then hear their prayers from your home in heaven. Forgive and treat each person as he should be treated because you know what is in a person’s heart. Only you know what is in everyone’s heart.
If you say, “We don’t know anything about this,” God, who knows what’s in your mind, will notice. He is watching you, and he will know. He will reward each person for what he has done.
You have insulted me and spoken against me; you have raised your voice against me. You have a proud look on your face, which is against me, the Holy One of Israel!
But I, the Lord, look into a person’s heart and test the mind. So I can decide what each one deserves; I can give each one the right payment for what he does.”
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give praise and honor and glory to the King of heaven. Everything he does is right and fair, and he is able to make proud people humble.
God’s word is alive and working and is sharper than a double-edged sword. It cuts all the way into us, where the soul and the spirit are joined, to the center of our joints and bones. And it judges the thoughts and feelings in our hearts.
I will also kill her followers. Then all the churches will know I am the One who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you for what you have done.
Zebul said to Gaal, “Where is your bragging now? You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ You made fun of these men. Now go out and fight them.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t look at how handsome Eliab is or how tall he is, because I have not chosen him. God does not see the same way people see. People look at the outside of a person, but the Lord looks at the heart.”