I don’t believe there is a Bible verse that uses that exact language, but there are two verses which come close. In Proverbs 15:8 we read, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.” The first part of this verse is describing the hypocrisy of an unsaved sinner who goes through a “religious ritual” of offering a sacrifice to the Lord. In the Old Testament it may have been an animal sacrifice that was offered on Jewish altars from a wicked heart that was only “going through the motions” of worshiping God. Or perhaps it was a Jewish man standing on a street corner praying a “pious prayer” in front of others in order to gain the attention and the applause of men. Jesus spoke of this kind of prayer in Matthew 6:5 & 7, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of streets, THAT THEY MAY BE SEEN OF MEN…And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think they will be heard for their many words.” These prayers are indeed “an abomination (hateful thing) to the Lord.” In contrast to this, the humble prayer of a righteous man brings delight to the heart of God. This prayer is usually done in PRIVATE with the goal of reaching the “eye and ear of God” alone. In that same passage in Matthew the Lord spoke of this kind of prayer, “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have SHUT YOUR DOOR, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who SEES IN SECRET will reward you openly” (verse 6). The believers heavenly Father sees and hears our prayers with great delight, but He turns away from the prayers of the unrighteous sinner. The Apostle Peter spoke of this in 1^st Peter 3:12, “For the eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.”

The other verse that came to mind is Proverbs 28:9, “One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.” One commentator on this verse began by saying, “Can a man refuse to hear God and expect God to hear him?” Of course, the answer is obviously, “No, God will not bend His ear to such a prayer.” One who willfully rejects God’s Word has no right to expect God to hear or answer his prayer and as we have seen his prayer is actually a HATEFUL THING TO GOD. God hates hypocrisy, and that is exactly what a prayer of a wicked man is. Jesus spoke some of His most condemning words to the religious hypocrites of His day. In Matthew 23:14 He said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, HYPOCRITES! For you devour widows’ houses, and FOR A PRETENCE MAKE LONG PRAYERS.” If we turn back to Proverbs chapter 15, we see that the whole life of a wicked sinner is an abomination to the Lord. “The WAY of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD…. the THOUGHTS of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD” (verses 9 & 26). Is it any wonder then that the WORDS which come from the wicked are equally “an abomination to the Lord?”

In closing, there is one prayer of the sinner that the Lord will hear; the “prayer of repentance.” This is illustrated beautifully in the book of Jonah where the king of Nineveh, after hearing that God would soon judge the city for their wickedness, told the people to “cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?” (3:8-9). We read next that “God saw their works; that they turned from their evil way; and relented from the disaster that He had said he would bring upon them, and He did not do it” (verse 10).  Another example is found in the prayer of the penitent sinner in Luke 18:13, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” How did God react to his prayer? Verse 14 says, “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God will hear the “true prayer of repentance” and it will lead to “the sinner being justified.” If you are reading this, I must ask you, “Have you taken your place as a lost sinner before God? If so, then God will surely show you mercy. He has provided His Son to be your Savior and the moment you REPENT and BELIEVE on Him you will be JUSTIFIED. We read of this in Acts 20:21 and Romans 3:24-25, “Testifying to the Jews and also to Greeks, REPENTANCE toward God and FAITH toward our Lord Jesus Christ…Being JUSTIFIED freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth as a propitiation by His blood, THROUGH FAITH IN HIS BLOOD.”   (DO)  (523.5)