Proverbs 21:13

21:13 The one who shuts his ears ¹  to the cry ²  of the poor,

he too will cry out and will not be answered. ³ 

Proverbs 28:9

28:9 The one who turns away his ear ⁴  from hearing the law,

even his prayer ⁵  is an abomination. ⁶ 

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 

Jeremiah 11:11

11:11 So I, the Lord, say this: ⁹  ‘I will soon bring disaster on them which they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

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. ¹⁰  Instead, I will kill them through wars, famines, and plagues.” ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 14:3

14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity ¹²  right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek ¹³  me?

Ezekiel 20:3

20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ¹⁴  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Micah 3:4

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ¹⁵ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Matthew 25:11-12

25:11 Later, ¹⁶  the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, lord! Let us in!’ ¹⁷  25:12 But he replied, ¹⁸  ‘I tell you the truth, ¹⁹  I do not know you!’

Luke 13:25

13:25 Once ²⁰  the head of the house ²¹  gets up ²²  and shuts the door, then you will stand outside and start to knock on the door and beg him, ‘Lord, ²³  let us in!’ ²⁴  But he will answer you, ²⁵  ‘I don’t know where you come from.’ ²⁶ 

James 4:3

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

[21:13]  ¹ 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]  ² sn “Cry” here would be a metonymy of effect for the cause, the cause being the great needs of the poor.

[21:13]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  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.

[11:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “Therefore, thus, says the Lord.” The person has been shifted in the translation in accordance with the difference between Hebrew and English style.

[14:12]  ¹⁰ sn See 6:16-20 for parallels.

[14:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “through sword, starvation, and plague.”

[14:3]  ¹² tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.

[14:3]  ¹³ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).

[20:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[3:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[25:11]  ¹⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[25:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[25:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “But answering, he said.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[25:12]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[13:25]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “the master of the household.”

[13:25]  ²² tn Or “rises,” or “stands up.”

[13:25]  ²³ tn Or “Sir.”

[13:25]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Open to us.”

[13:25]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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.