Amsal 1:28

1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;

they will diligently seek ¹  me, but they will not find me.

Yesaya 1:15

1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,

I look the other way; ² 

when you offer your many prayers,

I do not listen,

because your hands are covered with blood. ³ 

Yehezkiel 8:6

8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people ⁴  of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”

Maleakhi 1:10

1:10 “I wish that one of you would close the temple doors, ⁵  so that you no longer would light useless fires on my altar. I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will no longer accept an offering from you.

[1:28]  ¹ tn Heb “look to.” The verb שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to look”) is used figuratively of intensely looking (=seeking) for deliverance out of trouble (W. L. Holladay, Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, 366); cf. NLT “anxiously search for.” It is used elsewhere in parallelism with בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek rescue”; Hos 5:15). It does not mean “to seek early” (cf. KJV) as is popularly taught due to etymological connections with the noun שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”; so BDB 1007 s.v. שָׁחַר).

[1:15]  ² tn Heb “I close my eyes from you.”

[1:15]  ³ sn This does not just refer to the blood of sacrificial animals, but also the blood, as it were, of their innocent victims. By depriving the poor and destitute of proper legal recourse and adequate access to the economic system, the oppressors have, for all intents and purposes, “killed” their victims.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[1:10]  ⁵ sn The rhetorical language suggests that as long as the priesthood and people remain disobedient, the temple doors may as well be closed because God is not “at home” to receive them or their worship there.