1 Chronicles 16:11

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Seek you Yahweh and his strength; Seek his face forever more.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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וְעֻזּ֔וֹ

ʻôz

H5797

“and · strength · his”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 92× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 15:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H5810

TWOT: 1596b

might, strength - material or physical - personal or social or political

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Historical: section

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
4 nouns

Verb forms

דִּרְשׁ֤וּ Qal · Imperative
בַּקְּשׁ֥וּ Piel · Imperative

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 11 words from the Hebrew and 10 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 11 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to 1 Chronicles 16:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 27:8–9 When you said, "Seek my face," My heart said to you, "I will seek your face, Yahweh."
Zephaniah 2:2–3 before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of Yahweh comes on you, before the day of Yahweh's anger comes on you.
Psalms 68:35 You are awesome, God, in your sanctuaries. The God of Israel gives strength and power to his people. Praise be to God!
Psalms 24:6 This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek your face--even Jacob. Selah.
Psalms 67:1 May God be merciful to us, bless us, And cause his face to shine on us. Selah.
Psalms 4:6 Many say, "Who will show us any good?" Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
Amos 5:6 Seek Yahweh, and you will live; Lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
2 Chronicles 6:41 Now therefore arise, Yahweh God, into your resting-place, you, and the ark of your strength: let your priests, Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in goodness.

Psalms 78:61 And delivered his strength into captivity, His glory into the adversary's hand.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew 1 Chronicles 16:11 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

דִּרְשׁ֤וּ יְהוָה֙ וְעֻזּ֔וֹ בַּקְּשׁ֥וּ פָנָ֖יו תָּמִֽיד

Seek you Yahweh and his strength; Seek his face forever more.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX 1 Chronicles 16:11 Septuagint · lemma form

ζητέω ὁ κύριος καί ἰσχύω ζητέω ὁ πρόσωπον αὐτός διά πᾶς

Seek the Lord and be strong, seek his face continually.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on 1 Chronicles 16:11 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

The Biblical Illustrator

Joseph S. Exell

1Ch_16:11

Seek the Lord and His strength.

The seeker encouraged

There are three reasons for this.

I. Because it is an evidence of grace.

II. Because their success is sure.

III. Because, when they have found, their aim and wish in seeking are fully answered. (W. Jay.)

Threefold seeking

I. The Lord for mercy

II. His strength for service.

III. His face for happiness. (A. G. Brown.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) And his strength.—Comp. Exo_15:2, Isa_26:4 : “Jah, Jehovah is a rock of ages” (Heb.).

His face.—His presence, especially in the sanctuary. True devotion is the secret of moral strength.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

11. and his strength] Perhaps (altering the points only of the Heb. word) and be ye strong. So LXX. καὶ ἰσχύσατε (in Psa_105:4 καὶ κραταιώθητε). A promise is sometimes expressed in Heb. by the imperative.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Power. The ark was frequently the instrument of God’s power; and his people are exhorted to present themselves to pray before it. (Calmet) --- God seemed to dwell there, and often displayed his wonders. (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 11-14. The call to thanksgiving and to the praise of adoration is nosy in these verses suceeded by an earnest admonition to practical seeking of the Lord, and mindful obedience to him.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

Search for the Lord and His might The Sanctuary and Ark are called “His might,” as it is written (Ps. 78:61): “And He delivered His might into captivity,” i.e., He delivered His Ark to bring it into captivity, and it is written (ibid. 132:8): “Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place, You and the Ark of Your might.” For that reason, Eleazar, its watchman, was called Uzza, because he guarded the Ark, which was called might (עֹז). An example of this is that [Ephron was called by this name] because of the four hundred silver shekels, which is the numerical value of the name Ephron. And so, many others [as in] (Gen. 49:16): “Dan (דָן) will champion (יָדִין) the right of his people”; (ibid. verse 8): “Judah, (יְהוּדָה) you are the one; to you your brothers do homage (יוֹדוּךָ).”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

1 Chronicles, in the Historical, opens this verse with 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻôz (“strength”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “strength” (ʻôz) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Psalms 27:8–9 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «דִּרְשׁ֤וּ» is Qal Imperative. How does its form color the action?
Reading how The Biblical Illustrator and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 11 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.