⁴ When I heard these things, I sat down and wept.^(A) For some days I mourned and fasted^(B) and prayed before the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said:

⁶ But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,^(A) who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(A)

¹³ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast^(A) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’^(B)

⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.^[a]

¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.^(A)

²⁷ For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.^(A)

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit^(A) himself intercedes for us^(B) through wordless groans.