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Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

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Concordances
Nave Topical Bible
• Heart
Thompson Chain Reference
• Whole Heart
• Singleness of Heart
• Searcher of Hearts
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Topic Concordance
• Heart
Treasury of Biblical Knowledge
• Single Hearted
• Manasseh's Evil Heart
• Heart in Work
Torrey Topical Textbook
• Heart, the
• Heart, Character of the Unrenewed
• Heart, Character of the Renewed
Dictionaries
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary
• Heart
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
• Heart
• Hardening, Hardness of Heart
Charles Buck Dictionary
• Heart
Easton's Bible Dictionary
• Heart
Fausset Bible Dictionary
• Heart
Spurgeon's Illustration Collection
• Mercy: Dissolves the Heart
• Ignorance: of Oneã¬s Own Heart
• Heart: Seat of Spiritual Disease
•   (only first 3 shown)
Holman Bible Dictionary
• Heart
• Hardness of the Heart
Hastings' BibleDictionary
• Heart
Hastings' NT Dictionary
• Slowness of Heart
• Heart (2)
• Heart
•   (only first 3 shown)
King James Dictionary
• Hearted
• Heart
Morrish Bible Dictionary
• Heart
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• To Rule Thy Heart, Elizabeth
• Sons of the Sacred Heart of Verona
• Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
•   (only first 3 shown)
Hawker's Poor Man's Dictionary
• Heart
• Hardness of Heart
People's Bible Dictionary
• Heart
Vines' Expository Dictionary
• Tender-Hearted
• Heart, Heartily
• Heart (2)
•   (only first 3 shown)
• Heart
Whyte's Bible Characters
• Paul's Great Heaviness and Continual Sorrow of Heart
Wilson's Bible Types
• Heart
• Harden (the Heart)
• Double Heart
Webster Dictionary
• Tender-Hearted
• Stout-Hearted
• Stone-Hearted
•   (only first 3 shown)
Watson's Theological Dictionary
• Heart
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Heart
• Heart and Lung Surgery
• Heart Diseases
•   (only first 3 shown)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• Heart
Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia
• Heart
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Heart
• Heart-Burial
• Jesus Sacred Heart, Society of
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Heart of Midlothian
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Brothers of the Sacred Heart
• Congregation of the Retreat of the Sacred Heart
• Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar
•   (only first 3 shown)
The Jewish Encyclopedia
• Heart
Lexicons
• ܠܶܒ݁ܳܐ
Girdleston's OT Synonyms
• Hardening of the Heart
• Heart
• ἀθυμέω
• ἀποψύχω
• διαπρίω
•   (only first 3 shown)
• בָּל
• כָּבֵד
• כִּלְיָה
•   (only first 3 shown)

Both Old and New Testaments speak repeatedly of the heart as the centre of a person’s inner life. An examination of the hundreds of references to the heart in the Bible will show that the word is not limited in its meaning to one particular part of a person.

‘Heart’ may refer to a person’s whole inner life – what the person really is (1 Samuel 16:7; Psalms 22:26; Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 22:37; 1 Thessalonians 2:4); or it may refer to attributes of human personality such as a person’s understanding (1 Kings 3:9; Proverbs 2:10; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 1:18), desires (Deuteronomy 24:15; Proverbs 6:25; Matthew 6:21; Romans 1:24), feelings (Judges 19:6; Proverbs 14:10; Proverbs 15:30; John 14:27; James 3:14), determination (Exodus 8:15; 1 Kings 8:58; Romans 6:17; Colossians 3:22), or character (1 Samuel 13:14; Jeremiah 5:23; Romans 2:29; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Peter 3:4).

Sometimes ‘heart’ is used as another word for a person’s spirit (Psalms 51:10; Psalms 51:17; Ezekiel 36:26), soul (Deuteronomy 4:29; Proverbs 2:10; Acts 4:32) or mind (1 Samuel 2:35; Ephesians 1:18; Hebrews 8:10; cf. Matthew 22:37). (See also HUMANITY, HUMANKIND; MIND; SOUL; SPIRIT.)

The heart is what is sometimes referred to as ‘the inner being’, and is the source of all the wrong that a person does (Proverbs 6:14; Proverbs 6:18; Jeremiah 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; Romans 1:24-25; Ephesians 4:18; see SIN). Therefore, the heart must be cleansed to bring forgiveness; or, to use another picture, it must be re-created to bring new spiritual life. Only God can bring about this cleansing or re-creation (Psalms 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26; Acts 8:21-22; Ephesians 3:16; Hebrews 10:22).

Since the heart determines actions, a person must be careful to have right attitudes of heart at all times (Leviticus 19:17; Psalms 4:4; 1 Timothy 1:5; James 3:14). God sees the inner condition and judges the person accordingly (1 Samuel 16:7; Psalms 44:21; Matthew 5:8; Revelation 2:23; see also CONSCIENCE).