Psalms 79:6

79:6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, ¹ 

on the kingdoms that do not pray to you! ² 

Job 21:15

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ³  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ⁴  to him?’ ⁵ 

Job 27:10

27:10 Will he find delight ⁶  in the Almighty?

Will he call out to God at all times?

Isaiah 64:7

64:7 No one invokes ⁷  your name,

or makes an effort ⁸  to take hold of you.

For you have rejected us ⁹ 

and handed us over to our own sins. ¹⁰ 

[79:6]  ¹ tn Heb “which do not know you.” Here the Hebrew term “know” means “acknowledge the authority of.”

[79:6]  ² sn The kingdoms that do not pray to you. The people of these kingdoms pray to other gods, not the Lord, because they do not recognize his authority over them.

[21:15]  ³ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ⁴ tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

[21:15]  ⁵ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[27:10]  ⁶ tn See the note on 22:26 where the same verb is employed.

[64:7]  ⁷ tn Or “calls out in”; NASB, NIV, NRSV “calls on.”

[64:7]  ⁸ tn Or “rouses himself”; NASB “arouses himself.”

[64:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “for you have hidden your face from us.”

[64:7]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and you caused us to melt in the hand of our sin.” The verb וַתְּמוּגֵנוּ (vattÿmugenu) is a Qal preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the root מוּג (mug, “melt”). However, elsewhere the Qal of this verb is intransitive. If the verbal root מוּג (mug) is retained here, the form should be emended to a Polel pattern (וַתְּמֹגְגֵנוּ, vattÿmogÿgenu). The translation assumes an emendation to וַתְּמַגְּנֵנוּ (vattÿmaggÿnenu, “and you handed us over”). This form is a Piel preterite 2nd person masculine singular with a 1st person common plural suffix from the verbal root מִגֵּן (miggen, “hand over, surrender”; see HALOT 545 s.v. מגן and BDB 171 s.v. מָגָן). The point is that God has abandoned them to their sinful ways and no longer seeks reconciliation.