Jeremiah 14:12

14:12 Even if they fast, I will not hear their cries for help. Even if they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. ¹  Instead, I will kill them through wars, famines, and plagues.” ² 

Psalms 18:41

18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; ³ 

they cry out to the Lord, ⁴  but he does not answer them.

Psalms 66:18

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ⁵ 

the Lord would not have listened.

Proverbs 1:28

1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;

they will diligently seek ⁶  me, but they will not find me.

Isaiah 1:15

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

I look the other way; ⁷ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ⁸ 

Ezekiel 8:18

8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare ⁹  them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”

Micah 3:4

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ¹⁰ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Zechariah 7:13

7:13 “‘It then came about that just as I ¹¹  cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,’ the Lord Lord who rules over all had said.

Luke 13:24-28

13:24 “Exert every effort ¹²  to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 13:25 Once ¹³  the head of the house ¹⁴  gets up ¹⁵  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ¹⁶  let us in!’ ¹⁷  But he will answer you, ¹⁸  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ¹⁹  13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁰  13:27 But ²¹  he will reply, ²²  ‘I don’t know where you come from! ²³  Go away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁴  13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth ²⁵  when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, ²⁶  and all the prophets in the kingdom of God ²⁷  but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁸ 

[14:12]  ¹ sn See 6:16-20 for parallels.

[14:12]  ² tn Heb “through sword, starvation, and plague.”

[18:41]  ³ tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”

[18:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the Lord.” The words “they cry out” are supplied in the translation because they are understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[66:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[1:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “look to.” The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to look”) is used figuratively of intensely looking (=seeking) for deliverance out of trouble (W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 366); cf. NLT “anxiously search for.” It is used elsewhere in parallelism with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek rescue”; Hos 5:15). It does not mean “to seek early” (cf. KJV) as is popularly taught due to etymological connections with the noun שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”; so BDB 1007 s.v. שָׁחַר).

[1:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ⁸ 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.

[8:18]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[3:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he.” Since the third person pronoun refers to the Lord, it has been translated as a first person pronoun (“I”) to accommodate English style, which typically does not exhibit switches between persons of pronouns in the same immediate context as Hebrew does.

[13:24]  ¹² tn Or “Make every effort” (L&N 68.74; cf. NIV); “Do your best” (TEV); “Work hard” (NLT); Grk “Struggle.” The idea is to exert one’s maximum effort (cf. BDAG 17 s.v. ἀγωνίζομαι 2.b, “strain every nerve to enter”) because of the supreme importance of attaining entry into the kingdom of God.

[13:25]  ¹³ tn The syntactical relationship between vv. 24-25 is disputed. The question turns on whether v. 25 is connected to v. 24 or not. A lack of a clear connective makes an independent idea more likely. However, one must then determine what the beginning of the sentence connects to. Though it makes for slightly awkward English, the translation has opted to connect it to “he will answer” so that this functions, in effect, as an apodosis. One could end the sentence after “us” and begin a new sentence with “He will answer” to make simpler sentences, although the connection between the two sentences is thereby less clear. The point of the passage, however, is clear. Once the door is shut, because one failed to come in through the narrow way, it is closed permanently. The moral: Do not be too late in deciding to respond.

[13:25]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and answering, he will say to you.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified to “he will answer you.”

[13:25]  ¹⁹ sn For the imagery behind the statement “I do not know where you come from,” see Ps 138:6; Isa 63:16; Jer 1:5; Hos 5:3.

[13:26]  ²⁰ sn This term refers to wide streets, and thus suggests the major streets of a city.

[13:27]  ²¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[13:27]  ²² tc Most mss (Ì^75* A D L W Θ Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 Ï) have ἐρεῖ λέγω ὑμῖν (erei legw Jumin; “he will say, ‘I say to you’”) here, while some have only ἐρεῖ ὑμῖν (“he will say to you” in א 579 pc lat sa) or simply ἐρεῖ (“he will say” in 1195 pc). The variety of readings seems to have arisen from the somewhat unusual wording of the original, ἐρεῖ λέγων ὑμῖν (erei legwn Jumin; “he will say, saying to you” found in Ì^75c B 892 pc). Given the indicative λέγω, it is difficult to explain how the other readings would have arisen. But if the participle λέγων were original, the other readings can more easily be explained as arising from it. Although the external evidence is significantly stronger in support of the indicative reading, the internal evidence is on the side of the participle.

[13:27]  ²³ sn The issue is not familiarity (with Jesus’ teaching) or even shared activity (eating and drinking with him), but knowing Jesus. Those who do not know him, he will not know where they come from (i.e., will not acknowledge) at the judgment.

[13:27]  ²⁴ tn Grk “all you workers of iniquity.” The phrase resembles Ps 6:8.

[13:28]  ²⁵ sn Weeping and gnashing of teeth is a figure for remorse and trauma, which occurs here because of exclusion from God’s promise.

[13:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and Isaac and Jacob,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[13:28]  ²⁷ sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21.

[13:28]  ²⁸ tn Or “being thrown out.” The present accusative participle, ἐκβαλλομένους (ekballomenous), related to the object ὑμᾶς (Jumas), seems to suggest that these evildoers will witness their own expulsion from the kingdom.