Exodus 32:10-13

32:10 So now, leave me alone ¹  so that my anger can burn against them and I can destroy them, and I will make from you a great nation.”

32:11 But Moses sought the favor ²  of the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 32:12 Why ³  should the Egyptians say, ⁴  ‘For evil ⁵  he led them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy ⁶  them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger, and relent ⁷  of this evil against your people. 32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and told them, ‘I will multiply your descendants ⁸  like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken about ⁹  I will give to your descendants, ¹⁰  and they will inherit it forever.’”

Isaiah 62:6-7

62:6 I ¹¹  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ¹² 

You who pray to ¹³  the Lord, don’t be silent!

62:7 Don’t allow him to rest until he reestablishes Jerusalem, ¹⁴ 

until he makes Jerusalem the pride ¹⁵  of the earth.

Jeremiah 14:11

Judgment for Believing the Misleading Lies of the False Prophets

14:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people! ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 15:1

15:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me pleading for ¹⁷  these people, I would not feel pity for them! ¹⁸  Get them away from me! Tell them to go away! ¹⁹ 

Luke 11:7-10

11:7 Then ²⁰  he will reply ²¹  from inside, ‘Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children and I are in bed. ²²  I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ²³  11:8 I tell you, even though the man inside ²⁴  will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s ²⁵  sheer persistence ²⁶  he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

11:9 “So ²⁷  I tell you: Ask, ²⁸  and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door ²⁹  will be opened for you. 11:10 For everyone who asks ³⁰  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door ³¹  will be opened.

Luke 18:1-8

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ³²  Jesus ³³  told them a parable to show them they should always ³⁴  pray and not lose heart. ³⁵  18:2 He said, ³⁶  “In a certain city ³⁷  there was a judge ³⁸  who neither feared God nor respected people. ³⁹  18:3 There was also a widow ⁴⁰  in that city ⁴¹  who kept coming ⁴²  to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 18:4 For ⁴³  a while he refused, but later on ⁴⁴  he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people, ⁴⁵  18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out ⁴⁶  by her unending pleas.’” ⁴⁷  18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! ⁴⁸  18:7 Won’t ⁴⁹  God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out ⁵⁰  to him day and night? ⁵¹  Will he delay ⁵²  long to help them? 18:8 I tell you, he will give them justice speedily. ⁵³  Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith ⁵⁴  on earth?”

Acts 7:51

7:51 “You stubborn ⁵⁵  people, with uncircumcised ⁵⁶  hearts and ears! ⁵⁷  You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors ⁵⁸  did!

[32:10]  ¹ tn The imperative, from the word “to rest” (נוּחַ, nuakh), has the sense of “leave me alone, let me be.” It is a directive for Moses not to intercede for the people. B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 567) reflects the Jewish interpretation that there is a profound paradox in God’s words. He vows the severest punishment but then suddenly conditions it on Moses’ agreement. “Let me alone that I may consume them” is the statement, but the effect is that he has left the door open for intercession. He allows himself to be persuaded – that is what a mediator is for. God could have slammed the door (as when Moses wanted to go into the promised land). Moreover, by alluding to the promise to Abraham God gave Moses the strongest reason to intercede.

[32:11]  ² tn S. R. Driver (Exodus, 351) draws on Arabic to show that the meaning of this verb (חָלָה, khalah) was properly “make sweet the face” or “stroke the face”; so here “to entreat, seek to conciliate.” In this prayer, Driver adds, Moses urges four motives for mercy: 1) Israel is Yahweh’s people, 2) Israel’s deliverance has demanded great power, 3) the Egyptians would mock if the people now perished, and 4) the oath God made to the fathers.

[32:12]  ³ tn The question is rhetorical; it really forms an affirmation that is used here as a reason for the request (see GKC 474 §150.e).

[32:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “speak, saying.” This is redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation.

[32:12]  ⁵ tn The word “evil” means any kind of life-threatening or fatal calamity. “Evil” is that which hinders life, interrupts life, causes pain to life, or destroys it. The Egyptians would conclude that such a God would have no good intent in taking his people to the desert if now he destroyed them.

[32:12]  ⁶ tn The form is a Piel infinitive construct from כָּלָה (kalah, “to complete, finish”) but in this stem, “bring to an end, destroy.” As a purpose infinitive this expresses what the Egyptians would have thought of God’s motive.

[32:12]  ⁷ tn The verb “repent, relent” when used of God is certainly an anthropomorphism. It expresses the deep pain that one would have over a situation. Earlier God repented that he had made humans (Gen 6:6). Here Moses is asking God to repent/relent over the judgment he was about to bring, meaning that he should be moved by such compassion that there would be no judgment like that. J. P. Hyatt observes that the Bible uses so many anthropomorphisms because the Israelites conceived of God as a dynamic and living person in a vital relationship with people, responding to their needs and attitudes and actions (Exodus [NCBC], 307). See H. V. D. Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[32:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “your seed.”

[32:13]  ⁹ tn “about” has been supplied.

