Psalms 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ¹ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ² 

Psalms 118:5

118:5 In my distress ³  I cried out to the Lord.

The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ⁴ 

Jeremiah 33:3

33:3 ‘Call on me in prayer and I will answer you. I will show you great and mysterious ⁵  things which you still do not know about.’

Matthew 7:7-8

Ask, Seek, Knock

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

Matthew 21:22

21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, if you believe, ⁹  you will receive.”

Mark 11:24

11:24 For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

John 4:10

4:10 Jesus answered ¹⁰  her, “If you had known ¹¹  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ¹²  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹³ 

John 14:13

14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, ¹⁴  so that the Father may be glorified ¹⁵  in the Son.

John 15:7

15:7 If you remain ¹⁶  in me and my words remain ¹⁷  in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. ¹⁸ 

John 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹⁹  and appointed you to go and bear ²⁰  fruit, fruit that remains, ²¹  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

John 16:23-24

16:23 At that time ²²  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ²³  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ²⁴  16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, ²⁵  so that your joy may be complete.

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ²⁶  the synagogue, ²⁷  yet a time ²⁸  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ²⁹ 

Colossians 1:8-9

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

Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church

1:9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you, ³⁰  have not ceased praying for you and asking God ³¹  to fill ³²  you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,

Hebrews 4:16

4:16 Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help. ³³ 

James 1:5

1:5 But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him.

James 5:15

5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ³⁴ 

James 5:1

Warning to the Rich

5:1 Come now, you rich! Weep and cry aloud ³⁵  over the miseries that are coming on you.

James 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ³⁶  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ³⁷ 

James 3:1

The Power of the Tongue

3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, ³⁸  because you know that we will be judged more strictly. ³⁹ 

James 5:14-15

5:14 Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint ⁴⁰  him with oil in the name of the Lord. 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ⁴¹ 

[50:15]  ¹ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ² sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[118:5]  ³ tn Heb “from the distress.” The noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:3. In Ps 116:3 מצר should probably be emended to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”).

[118:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord answered me in a wide open place.”

[33:3]  ⁵ tn This passive participle or adjective is normally used to describe cities or walls as “fortified” or “inaccessible.” All the lexicons, however, agree in seeing it used here metaphorically of “secret” or “mysterious” things, things that Jeremiah could not know apart from the Lord’s revelation. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 170) make the interesting observation that the word is used here in a context in which the fortifications of Jerusalem are about to fall to the Babylonians; the fortified things in God’s secret counsel fall through answer to prayer.

[7:7]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[7:8]  ⁸ sn The actions of asking, seeking, and knocking are repeated here from v. 7 with the encouragement that God does respond.

[21:22]  ⁹ tn Grk “believing”; the participle here is conditional.

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ¹² tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ¹³ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.

[14:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it.”

[14:13]  ¹⁵ tn Or “may be praised” or “may be honored.”

[15:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “reside.”

[15:7]  ¹⁸ sn Once again Jesus promises the disciples ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you. This recalls 14:13-14, where the disciples were promised that if they asked anything in Jesus’ name it would be done for them. The two thoughts are really quite similar, since here it is conditioned on the disciples’ remaining in Jesus and his words remaining in them. The first phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When both of these qualifications are met, the disciples would in fact be asking in Jesus’ name and therefore according to his will.

[15:16]  ¹⁹ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ²⁰ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ²¹ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.

[16:23]  ²² tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ²³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ²⁴ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[16:24]  ²⁵ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ²⁷ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ²⁸ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ²⁹ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn Or “heard about it”; Grk “heard.” There is no direct object stated in the Greek (direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context). A direct object is expected by an English reader, however, so most translations supply one. Here, however, it is not entirely clear what the author “heard”: a number of translations supply “it” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV; NAB “this”), but this could refer back either to (1) “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8, or (2) “your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints” (v. 4). In light of this uncertainty, other translations supply “about you” (TEV, NIV, CEV, NLT). This is preferred by the present translation since, while it does not resolve the ambiguity entirely, it does make it less easy for the English reader to limit the reference only to “your love in the Spirit” at the end of v. 8.

[1:9]  ³¹ tn The term “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but the following reference to “the knowledge of his will” makes it clear that “God” is in view as the object of the “praying and asking,” and should therefore be included in the English translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ³² tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause has been translated as substantival, indicating the content of the prayer and asking. The idea of purpose may also be present in this clause.

[4:16]  ³³ tn Grk “for timely help.”

[5:15]  ³⁴ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”

[5:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “wail”; Grk “crying aloud.”

[3:1]  ³⁶ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:1]  ³⁷ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

[3:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[3:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “will receive a greater judgment.”

[5:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “anointing.”

[5:15]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “it will be forgiven him.”