20 Bible Verses about Unanswered Prayer

You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly (with bad motives) that you may spend it on your pleasures.

If I had thought about doing anything sinful, Jehovah would not have listened to me.

But your wrongs have separated you from your God. Your sins have made him hide his face so that he does not even hear you.

We know that God does not listen to sinners. If any man respects God and does his will, God listens to him.

This is how you despise me. You offer worthless food on my altar. Then you ask: 'How have we failed to respect you?' I tell you it is by showing contempt for my altar. You bring blind, sick and lame animals to sacrifice to me. Do you think there is nothing wrong with that? Try giving an animal like that to the governor! Would he be pleased with you or grant you any favors? Try asking God to show you favor. He will not answer your prayer! It will be your fault, Jehovah the Almighty declares.

This is what Jehovah says about these people: They love to wander. They do not keep their feet where they belong. Therefore Jehovah is not happy with them. He will remember their crimes and punish their sins.

I called you! I stretched out my hand to you. You paid no attention to me. You have ignored all my counsel. You accept no correction.

The prayer of the person who will not listen to the law is disgusting.

They refused to pay heed, turned a stubborn shoulder (resisted), and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. They made their hearts hard like flint and would not listen to the law, and the words that Jehovah of Hosts sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Great anger came from Jehovah of Hosts! I cried, and they would not listen. Now they will cry, and I will not listen,' said Jehovah of Hosts!

Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he also will cry, but will not be heard.

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are full of blood.

Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers are desecrated with sin. You speak lies, and you mutter wicked things.

Therefore Jehovah says: 'I am going to bring a disaster on them that they cannot escape. Although they will cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem will cry to the gods to whom they have been sacrificing. But these gods will never rescue them in a time of distress. Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities. You have set up many altars in Jerusalem to sacrifice to Baal. You have as many detestable altars as there are streets in Jerusalem.'read more.
Jeremiah, do not pray for these people. Do not cry or pray for them. I will not listen when they call to me for help in times of trouble.

He said to me: Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these. So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun. Jehovah said to me: Mortal man, do you see that? These people of Judah are not satisfied with merely doing all the disgusting things you have seen here and with spreading violence throughout the country. No, they must come and do them right here in the Temple and make me even angrier. Look how they insult me in the most offensive way possible by thrusting the shoot to my nose! (an obsene reference or jesture to Jehovah)read more.
They will feel all the force of my anger. I will not spare them or show them any mercy (my eye will not feel sorry). They will shout prayers to me as loud as they can. But I will not listen to them

However he must ask in faith, not doubting: for he who doubts is like a surging wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. Do not let that man think that he will receive anything from God.

What hope doe the godless have when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him?

They cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evildoers. Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it.

The Pharisee stood and prayed like this: God, I thank you, that I am not like the rest of men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice per week. I give tithes of all that I get.

You made my enemies turn their backs to me. I destroyed those who hated me. They cried out for help, but there was no one to save them. They cried out to Jehovah, but he did not answer them.

You hate good and love evil! You rip off their skin and their flesh from off their bones! You eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them! You break their bones, and chop them in pieces similar to the contents of a pot or a caldron. They will cry to Jehovah but he will not answer them. In fact, he will hide his face from them at that time because they have done evil things.