Isaiah 1:15

Israel's Corrupt Religion

¹⁴
“I hate [the hypocrisy of] your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵ 
“So when you spread out your hands [in prayer, pleading for My help],
I will hide My eyes from you;
Yes, even though you offer many prayers,
I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood! ¹⁶
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Get your evil deeds out of My sight.
Stop doing evil,

Give Ear

With Blood

Isaiah 59:2-3

But your wickedness has separated you from your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Micah 3:4

Then they will cry to the Lord,
But He will not answer them;
Instead, He will even hide His face from them at that time [withholding His mercy]
Because they have practiced and tolerated and ignored evil acts.

1 Kings 8:22

Then Solomon stood [in the courtyard] before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.

Proverbs 1:28

“Then they will call upon me (Wisdom), but I will not answer;
They will seek me eagerly but they will not find me,

1 Kings 8:54

When Solomon finished offering this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the Lord’s altar, where he had knelt down with his hands stretched toward heaven.

Ezra 9:5

At the evening offering I arose from my [time of] humiliation and penitence and having torn my clothing and my robe, I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God,

Job 27:8-9

“For what is the hope of the godless, even though he has gained [in this world],
When God takes his life?

Job 27:20

“Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly rising] flood;
A windstorm steals him away in the night.

Psalm 55:1

Listen to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my plea.

Psalm 66:18

If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it],
The Lord will not hear [me];

Psalm 134:2

Lift up your hands to the sanctuary
And bless the Lord.

Isaiah 8:17

And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will look eagerly for Him.

Isaiah 58:7

“Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not to hide yourself from [the needs of] your own flesh and blood?

Jeremiah 7:8-10

“Behold, you are trusting in deceptive and useless words that bring no benefit.

Jeremiah 14:12

Though they fast, I will not hear their cry; and though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them [because they are done as obligations, and not as acts of loving obedience]. Instead I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.”

Ezekiel 8:17-18

He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too slight a thing for the house of Judah to commit the repulsive acts which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and repeatedly provoked Me to anger? And behold, they are putting the branch to their nose.

Micah 3:9-11

Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who hate and reject justice
And twist everything that is straight,

Zechariah 7:13

And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of hosts;

Matthew 6:7

“And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

Matthew 23:13

“But woe (judgment is coming) to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven in front of people; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are [in the process of] entering to do so.

Luke 13:25-28

Once the head of the house gets up and closes the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door [again and again], saying, ‘Lord, open to us!’ then He will answer you, ‘I do not know where you are from [for you are not of My household].’

1 Timothy 2:8

Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger and disputing or quarreling or doubt [in their mind].