Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.
The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.
When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.”
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
To me they cry, “My God, we—Israel—know you.” Israel has spurned the good; the enemy shall pursue him.
They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words.
If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
he regards the prayer of the destitute and does not despise their prayer.
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.
For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com.