Luke 11:8-10

11:8 I tell you, even though the man inside ¹  will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of the first man’s ²  sheer persistence ³  he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

11:9 “So ⁴  I tell you: Ask, ⁵  and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door ⁶  will be opened for you. 11:10 For everyone who asks ⁷  receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door ⁸  will be opened.

Luke 18:1

Prayer and the Parable of the Persistent Widow

18:1 Then ⁹  Jesus ¹⁰  told them a parable to show them they should always ¹¹  pray and not lose heart. ¹² 

Genesis 32:26-28

32:26 Then the man ¹³  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ¹⁴  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ¹⁵  “unless you bless me.” ¹⁶  32:27 The man asked him, ¹⁷  “What is your name?” ¹⁸  He answered, “Jacob.” 32:28 “No longer will your name be Jacob,” the man told him, ¹⁹  “but Israel, ²⁰  because you have fought ²¹  with God and with men and have prevailed.”

Psalms 141:1

Psalm 141 ²² 

A psalm of David.

141:1 O Lord, I cry out to you. Come quickly to me!

Pay attention to me when I cry out to you!

Jeremiah 29:12-13

29:12 When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, ²³  I will hear your prayers. ²⁴  29:13 When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, ²⁵ 

Matthew 7:7

Ask, Seek, Knock

7:7 “Ask ²⁶  and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door ²⁷  will be opened for you.

Matthew 26:40-44

26:40 Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He ²⁸  said to Peter, “So, couldn’t you stay awake with me for one hour? 26:41 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 26:42 He went away a second time and prayed, ²⁹  “My Father, if this cup ³⁰  cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will must be done.” 26:43 He came again and found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. ³¹  26:44 So leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same thing once more.

Matthew 26:2

26:2 “You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be handed over ³²  to be crucified.” ³³ 

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

[11:8]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man in bed in the house) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:8]  ² tn Grk “his”; the referent (the first man mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:8]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Here καί (kai, from καγώ [kagw]) has been translated as “so” to indicate the conclusion drawn from the preceding parable.

[11:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:10]  ⁷ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 9 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[11:10]  ⁸ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “should pray at all times” (L&N 67.88).

[18:1]  ¹² 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).

[32:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ¹⁶ sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.

[32:27]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he said to him.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:27]  ¹⁸ sn What is your name? The question is rhetorical, since the Lord obviously knew Jacob’s identity. But since the Lord is going to change Jacob’s name, this question is designed to bring focus Jacob’s attention on all that his name had come to signify.

[32:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:28]  ²⁰ sn The name Israel is a common construction, using a verb with a theophoric element (אֵל, ’el) that usually indicates the subject of the verb. Here it means “God fights.” This name will replace the name Jacob; it will be both a promise and a call for faith. In essence, the Lord was saying that Jacob would have victory and receive the promises because God would fight for him.

[32:28]  ²¹ sn You have fought. The explanation of the name Israel includes a sound play. In Hebrew the verb translated “you have fought” (שָׂרִיתָ, sarita) sounds like the name “Israel” (יִשְׂרָאֵל, yisra’el ), meaning “God fights” (although some interpret the meaning as “he fights [with] God”). The name would evoke the memory of the fight and what it meant. A. Dillmann says that ever after this the name would tell the Israelites that, when Jacob contended successfully with God, he won the battle with man (Genesis, 2:279). To be successful with God meant that he had to be crippled in his own self-sufficiency (A. P. Ross, “Jacob at the Jabboq, Israel at Peniel,” BSac 142 [1985]: 51-62).

[141:1]  ²² sn Psalm 141. The psalmist asks God to protect him from sin and from sinful men.

[29:12]  ²³ tn Heb “come and pray to me.” This is an example of verbal hendiadys where two verb formally joined by “and” convey a main concept with the second verb functioning as an adverbial qualifier.

[29:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “You will call out to me and come to me in prayer and I will hear your prayers.” The verbs are vav consecutive perfects and can be taken either as unconditional futures or as contingent futures. See GKC 337 §112.kk and 494 §159.g and compare the usage in Gen 44:22 for the use of the vav consecutive perfects in contingent futures. The conditional clause in the middle of 29:13 and the deuteronomic theology reflected in both Deut 30:1-5 and 1 Kgs 8:46-48 suggest that the verbs are continent futures here. For the same demand for wholehearted seeking in these contexts which presuppose exile see especially Deut 30:2, 1 Kgs 8:48.

[29:13]  ²⁵ tn Or “If you wholeheartedly seek me”; Heb “You will seek me and find [me] because you will seek me with all your heart.” The translation attempts to reflect the theological nuances of “seeking” and “finding” and the psychological significance of “heart” which refers more to intellectual and volitional concerns in the OT than to emotional ones.

[7:7]  ²⁶ sn The three present imperatives in this verse (Ask…seek…knock) are probably intended to call for a repeated or continual approach before God.

[7:7]  ²⁷ tn Grk “it”; the referent (a door) is implied by the context and has been specified in the translation here and in v. 8 for clarity.

[26:40]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:42]  ²⁹ tn Grk “saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[26:42]  ³⁰ tn Grk “this”; the referent (the cup) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:43]  ³¹ tn Grk “because their eyes were weighed down,” an idiom for becoming extremely or excessively sleepy (L&N 23.69).

[26:2]  ³² tn Or “will be delivered up.”

[26:2]  ³³ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.