27 Bible Verses about Prayer, Doubts About

And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me? For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.

And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me. And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage.

And Joshua said, O Lord God, why have you taken us over Jordan only to give us up into the hands of the Amorites for our destruction? If only it had been enough for us to keep on the other side of Jordan! O Lord, what am I to say now that Israel have given way before their attackers? For when the news comes to the Canaanites and all the people of the land, they will come up, shutting us in and cutting off our name from the earth: and what will you do for the honour of your great name?

And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people? Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers? Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food.read more.
I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength. If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.

While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.

O Lord, you have knowledge: keep me in mind and come to my help, and give their right reward to those who are attacking me; take me not away, for you are slow to be angry: see how I have undergone shame because of you from all those who make little of your word; But to me your word is a joy, making my heart glad; for I am named by your name, O Lord God of armies. I did not take my seat among the band of those who are glad, and I had no joy; I kept by myself because of your hand; for you have made me full of wrath.read more.
Why is my pain unending and my wound without hope of being made well? Sorrow is mine, for you are to me as a stream offering false hope and as waters which are not certain.

O Lord, you have been false to me, and I was tricked; you are stronger than I, and have overcome me: I have become a thing to be laughed at all the day, everyone makes sport of me. For every word I say is a cry for help; I say with a loud voice, Violent behaviour and wasting: because the word of the Lord is made a shame to me and a cause of laughing all the day. And if I say, I will not keep him in mind, I will not say another word in his name; then it is in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am tired of keeping myself in, I am not able to do it.

But this seemed very wrong to Jonah, and he was angry. And he made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still in my country? This is why I took care to go in flight to Tarshish: for I was certain that you were a loving God, full of pity, slow to be angry and great in mercy, and ready to be turned from your purpose of evil. So now, O Lord, give ear to my prayer and take my life from me; for death is better for me than life.

And about the ninth hour Jesus gave a loud cry, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

And at the ninth hour, Jesus said in a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, My God, my God, why are you turned away from me?

My God, my God, why are you turned away from me? why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my crying?

I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me. What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers? Have you eyes of flesh, or do you see as man sees?read more.
Are your days as the days of man, or your years like his, That you take note of my sin, searching after my wrongdoing, Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands? Your hands made me, and I was formed by you, but then, changing your purpose, you gave me up to destruction. O keep in mind that you made me out of earth; and will you send me back again to dust? Was I not drained out like milk, becoming hard like cheese? By you I was clothed with skin and flesh, and joined together with bones and muscles. You have been kind to me, and your grace has been with me, and your care has kept my spirit safe. But you kept these things in the secret of your heart; I am certain this was in your thoughts: That, if I did wrong, you would take note of it, and would not make me clear from sin: That, if I was an evil-doer, the curse would come on me; and if I was upright, my head would not be lifted up, being full of shame and overcome with trouble. And that if there was cause for pride, you would go after me like a lion; and again put out your wonders against me: That you would send new witnesses against me, increasing your wrath against me, and letting loose new armies on me. Why then did you make me come out of my mother's body? It would have been better for me to have taken my last breath, and for no eye to have seen me, And for me to have been as if I had not been; to have been taken from my mother's body straight to my last resting-place. Are not the days of my life small in number? Let your eyes be turned away from me, so that I may have a little pleasure, Before I go to the place from which I will not come back, to the land where all is dark and black, A land of thick dark, without order, where the very light is dark.

Only two things do not do to me, then I will come before your face: Take your hand far away from me; and let me not be overcome by fear of you. Then at the sound of your voice I will give answer; or let me put forward my cause for you to give me an answer.read more.
What is the number of my evil-doings and my sins? give me knowledge of them. Why is your face veiled from me, as if I was numbered among your haters? Will you be hard on a leaf in flight before the wind? will you make a dry stem go more quickly on its way? For you put bitter things on record against me, and send punishment on me for the sins of my early years; And you put chains on my feet, watching all my ways, and making a limit for my steps;

As for man, the son of woman, his days are short and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower, and is cut down: he goes in flight like a shade, and is never seen again. Is it on such a one as this that your eyes are fixed, with the purpose of judging him?read more.
If only a clean thing might come out of an unclean! But it is not possible. If his days are ordered, and you have knowledge of the number of his months, having given him a fixed limit past which he may not go; Let your eyes be turned away from him, and take your hand from him, so that he may have pleasure at the end of his day, like a servant working for payment. For there is hope of a tree; if it is cut down, it will come to life again, and its branches will not come to an end. Though its root may be old in the earth, and its cut-off end may be dead in the dust; Still, at the smell of water, it will make buds, and put out branches like a young plant. But man comes to his death and is gone: he gives up his spirit, and where is he? The waters go from a pool, and a river becomes waste and dry; So man goes down to his last resting-place and comes not again: till the heavens come to an end, they will not be awake or come out of their sleep. If only you would keep me safe in the underworld, putting me in a secret place till your wrath is past, giving me a fixed time when I might come to your memory again! If death takes a man, will he come to life again? All the days of my trouble I would be waiting, till the time came for me to be free. At the sound of your voice I would give an answer, and you would have a desire for the work of your hands. For now my steps are numbered by you, and my sin is not overlooked. My wrongdoing is corded up in a bag, and my sin is shut up safe. But truly a mountain falling comes to dust, and a rock is moved from its place; The stones are crushed small by the force of the waters; the dust of the earth is washed away by their overflowing: and so you put an end to the hope of man. You overcome him for ever, and he is gone; his face is changed in death, and you send him away. His sons come to honour, and he has no knowledge of it; they are made low, but he is not conscious of it. Only his flesh still has pain, and his soul is sad.

