Proverbs 15:8

15:8 The Lord abhors ¹  the sacrifices ²  of the wicked, ³ 

but the prayer ⁴  of the upright pleases him. ⁵ 

Psalms 66:18

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ⁶ 

the Lord would not have listened.

Psalms 109:7

109:7 When he is judged, he will be found ⁷  guilty! ⁸ 

Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

Luke 13:25-27

13:25 Once ⁹  the head of the house ¹⁰  gets up ¹¹  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ¹²  let us in!’ ¹³  But he will answer you, ¹⁴  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ¹⁵  13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ¹⁶  13:27 But ¹⁷  he will reply, ¹⁸  ‘I don’t know where you come from! ¹⁹  Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁰ 

¹ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” Cf. NIV “the Lord detests”; NCV, NLT “the Lord hates”; CEV “the Lord is disgusted.”

² tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).

³ sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God.

⁴ sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).

⁵ tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.

⁶ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.

⁸ tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

⁹ tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

¹⁰ tn Or “the master of the household.”

¹¹ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

¹² tn Or “Sir.”

¹³ tn Grk “Open to us.”

¹⁴ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

¹⁵ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

¹⁶ sn This term refers to wide streets, and thus suggests the major streets of a city.

¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

¹⁸ tc Most mss (Ì^75* A D L W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 Ï) have ἐρεῖ λέγω ὑμῖν (erei legw Jumin; “he will say, ‘I say to you’”) here, while some have only ἐρεῖ ὑμῖν (“he will say to you” in א 579 pc lat sa) or simply ἐρεῖ (“he will say” in 1195 pc). The variety of readings seems to have arisen from the somewhat unusual wording of the original, ἐρεῖ λέγων ὑμῖν (erei legwn Jumin; “he will say, saying to you” found in Ì^75c B 892 pc). Given the indicative λέγω, it is difficult to explain how the other readings would have arisen. But if the participle λέγων were original, the other readings can more easily be explained as arising from it. Although the external evidence is significantly stronger in support of the indicative reading, the internal evidence is on the side of the participle.

¹⁹ sn The issue is not familiarity (with Jesus’ teaching) or even shared activity (eating and drinking with him), but knowing Jesus. Those who do not know him, he will not know where they come from (i.e., will not acknowledge) at the judgment.

²⁰ tn Grk “all you workers of iniquity.” The phrase resembles Ps 6:8.