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside, asking to speak to him.

Someone told him, "Look! Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you."

And he did not answer her a word; and his disciples having come to him, were asking him, saying -- 'Let her away, because she crieth after us;'

And Jesus, having come to the parts of Caesarea Philippi, was asking his disciples, saying, 'Who do men say me to be -- the Son of Man?'

And Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?”

And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”