'Trying' in the Bible

They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway.

Now a certain man found Joseph, and saw that he was wandering around and had lost his way in the field; so the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”

Reuben said to them, “Do not shed his blood, but [instead] throw him [alive] into the pit that is here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him [to kill him]”—[he said this so] that he could rescue him from them and return him [safely] to his father.

So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea.

and he calleth the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the 'strife' of the sons of Israel, and because of their 'trying' Jehovah, saying, 'Is Jehovah in our midst or not?'

Is it such an insignificant thing that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now you're trying to make yourself be a prince and rule over us, aren't you?

or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and wasn’t trying to harm him,

thou dost not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of the dream, for Jehovah your God is trying you, to know whether ye are loving Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul;

Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped trying to persuade her.

So Jonathan told David, "My father Saul is trying to kill you. In the morning be careful and stay hidden in a secret place.

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What [is] my guilt and what [is] my sin before your father that [he is] {trying to kill me}?

Then David told Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, "Look, David is trying to harm you?'

The woman told him, "Look, you know what Saul has done. He has removed mediums and spiritists from the land, so why are you trying to entrap me, so as to cause my death?"

the Ammonite officials said to their lord Hanun, "Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, David has sent his servants to you to get information about the city and spy on it so they can overthrow it!"

Then David said to Abishai and to all his servants, "My own son, my very own flesh and blood, is trying to take my life. So also now this Benjaminite! Leave him alone so that he can curse, for the Lord has spoken to him.

Absalom happened to run into David's soldiers. While Absalom was trying to get away on his mule, it ran under the thick branches of a giant oak tree, and Absalom's head got caught in the tree! As his mule ran out from under him, Absalom was left hanging above the ground.

So Joab's men came and laid siege against him in Abel of Beth Maacah. They prepared a siege ramp outside the city which stood against its outer rampart. As all of Joab's soldiers were trying to break through the wall so that it would collapse,

I am a peaceful person, one of the faithful in Israel, but you’re trying to destroy a city that is like a mother in Israel. Why would you devour the Lord’s inheritance?”

had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the LORD's prophets.

the Ammonite officials said to Hanun, "Do you really think David is trying to honor your father by sending these messengers to express his sympathy? No, his servants have come to you so they can get information and spy out the land!"

'And I have known, my God, that Thou art trying the heart, and uprightness dost desire; I, in the uprightness of my heart, have willingly offered all these: and now, Thy people who are found here I have seen with joy to offer willingly to Thee.

They called out loudly in the Judahite dialect to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, trying to scare and terrify them so they could seize the city.

Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying "Come, let's meet together at Kephirim on the Ono Plain." But they were just trying to do me harm.

For they were all trying to intimidate us, saying, “They will become discouraged in the work, and it will never be finished.”But now, my God, strengthen me.

Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these works of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were trying to frighten me.

"How long do you intend to keep torturing me and trying to break me by what you're saying?

May those who are trying to snatch away my life be totally embarrassed and ashamed! May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

since the price of redeeming him is too costly,one should forever stop trying—

May those who are trying to take my life be embarrassed and ashamed! May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed!

A fool finds no satisfaction in trying to understand, for he would rather express his own opinion.

Trying to keep her in check is like stopping a wind storm or grabbing oil with your right hand.

So I decided to discern the benefit of wisdom and knowledge over foolish behavior and ideas; however, I concluded that even this endeavor is like trying to chase the wind!

I said to myself regarding the sons of men, “God is surely testing them in order for them to see that [by themselves, without God] they are [only] animals.”

The Teacher says: I discovered this while trying to discover the scheme of things, item by item.

They will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

so they themselves can go into the crevices of the rocky cliffs and the openings under the rocky overhangs, trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth.

So Isaiah replied, "Pay attention, family of David. Do you consider it too insignificant to try the patience of men? Is that why you are also trying the patience of my God?

Who is he trying to teach?Who is he trying to instruct?Infants just weaned from milk?Babies removed from the breast?

“You were wearied by the length of your road,Yet you did not say, ‘It is no use.’You found renewed strength,Therefore you did not grow weak.

Look, your fasting is accompanied by arguments, brawls, and fistfights. Do not fast as you do today, trying to make your voice heard in heaven.

Who sit among the graves [trying to conjure up evil spirits] and spend the night in the secret places [where spirits are thought to dwell];Who eat swine’s flesh,And their pots hold the broth of unclean meat;

I am as full of anger as you are, Lord, I am tired of trying to hold it in." The Lord answered, "Vent it, then, on the children who play in the street and on the young men who are gathered together. Husbands and wives are to be included, as well as the old and those who are advanced in years.

