To seek out
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The Greek verb ekzeteo intensifies seeking. It can describe prophets carefully searching concerning promised salvation, people seeking the Lord, believers earnestly approaching God, or Esau seeking a blessing after an irreversible loss.
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Full entry for ἐκζητέω (G1567) · Open the biblical lexicon
The Greek verb ekzeteo intensifies seeking. It can describe prophets carefully searching concerning promised salvation, people seeking the Lord, believers earnestly approaching God, or Esau seeking a blessing after an irreversible loss.
The BSB source-word alignment has 7 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include [ all of ] it will be charged (1), earnestly seek (1), he sought (1), may seek (1), searched (1).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Luke 11:50. Its strongest book concentrations include Hebrews (2), Luke (2), 1 Peter (1), Acts (1).
This entry includes 1 verse guide that explain exact original-language forms in context.
The Greek verb ekzeteo intensifies seeking. It can describe prophets carefully searching concerning promised salvation, people seeking the Lord, believers earnestly approaching God, or Esau seeking a blessing after an irreversible loss. In Luke's judgment saying, the verb carries a different force: bloodshed will be required or charged to the responsible generation.
Romans uses the absence of seeking God within a scriptural indictment that levels the field rather than licensing contempt for a targeted group. The word therefore names sustained pursuit or demanded accountability according to its object and construction. Responsible teaching honors careful investigation, welcomes earnest approach to God, and takes accountability for violence seriously.
It does not promise that intense desire guarantees a chosen outcome, turn divine reward into a transaction, blame victims for not seeking hard enough, or transfer a judgment text into hostility against Jewish people or any present community.
Ekzeteo describes careful prophetic inquiry, earnest pursuit of God, a desperate but unsuccessful search for a lost blessing, and the requiring of accountability for bloodshed. Object, tense, and discourse setting determine its force.
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully,
The prophets search and investigate carefully concerning the salvation and grace they had announced beforehand.
So that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who does these things
James cites the prophets to describe the nations called by God's name seeking the Lord.
And without faith it is impossible to please God. For anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
Faith approaches the living God with confidence that He exists and rewards those who earnestly seek Him.
For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. He could find no ground for repentance, though he sought the blessing with tears.
Esau's tearful pursuit of the blessing does not reverse the settled consequence of his earlier choice.
From the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.
Jesus declares that accumulated bloodshed will be charged to the responsible generation in a prophetic judgment setting.
There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
Paul's chained scriptural quotations place the failure to seek God inside a universal indictment of humanity under sin.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Verse-level guides showing how this original-language form works in its specific context, including grammar, verse function, and guarded interpretation.
Greek word. Intensive seeking with earnest pursuit; often used for seeking God or demanding accountability before God.
Intensive seeking with earnest pursuit; often used for seeking God or demanding accountability before God.
Textus Receptus witness, full corpusGreek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
7 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
I seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseI seek out, require
Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How mood, tense, and voice shift the force of this verb in context.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
How this verb appears across 6 occurrences in the NT discourse index (MACULA Greek SBLGNT).
Aspect reflects grammatical form — not authorial emphasis. Participles and infinitives are verbal adjectives and nouns respectively.
Clause data: MACULA Greek (Clear Bible, CC BY 4.0) · SBLGNT (Logos/SBL, CC BY 4.0)
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 1 selected witness from 7 lexical occurrence verses.
ἐκζητέω is built from these roots:
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Ekzeteo gives careful pursuit a serious place without making intensity sovereign over truth, grace, or consequence. First Peter honors prophets who searched their own witness carefully; faithful inquiry is not unbelief but attentive service to revelation they did not control. Acts 15 presents the inclusion of the nations as God's work, so seeking the Lord unfolds inside divine initiative and covenant promise rather than ethnic superiority.
Hebrews 11 joins earnest seeking to trust in God's reality and goodness, not to a technique for securing health, wealth, or immediate answers. Hebrews 12 shows that tearful desire cannot always restore what a prior decision has forfeited; the verse must not be used to declare that a grieving person is beyond God's mercy. Luke's use shifts from pursuit to requirement, announcing accountability for bloodshed in a specific prophetic controversy.
Romans 3 cites Scripture to bring every mouth under sin before unfolding justification by grace. Together these contexts encourage disciplined investigation, humble approach, and honest accountability while refusing manipulation, spiritual scorekeeping, anti-Jewish blame, or claims that unanswered seeking proves deficient faith.
1Pet.1.10
Ekzeteo combines the seeking verb zeteo with a prefix that can add thoroughness or intensity. Most selected contexts use it for diligent pursuit, while Luke's passive construction carries the established sense of requiring or demanding an account.
The Hebrew Scriptures repeatedly call people to seek the Lord and also portray God as requiring an account for shed blood. The New Testament draws both streams forward, joining earnest approach and careful searching with judgment that exposes violence and grace that excludes boasting.