1 Samuel 1:11

1:11 She made a vow saying, “O Lord of hosts, if you will look with compassion ¹  on the suffering of your female servant, ²  remembering me and not forgetting your servant, and give a male child ³  to your servant, then I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.” ⁴ 

1 Samuel 1:27

1:27 I prayed for this boy, and the Lord has given me the request that I asked of him.

Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ⁵ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ⁶ 

Psalms 65:2

65:2 You hear prayers; ⁷ 

all people approach you. ⁸ 

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.

Isaiah 45:11

45:11 This is what the Lord says,

the Holy One of Israel, ⁹  the one who formed him,

concerning things to come: ¹⁰ 

“How dare you question me ¹¹  about my children!

How dare you tell me what to do with ¹²  the work of my own hands!

Isaiah 58:9

58:9 Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond;

you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’

You must ¹³  remove the burdensome yoke from among you

and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.

Isaiah 65:24

65:24 Before they even call out, ¹⁴  I will respond;

while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Luke 1:13

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, ¹⁵  and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you ¹⁶  will name him John. ¹⁷ 

[1:11]  ¹ tn Heb “if looking you look.” The expression can refer, as here, to looking favorably upon another, in this case with compassion.

[1:11]  ² tn Heb “handmaid.” The use of this term (translated two more times in this verse and once each in vv. 16, 17 simply as “servant” for stylistic reasons) is an expression of humility.

[1:11]  ³ tn Heb “seed of men.”

[1:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “a razor will not go up upon his head.”

[50:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ⁶ 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.

[65:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”

[65:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”

[45:11]  ⁹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[45:11]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads “the one who formed him, the coming things.” Among various suggestions, some have proposed an emendation of יֹצְרוֹ (yotsÿro, “the one who formed him”) to יֹצֵר (yotser, “the one who forms”; the suffixed form in the Hebrew text may be influenced by vv. 9-10, where the same form appears twice) and takes “coming things” as the object of the participle (either objective genitive or accusative): “the one who brings the future into being.”

[45:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Ask me” The rhetorical command sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.

[45:11]  ¹² tn Heb “Do you command me about…?” The rhetorical question sarcastically expresses the Lord’s disgust with those who question his ways.

[58:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “if you.” In the Hebrew text vv. 9b-10 are one long conditional sentence. The protasis (“if” clauses appear in vv. 9b-10a), with the apodosis (“then” clause) appearing in v. 10b.

[65:24]  ¹⁴ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[1:13]  ¹⁵ tn The passive means that the prayer was heard by God.

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “a son, and you”; καί (kai) has not been translated. Instead a semicolon is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “you will call his name John.” The future tense here functions like a command (see ExSyn 569-70). This same construction occurs in v. 31.