Isaiah 1:15

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

I look the other way; ¹ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ² 

Isaiah 37:4

37:4 Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all these things the chief adviser has spoken on behalf of his master, the king of Assyria, who sent him to taunt the living God. ³  When the Lord your God hears, perhaps he will punish him for the things he has said. ⁴  So pray for this remnant that remains.’” ⁵ 

Isaiah 56:7

56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain;

I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me. ⁶ 

Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar,

for my temple will be known as a temple where all nations may pray.” ⁷ 

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

[1:15]  ² 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.

[37:4]  ³ tn Heb “all the words of the chief adviser whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to taunt the living God.”

[37:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and rebuke the words which the Lord your God hears.”

[37:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and lift up a prayer on behalf of the remnant that is found.”

[56:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the house of my prayer.”

[56:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations.”