Job 27:8-9

27:8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off, ¹ 

when God takes away his life? ² 

27:9 Does God listen to his cry

when distress overtakes him?

Proverbs 15:8

15:8 The Lord abhors ³  the sacrifices ⁴  of the wicked, ⁵ 

but the prayer ⁶  of the upright pleases him. ⁷ 

Proverbs 15:29

15:29 The Lord is far ⁸  from the wicked,

but he hears ⁹  the prayer of the righteous. ¹⁰ 

Proverbs 21:13

21:13 The one who shuts his ears ¹¹  to the cry ¹²  of the poor,

he too will cry out and will not be answered. ¹³ 

Proverbs 28:9

28:9 The one who turns away his ear ¹⁴  from hearing the law,

even his prayer ¹⁵  is an abomination. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 1:15

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

I look the other way; ¹⁷ 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ¹⁸ 

John 9:31

9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ¹⁹  sinners, but if anyone is devout ²⁰  and does his will, God ²¹  listens to ²²  him. ²³ 

James 4:3

4:3 you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

[27:8]  ¹ tn The verb יִבְצָע (yivtsa’) means “to cut off.” It could be translated transitively or intransitively – the latter is better here (“when he is cut off”). Since the next line speaks of prayer, some have thought this verse should be about prayer. Mandelkern, in his concordance (p. 228b), suggested the verb should be “when he prays” (reading יִפְגַּע [yifga’] in place of יִבְצָע [yivtsa’]).

[27:8]  ² tn The verb יֵשֶׁל (yeshel) is found only here. It has been related spoils [or sheaves]”); שָׁאַל (sha’al, “to ask”); נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up” [i.e., pray]); and a host of others.

[15:8]  ³ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive: “the Lord abhors.” Cf. NIV “the Lord detests”; NCV, NLT “the Lord hates”; CEV “the Lord is disgusted.”

[15:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “sacrifice” (so many English versions).

[15:8]  ⁵ sn The sacrifices of the wicked are hated by the Lord because the worshipers are insincere and blasphemous (e.g., Prov 15:29; 21:3; 28:9; Ps 40:6-8; Isa 1:10-17). In other words, the spiritual condition of the worshiper determines whether or not the worship is acceptable to God.

[15:8]  ⁶ sn J. H. Greenstone notes that if God will accept the prayers of the upright, he will accept their sacrifices; for sacrifice is an outer ritual and easily performed even by the wicked, but prayer is a private and inward act and not usually fabricated by unbelievers (Proverbs, 162).

[15:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “[is] his pleasure.” The 3rd person masculine singular suffix functions as a subjective genitive: “he is pleased.” God is pleased with the prayers of the upright.

[15:29]  ⁸ sn To say that the Lord is “far” from the wicked is to say that he has made himself unavailable to their appeal – he does not answer them. This motif is used by David throughout Psalm 22 for the problem of unanswered prayer – “Why are you far off?”

[15:29]  ⁹ sn The verb “hear” (שָׁמַע, shama’) has more of the sense of “respond to” in this context. If one “listens to the voice of the Lord,” for example, it means that he obeys the Lord. If one wishes God to “hear his prayer,” it means he wishes God to answer it.

[15:29]  ¹⁰ sn God’s response to prayer is determined by the righteousness of the one who prays. A prayer of repentance by the wicked is an exception, for by it they would become the righteous (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 316).

[21:13]  ¹¹ sn The imagery means “pay no attention to” the cry for help or “refuse to help,” so it is a metonymy of cause for the effect.

[21:13]  ¹² sn “Cry” here would be a metonymy of effect for the cause, the cause being the great needs of the poor.

[21:13]  ¹³ sn The proverb is teaching that those who show mercy will receive mercy. It involves the principle of talionic justice – those who refuse the needs of others will themselves be refused when they need help (so Luke 16:19-31).

[28:9]  ¹⁴ sn The expression “turn away the ear from hearing” uses a metonymy to mean that this individual will not listen – it indicates a deliberate refusal to follow the instruction of the law.

[28:9]  ¹⁵ sn It is hard to imagine how someone who willfully refuses to obey the law of God would pray according to the will of God. Such a person is more apt to pray for some physical thing or make demands on God. (Of course a prayer of repentance would be an exception and would not be an abomination to the Lord.)

[28:9]  ¹⁶ sn C. H. Toy says, “If a man, on his part, is deaf to instruction, then God, on his part, is deaf to prayer” (Proverbs [ICC], 499). And W. McKane observes that one who fails to attend to God’s law is a wicked person, even if he is a man of prayer (Proverbs [OTL], 623).

[1:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ¹⁸ 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.

[9:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ²⁰ tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ²² tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ²³ tn Grk “this one.”