[32:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seed.”

[62:6]  ¹¹ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ¹² tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ¹³ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[62:7]  ¹⁴ tn “Jerusalem” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; note the following line.

[62:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[the object of] praise.”

[14:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “on behalf of these people for benefit.”

[15:1]  ¹⁷ tn The words “pleading for” have been supplied in the translation to explain the idiom (a metonymy). For parallel usage see BDB 763 s.v. עָמַד Qal.1.a and compare usage in Gen 19:27, Deut 4:10.

[15:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my soul would not be toward them.” For the usage of “soul” presupposed here see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 6 in the light of the complaints and petitions in Jeremiah’s prayer in 14:19, 21.

[15:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Send them away from my presence and let them go away.”

[11:7]  ²⁰ tn Κἀκεῖνος (kakeino") has been translated “Then he.”

[11:7]  ²¹ tn Grk “answering, he will say.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will reply.”

[11:7]  ²² tn Grk “my children are with me in the bed.” In Jewish homes in the time of Jesus, the beds were often all together in one room; thus the householder may be speaking of individual beds (using a collective singular) rather than a common bed.

[11:7]  ²³ tn The syntax of vv. 6-7 is complex. In the Greek text Jesus’ words in v. 6 begin as a question. Some see Jesus’ question ending at v. 6, but the reply starting in v. 8 favors extending the question through the entire illustration. The translation breaks up the long sentence at the beginning of v. 7 and translates Jesus’ words as a statement for reasons of English style.

[11:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man in bed in the house) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:8]  ²⁵ tn Grk “his”; the referent (the first man mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:8]  ²⁶ tn The term ἀναίδεια (anaideia) is hard to translate. It refers to a combination of ideas, a boldness that persists over time, or “audacity,” which comes close. It most likely describes the one making the request, since the unit’s teaching is an exhortation about persistence in prayer. Some translate the term “shamelessness” which is the term’s normal meaning, and apply it to the neighbor as an illustration of God responding for the sake of his honor. But the original question was posed in terms of the first man who makes the request, not of the neighbor, so the teaching underscores the action of the one making the request.

[11:9]  ²⁷ tn Here καί (kai, from καγώ [kagw]) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion drawn from the preceding parable.

[11:9]  ²⁸ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[11:9]  ²⁹ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:10]  ³⁰ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 9 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[11:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ³² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ³³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ³⁵ sn This is one of the few parables that comes with an explanation at the start: …they should always pray and not lose heart. It is part of Luke’s goal in encouraging Theophilus (1:4).

[18:2]  ³⁶ tn Grk “lose heart, saying.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the pronominal subject “He.”

[18:2]  ³⁷ tn Or “town.”

[18:2]  ³⁸ sn The judge here is apparently portrayed as a civil judge who often handled financial cases.

[18:2]  ³⁹ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:3]  ⁴⁰ sn This widow was not necessarily old, since many people lived only into their thirties in the 1st century.

[18:3]  ⁴¹ tn Or “town.”

[18:3]  ⁴² tn This is an iterative imperfect; the widow did this on numerous occasions.

[18:4]  ⁴³ tn Grk “And for.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[18:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “after these things.”

[18:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “man,” but the singular ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used as a generic in comparison to God.

[18:5]  ⁴⁶ tn The term ὑπωπιάζω (Jupwpiazw) in this context means “to wear someone out by continual annoying” (L&N 25.245).

[18:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “by her continual coming,” but the point of annoyance to the judge is her constant pleas for justice (v. 3).

[18:6]  ⁴⁸ sn Listen to what the unrighteous judge says! The point of the parable is that the judge’s lack of compassion was overcome by the widow’s persistence.

[18:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:7]  ⁵⁰ sn The prayers have to do with the righteous who cry out to him to receive justice. The context assumes the righteous are persecuted.

[18:7]  ⁵¹ tn The emphatic particles in this sentence indicate that God will indeed give justice to the righteous.

[18:7]  ⁵² sn The issue of delay has produced a whole host of views for this verse. (1) Does this assume provision to endure in the meantime? Or (2) does it mean God restricts the level of persecution until he comes? Either view is possible.

[18:8]  ⁵³ tn Some argue this should be translated “suddenly.” When vindication comes it will be quick. But the more natural meaning is “soon.” God will not forget his elect and will respond to them. It may be that this verse has a prophetic perspective. In light of the eternity that comes, vindication is soon.

[18:8]  ⁵⁴ sn Will he find faith on earth? The Son of Man is looking for those who continue to believe in him, despite the wait.

[7:51]  ⁵⁵ sn Traditionally, “stiff-necked people.” Now the critique begins in earnest.

[7:51]  ⁵⁶ tn The term ἀπερίτμητοι (aperitmhtoi, “uncircumcised”) is a NT hapax legomenon (occurs only once). See BDAG 101-2 s.v. ἀπερίτμητος and Isa 52:1.

[7:51]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “You stubborn and obstinate people!” (The phrase “uncircumcised hearts and ears” is another figure for stubbornness.)

[7:51]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”