20 Bible Verses about Why Prayer Is Unanswered

You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure.

I said in my heart, The Lord will not give ear to me:

But your sins have come between you and your God, and by your evil doings his face has been veiled from you, so that he will give you no answer.

We have knowledge that God does not give ear to sinners, but if any man is a worshipper of God and does his pleasure, to him God's ears are open.

You put unclean bread on my altar. And you say, How have we made it unclean? By your saying, The table of the Lord is of no value. And when you give what is blind for an offering, it is no evil! and when you give what is damaged and ill, it is no evil! Give it now to your ruler; will he be pleased with you, or will you have his approval? says the Lord of armies. And now, make request for the grace of God so that he may have mercy on us: this has been your doing: will he give his approval to any of you? says the Lord of armies.

This is what the Lord has said about this people: Even so they have been glad to go from the right way; they have not kept their feet from wandering, so the Lord has no pleasure in them; now he will keep their wrongdoing in mind and send punishment for their sins.

Because your ears were shut to my voice; no one gave attention to my out-stretched hand; You were not controlled by my guiding, and would have nothing to do with my sharp words:

As for the man whose ear is turned away from hearing the law, even his prayer is disgusting.

But they would not give attention, turning their backs and stopping their ears from hearing; And they made their hearts like the hardest stone, so that they might not give ear to the law and the words which the Lord of armies had said by the earlier prophets: and there came great wrath from the Lord of armies. And it came about that as they would not give ear to his voice, so I would not give ear to their voice, says the Lord of armies:

He whose ears are stopped at the cry of the poor, will himself get no answer to his cry for help.

And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.

For your hands are unclean with blood, and your fingers with sin; your lips have said false things, and your tongue gives out deceit.

So the Lord has said, I will send evil on them, which they will not be able to get away from; and they will send up a cry for help to me, but I will not give ear to them. Then the towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go crying for help to the gods to whom they have been burning perfumes: but they will give them no salvation in the time of their trouble. For the number of your gods is as the number of your towns, O Judah; and for every street in Jerusalem you have put up altars to the Baal for burning perfumes to the Baal.read more.
And as for you, make no prayers for this people, send up no cry or prayer for them: for I will not give ear to their cry in the time of their trouble.

Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? you will see even more disgusting things than these. And he took me into the inner square of the Lord's house, and at the door of the Temple of the Lord, between the covered way and the altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs turned to the Temple of the Lord and their faces turned to the east; and they were worshipping the sun, turning to the east. Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.read more.
For this reason I will let loose my wrath: my eye will not have mercy, and I will have no pity.

Let him make his request in faith, doubting nothing; for he who has doubt in his heart is like the waves of the sea, which are troubled by the driving of the wind. Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;

For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul? Will his cry come to the ears of God when he is in trouble?

There they are crying out because of the pride of the evil-doers, but he gives them no answer. But God will not give ear to what is false, or the Ruler of all take note of it;

The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer. Twice in the week I go without food; I give a tenth of all I have.

By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off. They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones; Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot. Then they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because their acts have been evil.