And O Jehovah of Hosts, judging righteousness, Trying reins and heart, I do see Thy vengeance against them, For unto Thee I have revealed my cause.'

Then the Lord said to me, “The [counterfeit] prophets are prophesying lies in My Name. I have neither sent them nor authorized them nor spoken to them. They are prophesying to you made-up visions [pretending to call forth responses from handmade gods], a worthless divination and the deceit of their own mind.

When I say, "I won't remember the LORD, nor will I speak in his name anymore, then there is this burning fire in my heart. It is bound up in my bones, I grow weary of trying to hold it in, and I cannot do it!

and give you to those who are trying to kill you, whom you fear that is, to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Chaldeans.

So these officials said to the king, "This man must be put to death. For he is demoralizing the soldiers who are left in the city as well as all the other people there by these things he is saying. This man is not seeking to help these people but is trying to harm them."

In the shadows of the walls of Heshbon those trying to escape will stand helpless. For a fire will burst forth from Heshbon. Flames will shoot out from the former territory of Sihon. They will burn the foreheads of the people of Moab, the skulls of those war-loving people.

This is what the Lord who rules over all says, "Babylon's thick wall will be completely demolished. Her high gates will be set on fire. The peoples strive for what does not satisfy. The nations grow weary trying to get what will be destroyed."

"Son of Man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army work very hard to attack Tyre. They tore their hair out and rubbed their shoulders raw! Despite all of that work trying to capture Tyre, neither he nor his army got paid from Tyre for all that!

The king replied, “I know for certain you are trying to gain some time, because you see that my word is final.

The administrators and satraps, therefore, kept trying to find a charge against Daniel regarding the kingdom. But they could find no charge or corruption, for he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a man.

And also: Tyre, Sidon, and all the territories of Philistia—what are you to Me? Are you paying Me back or trying to get even with Me? I will quickly bring retribution on your heads.

You should not have stood at the fork in the road to slaughter those trying to escape. You should not have captured their refugees when they suffered adversity.

Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, "What have you done?" (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had previously told them.)

You will also become drunk. You will disappear, trying to hide from your enemies.

And I have brought the third into fire, And refined them like a refining of silver, And have tried them like a trying of gold, It doth call in My name, and I answer it, I have said, 'My people it is,' And it saith, 'Jehovah is my God!'

"Get up," he said. "Take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead."

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and trying him asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

And there came unto him Pharisees, trying him, and saying, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?

And although they were trying to arrest Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Jesus as a prophet.

Perceiving their wickedness, Jesus replied, "Why are you hypocrites trying to ensnare me?

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, trying him:

"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you don't allow those who are trying to enter to go in.

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death.

And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, trying him.

And there came unto him Pharisees, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife? trying him.

They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.

Two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any.

And [when it] was day, he departed [and] went to an isolated place. And the crowds were seeking him, and came to him and were trying to prevent him from departing from them.

Some men were bringing a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They were trying to take him into the house and place him in front of Jesus.

The whole crowd was trying to touch Him, because power was coming out from Him and healing them all.

Herod said, "I beheaded John. But who is this man I'm hearing so much about?" So Herod kept trying to see Jesus.

And lo, a certain lawyer stood up, trying him, and saying, 'Teacher, what having done, life age-during shall I inherit?'

And others, trying him , sought of him a sign from heaven.

How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn't go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in."

He was always trying to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs used to come and lick his sores.

He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man.

And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him,

The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to execute Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

The sick man answered him, "Sir, I don't have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I'm trying to get there, someone else steps down ahead of me."

This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him: Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

and this he said, trying him, for he himself had known what he was about to do.

After this, Jesus traveled in Galilee, since He did not want to travel in Judea because the Jews were trying to kill Him.

Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?"

Then some of the people of Jerusalem began saying, "This is the man they are trying to kill, isn't it?

and this they said, trying him, that they might have to accuse him. And Jesus, having stooped down, with the finger he was writing on the ground,

I know you are descendants of Abraham, but you are trying to kill Me because My word is not welcome among you.

But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this!

I am not trying to get praise for myself. There is one who demands it, and he also judges.

Jesus answered, "If I were trying to glorify myself, my glory would mean nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, "He is our God.'

“You were born entirely in sin,” they replied, “and are you trying to teach us?” Then they threw him out.

Then they were trying again to seize Him, yet He eluded their grasp.

The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again?"

"We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"

But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.