1 Kings 8:22

Solomon Prays for Israel

8:22 Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the entire assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward the sky. ¹ 

1 Kings 8:38

8:38 When all your people Israel pray and ask for help, ²  as they acknowledge their pain ³  and spread out their hands toward this temple,

Isaiah 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ⁴ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 4:31

4:31 In fact, ⁶  I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby.

It is the cry of Daughter Zion ⁷  gasping for breath,

reaching out for help, ⁸  saying, “I am done in! ⁹ 

My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”

[8:22]  ¹ tn Or “heaven.”

[8:38]  ² tn Heb “every prayer, every request for help which will be to all the people, to all your people Israel.”

[8:38]  ³ tn Heb “which they know, each the pain of his heart.”

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ⁵ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[4:31]  ⁶ tn The particle כִּי (ki) is more likely asseverative here than causal.

[4:31]  ⁷ sn Jerusalem is personified as a helpless maiden.

[4:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “spreading out her hands.” The idea of asking or pleading for help is implicit in the figure.

[4:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “Woe, now to me!” See the translator’s note on 4:13 for the usage of “Woe to…”