'Think' in the Bible

Abram said to Sarai, "Since your servant is under your authority, do to her whatever you think best." Then Sarai treated Hagar harshly, so she ran away from Sarai.

My father may touch me! Then he'll think I'm mocking him and I'll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing."

Then his brothers asked him, "Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?" They hated him even more because of his dream and because of what he said.

They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting to do so.)

Joseph said to them, "What did you think you were doing? Don't you know that a man like me can find out things like this by divination?"

Pharaoh will think regarding the Israelites, 'They are wandering around confused in the land -- the desert has closed in on them.'

Moreover, you have not brought us into a land that flows with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you think you can blind these men? We will not come up."

This is what the Lord has commanded for Zelophehad's daughters: 'Let them marry whomever they think best, only they must marry within the family of their father's tribe.

If you think, "These nations are more numerous than I -- how can I dispossess them?"

Do not think to yourself after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, "Because of my own righteousness the Lord has brought me here to possess this land." It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out ahead of you.

Likewise, the most tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters,

So now we are in your power. Do to us what you think is good and appropriate.

Since the Lord God of Israel has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can just take it from them?

So her husband Elkanah said to her, "Do what you think best. Stay until you have weaned him. May the Lord fulfill his promise." So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she had weaned him.

Then he said to all Israel, "You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side." The army replied to Saul, "Do whatever you think is best."

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!"

He said to the king, "Don't think badly of me, my lord, and don't recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem! Please don't call it to mind!

Do to him what you think is appropriate, but don't let him live long and die a peaceful death.

But the Lord's angelic messenger told Elijah the Tishbite, "Get up, go to meet the messengers from the king of Samaria. Say this to them: 'You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are on your way to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub the god of Ekron.

They replied, "A man came up to meet us. He told us, "Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, 'This is what the Lord says: "You must think there is no God in Israel! That explains why you are sending for an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die."'"

Elijah said to the king, "This is what the Lord says, 'You sent messengers to seek an oracle from Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. You must think there is no God in Israel from whom you can seek an oracle! Therefore you will not leave the bed you lie on, for you will certainly die.'"

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?

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!"

For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder.

Do you really think that one who hates justice can govern? And will you declare guilty the supremely righteous One,

"Do you think this to be just: when you say, 'My right before God.'

It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had a head of white hair.

whenever I remember you on my bed, and think about you during the nighttime hours.

I said, "I will remember God while I groan; I will think about him while my strength leaves me." (Selah)

I said, "During the night I will remember the song I once sang; I will think very carefully." I tried to make sense of what was happening.

I will think about all you have done; I will reflect upon your deeds!"

What the righteous say is like the best silver, but what the wicked think is of little value.

For he does not think much about the fleeting days of his life because God keeps him preoccupied with the joy he derives from his activity.

When you enter my presence, do you actually think I want this -- animals trampling on my courtyards?

Those who think they are wise are as good as dead, those who think they possess understanding.

Certainly you have heard how the kings of Assyria have annihilated all lands. Do you really think you will be rescued?

To whom can you compare and liken me? Tell me whom you think I resemble, so we can be compared!

Remember this, so you can be brave! Think about it, you rebels!

You said, 'I will rule forever as permanent queen!' You did not think about these things; you did not consider how it would turn out.

Then you will think to yourself, 'Who bore these children for me? I was bereaved and barren, dismissed and divorced. Who raised these children? Look, I was left all alone; where did these children come from?'"

Whom are you worried about? Whom do you fear, that you would act so deceitfully and not remember me or think about me? Because I have been silent for so long, you are not afraid of me.

Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God; whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them.

For look, I am ready to create new heavens and a new earth! The former ones will not be remembered; no one will think about them anymore.

"How can you say, 'I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.' Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?" says the Lord.

Then you come and stand in my presence in this temple I have claimed as my own and say, "We are safe!" You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins!

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

"So tell them, 'The Lord, the God of Israel, says, "Every wine jar is made to be filled with wine."' And they will probably say to you, 'Do you not think we know that every wine jar is supposed to be filled with wine?'

Sometimes I think, "I will make no mention of his message. I will not speak as his messenger any more." But then his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it.

Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him.

Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?" the Lord asks.

"Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?" the Lord asks. "Do you not know that I am everywhere?" the Lord asks.

For did not you people of Moab laugh at the people of Israel? Did you think that they were nothing but thieves, that you shook your head in contempt every time you talked about them?

The Lord spoke about the Ammonites. "Do you think there are not any people of the nation of Israel remaining? Do you think there are not any of them remaining to reinherit their land? Is that why you people who worship the god Milcom have taken possession of the territory of Gad and live in his cities?

For the Lord says, "If even those who did not deserve to drink from the cup of my wrath must drink from it, do you think you will go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, but must certainly drink from the cup of my wrath.

You who have escaped the sword, go, do not delay. Remember the Lord in a faraway land. Think about Jerusalem.

I continually think about this, and I am depressed.

He said to me, "Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? For they think, 'The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!'"

"Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: "'Your heart is proud and you said, "I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas" -- yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike.

"'Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you think you are godlike,

Therefore say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, pray to your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess the land?

Woe to those who live in ease in Zion, to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as the elite class of the best nation. The family of Israel looks to them for leadership.

Your presumptuous heart has deceived you -- you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs, whose home is high in the mountains. You think to yourself, 'No one can bring me down to the ground!'

The city's rich men think nothing of resorting to violence; her inhabitants lie, their tongues speak deceptive words.

At that time I will search through Jerusalem with lamps. I will punish the people who are entrenched in their sin, those who think to themselves, 'The Lord neither rewards nor punishes.'

Here then is what the Lord who rules over all says: 'Think carefully about what you are doing.

Think carefully about the past: from today, the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, to the day work on the temple of the Lord was resumed, think about it.

and don't think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.

When you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard.

Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin.

"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.

He said, "Yes." When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do earthly kings collect tolls or taxes -- from their sons or from foreigners?"

What do you think? If someone owns a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go look for the one that went astray?

"What do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

Tell us then, what do you think? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

"What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said, "The son of David."

Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?

Then the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to think to themselves, "Who is this man who is uttering blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?"

Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

He answered them, "Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things?

Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem?

You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,

Thus they were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple courts, "What do you think? That he won't come to the feast?"

They will put you out of the synagogue, yet a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God.

In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.

But while John was completing his mission, he said repeatedly, 'What do you think I am? I am not he. But look, one is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet!'

So since we are God's offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.

Why do you people think it is unbelievable that God raises the dead?

But we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know that people everywhere speak against it."

And do you think, whoever you are, when you judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself, that you will escape God's judgment?

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith.

Think about the circumstances of your call, brothers and sisters. Not many were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were born to a privileged position.

One should think about us this way -- as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to die, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

Because of the impending crisis I think it best for you to remain as you are.

But in my opinion, she will be happier if she remains as she is -- and I think that I too have the Spirit of God!

I say again, let no one think that I am a fool. But if you do, then at least accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.

Now to him who by the power that is working within us is able to do far beyond all that we ask or think,