Isaiah 44:3-5

44:3 For I will pour water on the parched ground ¹ 

and cause streams to flow ²  on the dry land.

I will pour my spirit on your offspring

and my blessing on your children.

44:4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass, ³ 

like poplars beside channels of water.

44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the Lord,’

and another will use ⁴  the name ‘Jacob.’

One will write on his hand, ‘The Lord’s,’

and use the name ‘Israel.’” ⁵ 

Jeremiah 3:4

3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! ⁶ 

You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, ⁷ 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ⁸ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ⁹  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ¹⁰ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ¹¹ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ¹² 

Matthew 6:6-9

6:6 But whenever you pray, go into your room, ¹³  close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. ¹⁴  6:7 When ¹⁵  you pray, do not babble repetitiously like the Gentiles, because they think that by their many words they will be heard. 6:8 Do ¹⁶  not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 6:9 So pray this way: ¹⁷ 

Our Father ¹⁸  in heaven, may your name be honored, ¹⁹ 

Luke 11:2

11:2 So he said to them, “When you pray, ²⁰  say:

Father, ²¹  may your name be honored; ²² 

may your kingdom come. ²³ 

Romans 8:26-27

8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, ²⁴  but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 8:27 And he ²⁵  who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit ²⁶  intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.

Ephesians 2:18

2:18 so that ²⁷  through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 6:18

6:18 With every prayer and petition, pray ²⁸  at all times in the Spirit, and to this end ²⁹  be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Jesus Our Compassionate High Priest

4:14 Therefore since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. 4:16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help. ³⁰ 

Jude 1:20

1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, ³¹ 

[44:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the thirsty.” Parallelism suggests that dry ground is in view (see “dry land” in the next line.)

[44:3]  ² tn Heb “and streams”; KJV “floods.” The verb “cause…to flow” is supplied in the second line for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew term בֵין (ven) is usually taken as a preposition, in which case one might translate, “among the grass.” But בֵין is probably the name of a tree (cf. C. R. North, Second Isaiah, 133). If one alters the preposition bet (בְּ) to kaf (כְּ), one can then read, “like a binu-tree.” (The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a supports this reading.) This forms a nice parallel to “like poplars” in the next line. חָצִיר (khatsir) is functioning as an adverbial accusative of location.

[44:5]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has a Qal verb form, “and another will call by the name of Jacob.” With support from Symmachus (an ancient Greek textual witness), some read the Niphal, “and another will be called by the name of Jacob.”

[44:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and by the name of Israel he will title.” Some, with support from several ancient versions, prefer to change the Piel (active) verb form to a Pual (passive), “and he will be titled by the name of Israel.”

[3:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.

[3:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

[3:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

[3:19]  ⁹ tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

[3:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

[3:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my father.”

[3:19]  ¹² tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”

[6:6]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tc See the tc note on “will reward you” in 6:4: The problem is the same and the ms support differs only slightly.

[6:7]  ¹⁵ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[6:8]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “So do not.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated.

[6:9]  ¹⁷ sn Pray this way. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.

[6:9]  ¹⁸ sn God is addressed in terms of intimacy (Father). The original Semitic term here was probably Abba. The term is a little unusual in a personal prayer, especially as it lacks qualification. It is not the exact equivalent of “daddy” (as is sometimes popularly suggested), but it does suggest a close, familial relationship.

[6:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”

[11:2]  ²⁰ sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.

[11:2]  ²¹ tc Most mss, including later majority (A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it), add ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς (Jhmwn Jo en toi" oujranoi", “our [Father] in heaven”) here. This makes the prayer begin like the version in Matt 6:9. The shorter version is read by Ì⁷⁵ א B (L: + ἡμῶν) 1 700 pc as well as some versions and fathers. Given this more weighty external evidence, combined with the scribal tendency to harmonize Gospel parallels, the shorter reading is preferred.

[11:2]  ²² tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”

[11:2]  ²³ tc Most mss (א A C D W Θ Ψ 070 ˹³ 33^vid Ï it) read at the end of the verse “may your will be done on earth as [it is] in heaven,” making this version parallel to Matt 6:10. The shorter reading is found, however, in weighty mss (Ì⁷⁵ B L pc), and cannot be easily explained as arising from the longer reading.

[8:26]  ²⁴ tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”

[8:27]  ²⁵ sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).

[8:27]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “for.” BDAG gives the consecutive ὅτι (Joti) as a possible category of NT usage (BDAG 732 s.v. 5.c).

[6:18]  ²⁸ tn Both “pray” and “be alert” are participles in the Greek text (“praying…being alert”). Both are probably instrumental, loosely connected with all of the preceding instructions. As such, they are not additional commands to do but instead are the means through which the prior instructions are accomplished.

[6:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and toward it.”

[4:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “for timely help.”

[1:20]  ³¹ tn The participles in v. 20 have been variously interpreted. Some treat them imperativally or as attendant circumstance to the imperative in v. 21 (“maintain”): “build yourselves up…pray.” But they do not follow the normal contours of either the imperatival or attendant circumstance participles, rendering this unlikely. A better option is to treat them as the means by which the readers are to maintain themselves in the love of God. This both makes eminently good sense and fits the structural patterns of instrumental participles elsewhere.