Another interpretation: “Why are you crying out to Me?” – that is what is written: “It will be before they call, and I will answer, [while they are still speaking, and I will hear]” (Isaiah 65:24). Twice He says in the verse: “and I…and I,” and Moses says [in the Torah]: “See now that I, I, am He (Deuteronomy 32:39). Indeed, anyone who performs the will of the Holy One blessed be He and directs his heart in prayer, He hears him in this world and likewise in the World to Come, as it is stated: “It will be before they call, and I will answer,” in this world; and in the future, “they are still speaking, and I will hear.”
What are they speaking about? It is that each of them is standing and reciting what he has learned and, as it were, He is sitting and reciting with him, as it is stated: “Then they who fear the Lord spoke one with the other” (Malachi 3:16), and it is written: “Your eyes shall see your Teacher” (Isaiah 30:20), and it says: “All your children are taught by the Lord” (Isaiah 54:13). So, the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses: If so,2If you have already directed your heart in prayer. “why are you crying out to Me?”
“It will be before they call, and I will answer” (Isaiah 65:24). Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat said: If one of flesh and blood hears the claims of a person, he can render his judgment; if he hasn’t heard, he is unable to determine his judgment. However, the Holy One blessed be He is not thus. Even before a person speaks, He knows what is in his heart.
Likewise, regarding Solomon it says: “Know the God of your father, and serve Him [with a single mind, and a willing heart, for the Lord searches all minds and] understands the design of every thought” (I Chronicles 28:9). Even before the thought in the heart of man is formed, He understands. You find that seven generations before Nebuchadnezzar was born, Isaiah prophesied, and articulated what he was destined to think in his heart, as it is stated: “You said in your heart: I will ascend to the heavens” (Isaiah 14:13).
If seven generations before, the Holy One blessed be He foresaw what he was destined to think, regarding a righteous person, does He not know what he is destined to think on the same day? That is why it is written: “It will be before they call, and I will answer.” That is why it is stated: “Why are you crying out to Me?”