And at the evening offering, having made myself low before God, I got up, and with signs of grief, falling down on my knees, with my hands stretched out to the Lord my God,

For what is the hope of the sinner when he is cut off, when God takes back his soul?

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

Then I will give no answer to their cries; searching for me early, they will not see me:

When they go without food, I will not give ear to their cry; when they give burned offerings and meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: but I will put an end to them by the sword and by need of food and by disease.

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.

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.

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:

When the master of the house has got up, and the door has been shut, and you, still outside, give blows on the door, saying, Lord, let us in; he will make answer and say, I have no knowledge of where you come from.

It is my desire, then, that in every place men may give themselves to prayer, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or argument.

Make many prayers

And in your prayer do not make use of the same words again and again, as the Gentiles do: for they have the idea that God will give attention to them because of the number of their words.

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Your hands

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.

See, you put your faith in false words which are of no profit.

Then give ear to this, you heads of the children of Jacob, you rulers of the children of Israel, hating what is right, twisting what is straight.

General references

They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer.

I will make clear what your righteousness is like and your works; you will have no profit in them.

You have made great the number of your dead in this town, you have made its streets full of dead men.

Let it not seem to such a man that he will get anything from the Lord;