“You people will raise your arms to pray to me—but I will refuse to look at you. You people will say more and more prayers—but I will refuse to listen to you. Why? Because your hands are covered with blood.
So the Lord says: “I will soon make something terrible happen to the people of Judah. They will not be able to escape! They will be sorry. And they will cry to me for help. But I will not listen to them.
They never call to me from their hearts.\par Yes, they cry on their beds.\par And they cut themselves\par when they ask for grain and\par new wine.\par But \{in their hearts,\} they have turned away\par from me.\par
Even if you offer me burnt offerings\par and grain offerings,\par I will not accept them!\par I will not even look at the fat animals\par you give as fellowship offerings.\par
So, you might pray to the Lord,\par but he will not answer you.\par No, the Lord will hide his face from you.\par Why? Because you do evil things!”\par
“And when you pray, don’t be like those people that don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing. Don’t pray like that. They think that God will hear them because of the many things they say.
Or when you ask, you don’t receive. Why? Because the reason you ask is wrong. You only want things so that you can use those things for your own pleasures.