Will you for ever put me out of your memory, O Lord? will your face for ever be turned away from me? How long is my soul to be in doubt, with sorrow in my heart all the day? how long will he who is against me be given power over me?

I will say to God my Rock, Why have you let me go from your memory? why do I go in sorrow because of the attacks of my haters? The cruel words of my haters are like a crushing of my bones; when they say to me every day, Where is your God?

Truly, because of you we are put to death every day; we are numbered like sheep for destruction. Why are you sleeping, O Lord? awake! and come to our help, do not give us up for ever. Why is your face covered, and why do you give no thought to our trouble and our cruel fate?read more.
For our souls are crushed down to the dust: our bodies are stretched out on the earth. Up! and come to our help, and give us salvation because of your mercy.

Will the Lord put me away for ever? will he be kind no longer? Is his mercy quite gone for ever? has his word come to nothing? Has God put away the memory of his pity? are his mercies shut up by his wrath? (Selah.)

O Lord God of armies, how long will your wrath be burning against the rest of your people? You have given them the bread of weeping for food; for their drink you have given them sorrow in great measure. You make us a cause of war among our neighbours; our haters are laughing at us among themselves.

You have put me in the lowest deep, even in dark places. The weight of your wrath is crushing me, all your waves have overcome me. (Selah.) You have sent my friends far away from me; you have made me a disgusting thing in their eyes: I am shut up, and not able to come out. read more.
My eyes are wasting away because of my trouble: Lord, my cry has gone up to you every day, my hands are stretched out to you.

How long, O Lord, will your ears be shut to my voice? I make an outcry to you about violent behaviour, but you do not send salvation. Why do you make me see evil-doing, and why are my eyes fixed on wrong? for wasting and violent acts are before me: and there is fighting and bitter argument.

And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me. And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage. Then said the Lord, This man will not get the heritage, but a son of your body will have your property after you.read more.
And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered; even so will your seed be.

And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm. And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh: I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God, the Ruler of all; but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh.read more.
And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings. And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke; and I have kept in mind my agreement. Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments. And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God; and you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for your heritage: I am Yahweh.

Ahab gave Jezebel news of all Elijah had done, and how he had put all the prophets to death with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a servant to Elijah, saying, May the gods' punishment be on me if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And he got up, fearing for his life, and went in flight, and came to Beer-sheba in Judah, parting there from his servant;read more.
While he himself went a day's journey into the waste land, and took a seat under a broom-plant, desiring for himself only death; for he said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. And stretching himself on the earth, he went to sleep under the broom-plant; but an angel, touching him, said to him, Get up and have some food. And looking up, he saw by his head a cake cooked on the stones and a bottle of water. So he took food and drink and went to sleep again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time, and touching him said, Get up and have some food, or the journey will be overmuch for your strength. So he got up and took food and drink, and in the strength of that food he went on for forty days and nights, to Horeb, the mountain of God.

... Will he who is protesting give teaching to the Ruler of all? Let him who has arguments to put forward against God give an answer. And Job said in answer to the Lord,read more.
Truly, I am of no value; what answer may I give to you? I will put my hand on my mouth. I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again. Then the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said, Get your strength together like a man of war: I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers. Will you even make my right of no value? will you say that I am wrong in order to make clear that you are right? Have you an arm like God? have you a voice of thunder like his?

For this cause the Lord has said, If you will come back, then I will again let you take your place before me; and if you give out what is of value and not that which has no value, you will be as my mouth: let them come back to you, but do not go back to them. And I will make you a strong wall of brass to this people; they will be fighting against you, but they will not overcome you: for I am with you to keep you safe, says the Lord. I will keep you safe from the hands of the evil-doers, and I will give you salvation from the hands of the cruel ones.

See among the nations, and take note, and be full of wonder: for in your days I am doing a work in which you will have no belief, even if news of it is given to you. For see, I am sending the Chaldaeans, that bitter and quick-moving nation; who go through the wide spaces of the earth to get for themselves living-places which are not theirs. They are greatly to be feared: their right comes from themselves.read more.
And their horses are quicker than leopards and their horsemen more cruel than evening wolves; they come from far away, like an eagle in flight rushing on its food. They are coming all of them with force; the direction of their faces is forward, the number of their prisoners is like the sands of the sea. He makes little of kings, rulers are a sport to him; all the strong places are to be laughed at; for he makes earthworks and takes them. Then his purpose will be changed, over-stepping the limit; he will make his strength his god.