1 Kings 8:30

8:30 Respond to the request of your servant and your people Israel for this place. ¹  Hear from inside your heavenly dwelling place ²  and respond favorably. ³ 

Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ⁴ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ⁵ 

Psalms 91:15

91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.

I will be with him when he is in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him honor.

Matthew 6:6

6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, ⁶  close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ⁷ 

[8:30]  ¹ tn Heb “listen to the request of your servant and your people Israel which they are praying concerning this place.”

[8:30]  ² tn Heb “and you, hear inside your dwelling place, inside heaven.” The precise nuance of the preposition אֶל (’el), used here with the verb “hear,” is unclear. One expects the preposition “from,” which appears in the parallel text in 2 Chr 6:21. The nuance “inside; among” is attested for אֶל (see Gen 23:19; 1 Sam 10:22; Jer 4:3), but in each case a verb of motion is employed with the preposition, unlike 1 Kgs 8:30. The translation above (“from inside”) is based on the demands of the immediate context rather than attested usage elsewhere.

[8:30]  ³ tn Heb “hear and forgive.”

[50:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ⁵ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[6:6]  ⁶ sn The term translated room refers to the inner room of a house, normally without any windows opening outside, the most private location possible (BDAG 988 s.v. ταμεῖον 2).

[6:6]  ⁷ tc See the tc note on “will reward you” in 6:4: The problem is the same and the ms support differs only slightly.